The slope below the Whitin Observatory is the site of this garden, designed by permaculture experts Dave Jacke and Keith Zaltzberg along with Wellesley College students, staff and faculty.
The Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden is a designed plant community that mimics the properties of a natural ecosystem but produces food and other products useful to humans with a minimum of maintenance. A forest is the type of ecosystem native to much of New England. No one waters or fertilizes a forest, yet a healthy forest produces a diversity of useful products for the animals that live there. The EET Garden is a “forest garden,” providing food and useful products for humans.
The first plantings were established in spring 2011, and community planting workdays are held twice a year, in spring and early fall. The overall design concept is a “bowl of fruit,” with taller tree species fringing the swamp and dwarf trees planted closer to the observatory. This design will allow for unrestricted sight lines from the telescopes even as the garden matures. Among the specific habitats planned are a nut grove, fruit woodland, eddow (edible meadow), and a fruit thicket.
In spring 2015, the garden was enhanced by the creation of Betsy's Garden Classroom, given in memory of Elizabeth Anderson Fitzgerald '60. Sited under the 200-year-old white oak that overlooks the garden, the classroom provides a place for College classes, visiting groups and others to gather and observe the garden.
The guiding concept for the plantings in the EET Garden is a “guild:” a carefully planned group of species that support the focal plant (usually a woody) in various ways. Guild members perform the following functions. Many of the plants selected serve multiple functions.
| Function | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Nitrogen fixers | Convert this essential nutrient into a form that other plants in the guild can use | milk vetch |
Aromatic pest confusers | Strong odor prevents herbivory of other plants in the guild | garlic chives |
Beneficial insect attractors | Pollen provided by these long-blooming species provides an alternative food source for beneficial insects | coreopsis yarrow |
Nutrient elevators (aka dynamic accumulators) | Roots draw nutrients from deep in the soil into the plant’s foliage. When the leaves fall and decompose, these nutrients are made available to other guild members | comfrey |
Ground covers | Retain moisture and deter weeds | wild strawberry |
This garden is being planted in stages over the next few years. The tree species are small and the guilds surrounding them are expected to spread. There are succession plans in place for when the trees mature enough to shade out the sun-loving members of the guilds.
Click here to view the garden's plant list.