Diverse Food Forest Gardening

Food forest gardening mimics a natural woodland ecosystem by creating a community of plants and soil organisms throughout all levels of the landscape: bulbs, grasses & groundcovers, annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees.


Many plants are chosen for food production and some attract pollinators or insects and birds in search of insect prey. Other plants may build soil through nitrogen fixation, production of biomass or accumulating minerals and improving aeration of the soil with their deep taproots.
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Wonder-Flora Landscape Design
A guild, or plant community, of herbs, greens, bulbs and clover beneath a young fig tree.
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 Mustard greens in bloom feed honeybees.
Plants are selected for their adaptation to local climate and soils and their suitability for the conditions of the site. Another aspect of nature-sustained gardening is planting at the appropriate season to take advantage of rainfall. Most importantly, it is the macro and micro organisms present in healthy soils in combination with organic matter that allows plants to thrive.

Some recommended edibles:

Fruit Trees: semi-dwarf or espalier disease resistant varieties of apple, pear, plum, cherry, fig

Nut producing shrubs and trees: hazelnut, chestnut

Fruiting Vines: hardy kiwi, grape

Edible Annual vines: peas, Scarlet runner bean,  pole beans, summer & winter squash, cherry tomato

Fruiting Shrubs: Aronia, blackcurrant, blueberry, thornless blackberry, raspberry

Herbs & Edible Perennials: strawberries, oregano, sage, catmint, chives, garlic chives, salad burnet, sweet cicely, Good King Henry

Biennials and Self-sowing Annuals: mache, Mizuna, kale, orach, parsley, par-cel, lettuce, parsnip

Nitrogen-fixing plants: fava beans, peas and beans, red clover, crimson clover

Insect-attracting, biomass and cover crops: comfrey, borage, buckwheat, nasturtium, rye, barley