Wild Zone founded a communal forest garden in Tesoma in 2015, in cooperation with the City of Tampere as well as local residents. The garden is located in the forest on the southern side of lake Tesomajärvi.
The local residents were included in the planning phase. There were conversations on exemplary forest gardens in Finland and discussion on which of their elements could be suitable for Tesoma. The species planted in the forest garden include original Finnish temperate deciduous forest species, such as little-leaf linden (Tilia cordata), sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), and asarabacca (Asarum europaeum). The residents also wanted the garden to have impressive ornamental plants, like vines, climbing the trunks of the pines. There are some edible plants, for example apple trees, growing in the garden as well.
The residents have planted saplings in the forest garden during numerous organized bees during the first four years. Since then, residents have planted some saplings themselves. Wild Zone NGO has also tried growing tree lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria)and Phellinus ferrugineofuscus, a fungus living on dead spruces, in the forest garden. In addition, members of Wild Zone have also transferred some plants there from construction sites in Tampere, where they would have been destroyed otherwise. The area of the forest garden develops slowly, but year by year, the planted saplings stand out better and gradually change the scenery.
The founding of the forest garden was a subject of a thesis, found in Finnish here: Tesoman yhteisöllinen metsäpuutarha: Osallistamisen haasteet ja toteutus (Joakim Suvanto).
The forest garden was funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Pirkanmaa Fund.
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