Create a mini forest in your home

Do you fancy a cool environment around your home and would welcome a mini-forest of sorts in your garden?
If so, your worries just reduced, because below, Ronald Mukiibi, a gardener and member of Mukwano Tree Planting Association along Mukwano Road tells us how to go about it:
‘You can create a forest in your compound if it is big – at least 100ft x 100 ft. Plant it in a corner of your compound.
Plant good trees that do not affect soil, or without fibrous roots that can disrupt walls on the surface. Examples of trees that have fibrous roots are the Terminalia and the Royal Palm. Plant trees that have tap roots instead.

Don’t plant banana trees in your forest either, because when the other trees grow tall, their shades will affect the banana trees and they will die. Banana plantations need open spaces where there are no trees.

Don’t plant trees with large canopies, like Ficus, Eucalyptus and Umbrella trees because they are difficult to maintain. If your forest becomes too thick, you may fail to walk through it or prune the trees.

There are many tree species you can plant in your forest, like the Ashoka tree, the Alcala, the Pyramidalis and the Cane Palm. Although the Cane palm produces suckers, it can grow luxuriant, though not wild; so that your forest can look its part.

Mosquito repellent trees
Plant Lemon trees as well, because their scent repels mosquitoes from the home. They are also easy to maintain. The Eucalyptus tree also has a scent that repels mosquitoes, but it grows wild and you do not want trees that grow wild in your forest.

The sound effect
Plant the Grevillea tree as well. It is beautiful and when the wind ruffles its leaves, they produce a pleasant sound. Prices of tree seedlings range from Shs30,000 to Shs50,000. If the intended forest area is too large to accommodate single tree species, you can plant more than one tree per specie.

Soil preparation
Check the soil before planting. If it is not good, add black soil or apply liquid fertiliser like Super grow to the leaves. You can also apply cow dung to the soil.

Use cow dung that is rotten. Fresh cow dung will burn the plants. Even strong tree seedlings will get burnt. You will not need a lot of cow dung – one tipper forward truck will do for the whole forest.

Do not space them too much. Space them at around one metre square. This would make it possible for people to walk through your forest; or make maintenance easier. Do not create too many paths – just two, crisscrossing each other in the middle would do. You could also create a clearing in the middle of your forest and place garden benches there for people to sit and enjoy your home forest.

Maintenance
When you have just planted, to keep your forest ever-green, water it twice a day – morning at exactly 6am and evening at exactly 7pm, for eight months. Do not water your plants during the rainy season.

Do not wait for signs of infection before spraying. After planting, spray it once a month, for six months. After that you can leave it for three to four months without spraying it. A quarter litre of Rocket spray goes for Shs20,000 at the container village.

It will cost you approximately Shs3.8m to create a mini-forest at home. Unless you get tired of your forest and cut it down, it can last more than 100 years.’

If you fancy some wildlife for your forest, you can search around for some domestic doves, to make it authentic.