A perennial paradise of trees, fruit, and herbs.
Take a walk in the forest. If you look at the “edge” of the forest, you will see multiple layers growing naturally together – nuts, fruit, shrubs, herbs. A food forest mimics the edge of the woods from Nature.
Take a closer look and you will see multiple layers growing naturally together: an overstory (taller trees), an understory (smaller trees), shrubs, and lower plants along the ground. There may also be vines like grapes or cold-hardy kiwi.
A food forest mimics the “edge” of the forest in Nature, with a planting strategy to get the most production in the smallest area.
Examples of plants that you could plant in these layers:
- Overstory – Nut trees (chestnuts, pecans, hickory, oak)
- Understory – Fruit trees like apples, pawpaw, cherry, or larger nut trees like some higher growing hazelnuts.
- Shrubs – blackberry, blueberry, elderberry, smaller hazelnut.
- Herb or veggie layer – mint, horseradish, lemon balm, sorrel, comfrey, strawberries.
All of the above are perennials (plants that come back every year). A food forest may also have annuals planted in the gaps..
A food forest planted in a guild
This is a picture of an apple guild that is a few years old. It looks like a mess! But if you look closer you can see the different layers.
This could also have a higher overstory added of nut trees like chestnut, pecan, or hickory.
Create a perennial paradise with multiple layers of food and low maintenance.
We will dive into food forests, guilds, and tips to setup your own food forest in the articles in this section. Let’s Dream, Plan, and then Plant!
Get your nut trees, elderberry, elderberry cuttings, and comfrey from GrowNutTrees.com.
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This article and pictures are Copyright 2024 – Scott Miller.
