Growing your own food is one of the best ways to move towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly way of life. But when doing so, it is important to work with nature rather than fighting against it. This harmonious relationship with the natural world is one of the keys to success in any permaculture system. 

The forest is one of the most successful, biodiverse and productive ecosystems on the face of our planet. Once established, if left alone, forests are able to self-sustain and take care of themselves. Wouldn't it be great if our gardens were the same way? The good news is, they can be! One of the big ideas in permaculture (or sustainable gardening) is forest gardening – a food production method that allows us to grow food around the world in more eco-friendly, low impact and easy ways. 

Whether we are talking about small, urban spaces, small farms or larger commercial growing enterprises, food forest gardening, also known as agroforestry, or edible forests, can be the answer.

What is Food Forest Gardening?

By learning lessons from the way, a forest works in a self-sustaining way almost anywhere on the planet, people are able to grow food in far more sensible and sustainable ways. You can easily apply the principles of permaculture to create an edible forest garden on your property. By copying the ways in which layers of growth form in a forest setting, gardeners can create beautiful, productive gardens that make the most of space and allow for a whole range of beneficial interactions. 

Imagine a productive garden where you can stroll through an area bursting with life to pick fruits from your own trees, stopping as you stroll to pluck some berries from a bush, or to harvest some herbs for your dinner. In a forest garden, you will see food at every turn. Each plant will be chosen to provide some benefit – either in the form of an edible yield or as a support plant to other plants in the ecosystem. 

A forest garden will resemble a natural forest ecosystem, yet the plants within it will be specifically chosen to meet our human needs and desires. While the plants chosen for a forest garden will vary depending on geographical location and climate considerations, all forest gardens will share certain characteristics. 

As in a wild forest, in a forest garden, you will have layers. In the top layer you will have trees, underneath and around which you will find shrubs and smaller trees, under which you will find a herbaceous layer. Climbing plants may make their way up through the layers. Ground cover plants will spread to protect the soil, while below the soil root crops may grow, and hidden elements such as bacteria and fungi ensure that the whole ecosystem continues to cycle and to function as it should. 

Why is Food Forest Gardening Such a Good Idea?

Food Forest gardening has a wide range of benefits over and above the fact that this system can create beautiful gardens. The benefits of forest gardening include:

• Introducing trees, which capture carbon from the air and help reduce the greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.
• Helping to store water locally, helping to ensure the healthy function of the world's water cycle.
• Increasing biodiversity, of both plant and animal life, thereby improving resilience in the ecosystem.
• Improving air quality and reduce air pollution, road noise etc..
• Creating shade for human comfort, animal life and water conservation.
• Providing abundant food yield and other resources for humans and wildlife.
• Providing an abundant source of biomass to replenish the ecosystem and complete the natural cycles.
• Improving general mental health and well-being by creating green, lush environments.

How Can I Create a Food Forest Garden?

The first stage in creating a forest garden or food forest lies in determining the climate and conditions where you live. Understanding the environment in which you are gardening or farming is crucial to the success of any organic, permaculture system. The trees and other plants that will work well on one part of the globe will not necessarily be as successful in another location. 

Once you have considered the site and thought about the sun, wind and water and how these interact with each other and move through your area, the next stage is to choose trees for your forest garden. The core of a forest garden is usually a number of fruiting trees that provide edible fruits or nuts. Once established, these trees can be the most abundant resource in a forest garden, especially when backed up with their 'guilds' of smaller 'helper' plants that fill all the useful layers of the forest garden and make the most of the space, no matter how much of it you have.   

Fruit and nut bearing trees are not the only ones that can be of use in a forest garden. Some trees may be planted to provide environmental protection to your fruit and nut trees by blocking a busy road or by reducing the impact of strong prevailing winds. Some trees may be added for firewood/kindling and be coppiced on a regular cycle. Still others may be nitrogen fixers or in some other way aid the improvement of the soil on a site. Deciduous trees will provide leaf litter/ mulch/ leaf mould and more each autumn... For all of these reasons and more, a wide variety of trees can be usefully included in a forest garden.

Beneath the tall trees that are the highest layer of the forest garden you will usually find small trees and shrubs that can tolerate a little dappled shade from the canopy above. This can be a pivotal layer in the ecosystem of an establishing forest garden and can provide a significant quantity of food as well as feeding the system and providing other resources. This is usually the second layer that you will plan after you have planned the upper tree layer. 

Beneath the tree layers and shrub layer you will find a dense, lush herbaceous layer in a forest garden. This layer is planted for the benefit of the trees above but can also be a rich source of food and other useful things. Climbing plants and root crops can also be added at this stage.

Once established, a food forest garden can be a flourishing ecosystem which can provide for the needs of humans, other animals and plants in an eco-friendly and low-maintenance way. So why not consider lessening your burden on yourself and the planet and creating a forest garden where you live?