What is a Food Forest?
Food forests as a horticultural idea stem from watching and mirroring the way plants grow in their natural or ‘wild’ environment. Long before humans started farming various crops, they were gathering them from the environment around them. The food grew with little to no input from the humans who harvested it.
Indigenous people around the world have long taken advantage of nature’s ability to produce food. Conventional agriculture has managed to forget or just ignore this ability but now Permaculture as an idea is bringing the indigenous knowledge back into the conversation about how to grow abundant food.
Food forests are a modern description of how this growth works. We are all familiar with forests so it is not too hard to imagine a forest full of food. They don’t occur too commonly in nature anymore so they tend to be designed and installed on purpose. These designs take a number of features into account, in particular – climate, relationships & layers.
Climates
Just like animals (including humans), plants have evolved differently depending on where in the world they grew. Plants from hot, dry climates have different qualities & requirements to those from humid or cold climates. Considering the general climate & micro-climates of your planting area allows you to choose the plants that will naturally grow best.
Sub-Tropical
Northland, Auckland and even the BOP & Upper South Island have suitable conditions for growing subtropical plants like avocado, macadamia and banana. The plants from subtropical areas like the pacific islands or south east asia like warm, moist, sheltered conditions & generally don’t tolerate frosts in winter.
Mediterranean
Think wine growing regions – Hawkes Bay, Marlborough, Central Otago. Areas with hot summers & boney soils. These are the favourite conditions of all your Italian favourites. Figs, peaches, rosemary and of course grapes. These plants like hot, dry summers, can tolerate cold winters and don’t mind boney soils.
Temperate
These are the plants that generally came with the European settlers to New Zealand. Apples, plums, pears, blackberries and walnuts. Generally deciduous due to the cold winters they are accustomed to.
Depending on the size, topography & other features of your planting area, you may have a variety of climate types available to you. Perhaps you have a sheltered, warm area near a pond for subtropicals but a hot, exposed hillside above it that is more suitable to Mediterranean plants. Look around your property, notice the soil types, frosty areas, sunny areas & see what will grow best where.
Relationships
In the same way that plants will grow better in the climate they evolved in, they also tend to grow better alongside plants (& insects/animals) that they evolved with and have beneficial relationships with. Some of these are commonly known & utilised:
- Flowers attract pollinators for fruit trees.
- Onion & Garlic deter certain pests.
- Legumes (beans & peas) fix nitrogen into the soil for heavy feeders like corn.
- Ground covers like Nasturtium, Thyme & Pumpkins shade the ground keeping moisture in and roots of other plants cooler.
- Deep rooted plants like Dandelion & Comfrey mine minerals and bring them to the surface where other plants can utilise them.
Some may know this in it’s most basic form as ‘companion planting’. Some of these relationships are obvious to most gardeners and are commonly used. Others, such as the role of fungi in the relationships between plants, are still being researched. There may be yet other relationships that we don’t even know exist.
In this apple based portion of a food forest (‘guild’) there are numerous relationships at play. There are plants fixing nitrogen for other, mining minerals, attracting pollinators, deterring pests and providing ground cover that prevents weed species taking over & keep the ground cool & moist in summer.
There are so many possible relationships the design combinations are almost endless!
Layering
One of the key features of a Food Forest is the consideration & use of vertical space when planting. Not only does the use of vertical space improve yields from each square metre of space, it encourages the sorts of relationships we mentioned above.
The number of layers referred to in relation to food forests can vary. Seven layers are often used but other designers have added an eighth layer – fungi. With the magical powers of fungi still being realised, it seems like a layer worth including. Not ignoring the fact that mushrooms are tasty!
The vertical layers are mostly quite obvious – tall trees create a canopy over the whole forest, smaller trees & shrubs grow underneath the canopy trees. Herbaceous plants & ground covers fill in the gaps above ground. Vines utilise multiple vertical spaces & climb through other layers. Root crops & fungi occupy the underground space. In the space of one large pear tree, you could also grow Plums, Currants, Artichokes, Runner Beans, Onions, Strawberries and Mushrooms – a much more productive use of space in a world that is facing a massive resource battle.
What are the Benefits?
So why would you go to the effort of designing and planting a food forest rather than a conventional orchard or vegetable garden?
Low Maintenance
Although the initial set up of a food forest requires planning and a certain amount of labour – once the system is established there is very little to do. Especially compared to a conventional garden or orchard. No spraying for pests or disease, no re-planting crops year after year, possibly even no irrigation required.
Environmentally Friendly
- The use of mulch & the avoidance of tilling promotes better soil life, topsoil retention and water retention.
- Plants used in food forests often feed wildlife as well as humans. Particularly bees and other helpful insects. Our designs also try to utilise trees & shrubs that feed our native birds.
- Nutrients are naturally cycled back into the soil. Artificial fertilisers are not required!
Tasty Food!
Lots & lots of tasty food! Food forests promote variety resulting in a diversity of crops that you don’t get in conventional agriculture. Not only does this diversity give you more to eat, it also protects against crop failure. Not a good year for apples? That’s ok, the plums are thriving.
