Do you have a woodland area, even small, and you want to get crops out of it? Or maybe you want to plant trees, but you don’t want to waste valuable space for veggies and fruits? Why don’t you go all the way and grow a food forest? These wooded gardens are spreading all over the world, for so many reasons… They save water, they regenerate the land and – above all – they produce a lot! And why? Because you use seven layers, each with a harvest, each giving you food.
In fact, a well designed and layered food forest can produce much, much more than traditional open fields, and if you plant it well, it also requires very little care. Welcome to the world of woodland gardening – and let’s start with the key design principles: the levels!
A Food Forest as Vertical Gardening: How Many Levels (or Layers) Are There?
Food forests are, in many ways, vertical gardens, but instead of having frames and towers to grow your fruits and veggies, they use the natural layering of woodland areas. Your crops will literally start underground, and go up and up to the tip of the tallest trees.
If you don’t use all these levels, you cut down on yield and production. What is more, all the layers are necessary to keep your food forest ecosystem healthy and fertile.
There are 7 standard levels in a food forest, which are, starting from the top:
- Tall trees
- Short trees
- Vines (don’t forget them, as many do!)
- Shrubs
- Herbs (a layer which includes some vegetables).
- Ground covers
- Root vegetables
Let’s see how we can put them, and grow them, all together, saving soil and “gardening under the fresh shades of trees”.
Design Your Food Forest from the Top
We are not going to look at the layout of your food forest, though I will give you a few tips along the way; we are concerned with the “vertical layout” of your food forest… And I know, we grow plants from the ground, but with food forests, we start with the top level (tall trees) and then we move down.
This is for practical reasons, because, of course, you need to decide where to grow an oak tree or an olive before you know where to place smaller varieties.
But it also follows another natural principle: tall trees set the ecosystem for all that grows under them. Think about it, a pine or conifer forest has a totally different soil and set of plants that grow in it than an oak forest!
So, let’s look up and start…
Food Forest Level 7 – Tall Trees
Tall trees don’t necessarily have to be fruiting varieties in food forests, they are there to “protect your other plants and ecosystem” primarily, but you will still want to grow at least some (%0%) that give you a harvest. You could even pick some weird crops, like carob or acorns (they are edible and very nutritious), or pine seeds, why not?
So, start deciding where you want to plant your tall trees, and, if you can, leave an area where they are more distant, so you can get a bit of light inside your food forest, ideally, at the very center.
Tall Fruiting Trees You Can Grow in a Food Forest
Here are some very tall trees you can grow in a food forest, for your top layer; they range from 30 to 150 feet tall (9.0 to 45 meters); choose wisely, according to the land available. Most small food forests use smaller trees, though…
- Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), up to 80 feet tall (24 meters).
- Mango (Mangifera indica), up to 100 feet tall (30 meters).
- Avocado (Persea americana), up to 80 feet tall (24 meters).
- Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), up to 90 feet tall (27 meters).
- Durian (Durio spp.), up to 164 feet tall (50 meters).
- Olive (Olea europaea), up to 30 feet (9.0 meters), but very slow growing.
- Pawpaw (Asimina triloba),up to 85 feet tall (25 meters).
- Tamarind (Tamarindus indica), up to 80 feet tall (24 meters).
- Cashew (Anacardium occidentale), up to 50 feet tall (15 meters).
- Domestic pine (Pinus pinea), up to 65 feet tall (20 meters), but few plants grow under it.
- Carob (Ceratonia siliqua), up to 30 feet tall (10 meters).
- Walnut (Juglans regia), up to 100 feet tall (30 meters), very common in food forests.
Let’s move down a level now…
Food Forest Level 6 – Short Fruiting Trees
Moving to the next level, we find small trees, preferably fruiting; there are many species that can fruit in part shade. You may get a smaller yield than in full Sun, in some cases, but not all. And remember that you can still surround your food forest with medium and low sized varieties, then grow the canopy height as you move towards the center.
This way, you will grow more sun loving tree varieties on the outskirts of your food forest, and shade tolerant ones inside.
Finally, remember that there are many dwarf varieties you can grow too!
Short Fruiting Trees You Can Grow in Your Food Forest
We will focus on the short fruiting trees you can grow under the shade of taller ones, inside your food forest. For the outskirts, where they get more sunlight, your choice is really huge.
- Pear (Pyrus communis).
- Apple (Malus pumila).
- Crabapple (Malus sylvestris).
- Plum (Prunus domestica).
- Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea).
- Pawpaw (Asimina triloba), just prune it short!
- Mulberry (Morus alba and Morus nigra).
- Lemon (Citrus limon).
- Orange (Citrus x sinensis).
- Damson (Prunus domestica subsp. insitia).
- Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)
Quite a few!
Food Forest Level 5 – Vines
Once you have established your tall and short trees in your food forest, it’s time to get vines climbing on their trunks and branches. Depending on how vigorous they are, you may have to prune them back regularly, but don’t forget this level, as many amateurs do!
Vines You Can Grow in Your Food Forest
Apart from the “jungle look”, these vines will also bring more fruits and crops to your food forest!
- Hardy Kiwi (Actinidia arguta)American Groundnut (Apios americana)
- Maypop (Passiflora incarnata)
- Chocolate Vine (Akebia quinata)
- Hops (Humulus lupulus)
- Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)
- Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- Peas (Pisum sativum)
- Malabar spinach (Basella alba)
Food Forest Level 4 – Fruiting Shrubs
Shrubs are essential to the soil quality of your food forest; they are basically your self-producing compost heap, because they usually produce so much foliage and organic matter that they fertilize your land.
What’s more, many shrubs grow naturally under trees, so you really have a huge choice of fruiting varieties! Finally, there are small and big bushes, which adapt to all spaces and food forest sizes!
What Fruiting Shrubs You Can Grow in Your Food Forest
Keep in mind that this is only a small selection of fruiting and other culinary shrubs you can grow in your food forest – you can literally go wild with bushes!
Fruit-Bearing Shrubs
- Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.)
- Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)
- Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus)
- Gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa)
- Currant (Ribes spp.)
- Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis and Sambucus nigra)
- Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)
- Honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea)
- Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.)
- Aronia Berry (Aronia melanocarpa)
- Hazelnut (Corylus avellana)
- Pine Nut (Pinus cembroides)
Then, there are also medicinal and other culinary shrub varieties, like:
- Rosa Rugosa (Rugosa Rose)
- Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
- Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis)
You can also add decorative varieties, of course!
Food Forest Level 3 – “Herbs”
In food forest jargon, “herbs” does not only mean mint, sage, thyme etc… It actually means small annuals and perennials, which you harvest above ground. Anything that is not a shrub, does not stay at ground level (like groundcover) and you don’t grow it for its roots…
In short, we are talking about the vegetables you can grow in a food forest. Many leafy varieties don’t need full Sun at all to grow. The harvest season may change, and sometimes the yield. Of course, forget tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, but many of the other veggies you can grow in your backyard will do quite well under the canopies of trees as well!
Most food forest gardeners prefer self-seeding annuals (like brassicas, for example) and perennials, and it’s not because they are lazy, but because they don’t want to disturb the soil. True though, they do cut down on work – but that’s the spirit of permaculture!
What “Herbs” You Can Grow in Your Food Forest
So, here is your food forest veggie garden!
Perennial vegetables:
- Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)
- Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum)
- Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)
- Sea Kale (Crambe maritima)
- Tree Collards (Brassica oleracea var. acephala)
- Walking Onion (Allium x proliferum)
Biennial Vegetables
- Kale (Brassica oleracea var.sabellica)
- Swiss Chard (beta vulgaris)
- Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)
- Spinach (spinacia oleracea)
(Self-seeding) annual vegetables:
- Arugula (Eruca sativa)
- Mustard Greens (Brassica juncea)
- Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)
- Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum)
- Dill (Anethum graveolens)
- Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
- Pak choi (Brassica rapa subsp. Chinensis)
- Endive (Cichorium endive)
Food Forest Level 2 – Groundcover
It is always very important to keep the soil covered, and, in food forests, there are plenty of leaves to mulch it and keep it fertile. But this doesn’t mean that you cannot exploit that very low level, or “ground floor” to get some crops as well.
So, you can grow some creeping and low plants that will give you something to eat, while working as extra groundcover as well.
What Groundcover Varieties You Can Grow in Your Food Forest
And here they are, the crops you can harvest at ground level in your food forests. Actually, many little edible plants will crop up spontaneously under the shady canopies of your trees, great for foraging – so, keep looking down!
- Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum)
- Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) – delicious!
- Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) – the tips and leaves are edible!
- Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum)
- Wood sorrel (Oxalis spp.)
- Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
- Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)
- Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
- Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea)
- Mache (Valerianella locusta)
And then, run wild inoculating the soil with edible mushroom spores!
Food Forest Level 1 – Root Vegetables
By now you will know that the idea of a food forest is to grow everywhere, with crops layering up one on top of the other, and we have come to the last one, which is under our feet, underground, where we can grow lots of root vegetables.
With root vegetables, it is important that you do not grow them just by the feet of the trees, by the tree trunk. To start with, surface roots may leave very little topsoil for them to grow. But the main risk is that you damage and disturb the tree’s radical system when you harvest them.
Find spots where the topsoil is deep enough for the vegetables’ roots to grow, which is usually about 10 inches (25 cm); you should have plenty of places with these characteristics in your food forest, especially as it matures, and lots of leaves fall to the ground.
What Root Vegetables You Can Grow in Your Food Forest
Fortunately, most root vegetables don’t need much sunlight at all; in the end, they don’t need to ripen fruits, like tomatoes or peppers! So, here’s a selection for your food forest…
- Carrots(Daucus carota)
- Beets (Beta vulgaris)
- Radishes (Raphanus sativus)
- Turnips (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa)
- Parsnips (Pastinaca sativa)
- Sweet Potatoes (Ipomoea batatas)
- Jerusalem Artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus)
- Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)
- Onions (Allium cepa)
- Garlic (Allium sativum)
- Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum)
- Celeriac (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum)
- Rutabagas (Brassica napus)
- Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
- Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
- Daikon Radish (Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus)
- Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana)
- Yams (Dioscorea species)
- Salsify(Tragopogon porrifolius)
- Skirret (Sium sisarum)
- Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
- Cassava (Manihot esculenta)
- Taro (Colocasia esculenta) for your boggy spots and a super exotic look!
Growing the Future “on 7 Floors” with Food Forests!
So, if you have some wooded land or you want to grow one, join the food forest revolution! You can get so much more in terms of crops while working little, helping the environment, having fun and then – when summer comes, you can forget sweating away in sultry open field under the beating Sun, and keep fresh and relaxed, with birds chirping above your hand as you harvest an impressive range of fruits, leaves and root vegetables!
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.