Transplanting in the Forest Garden:

Transplanting is an extremely important activity for farmers in the Forest Garden Program. It is the moment where farmers transfer the seedlings they’ve been growing for the last 3-4 months in the nursery and replanting them in their Forest Garden where they will grow permanently.  

While the technique of transplanting has some critical steps to follow, it is the timing of the activity that can make or break the success of a farmer’s crop. Generally, tree seedlings in the nursery need to be transplanted at the start of the true rainy season to ensure that the seedling is getting as much water as possible during such a critical stage of growth.

Due to worsening climate change, predicting rainy seasons in some parts of the world has become more challenging. Rainy seasons now often come late or not at all. For farmers to avoid transplanting from the nursery to the Forest Garden too soon, the Forest Garden Approach highly recommends waiting for 2 weeks with 3 or more significant rain events. This ensures that the true rainy season has started, and their seedlings will be able to survive in the new local growing conditions.