By creating a plant grouping, you can get one step closer to achieving the edible forest of your dreams. These arrangements of plants contribute to a healthy and thriving food forest.
This is an excerpt Home-Scale Forest Garden Dani Baker. The web version has been adapted.
Plan a Plant Grouping
Deciding what plants to group together in a particular spot is one of the most engaging, satisfying, and occasionally frustrating enterprises for forest gardeners—both novices and those with experience.
If you have ever grown perennial flowers, you will understand the challenge of arranging them in a group that works well over time.
You want to completely cover the ground in a forest garden. Each layer should also be filled with plants to maximize the available vertical space.
Plants with different functions placed close together promote sustainability.
A group of plants, for example, that can attract beneficials, concentrate nutrients and deter pests, as well as food producers, can be mutually supportive, with each plant meeting the other’s needs.
Consideration should be given to the plant’s growth habits, type of root, root depth, light requirements, and moisture requirements.
Learn About Groupings
Figure 13.1. An example of herbaceous succession: Daylilies planted below a row of grapevines were joined over time by self-seeded borage, perennial sweet pea, anise hyssop, and wild Queen Anne’s lace.
Making groupings of edible plants is an undertaking that has few tried-and-true models, so it’s good to take an experimental attitude when planning groupings for a forest garden.
Each situation is unique, and what works well for one gardener will not necessarily work for another.
The results can take time because perennial plants change in size and height over the years.
Some plants may do very well (or even too well) at their designated locations, while others will struggle.
It’s my hope that the successes and failures I share will spark creative solutions for plant groupings in your own garden design.
How to Create a Plant Grouping
Each tree, shrub or herb has its own preferred habitat: soil conditions, light, humidity, temperature, climate and airflow.
Finding the best place to plant each tree in a garden can be challenging..
You will find it very useful to use the information you have gathered about the microclimates of your plot when developing planting plans.
What to include in a plant grouping
What should I include in a certain plant grouping?
There are many different types of varying. It is best to start with the highest layer first, as the position of the plants in this layer will dictate the placement of the others below.
Sometime I start with a single tree, and then add shrubs and groundcover plants around it.
Sometimes I make a list of suitable plants for a certain habitat such as moist and shady or sunny and dry and design an arrangement using the plants on that list.
I’ve planted a row or bushes and then decorated them with supporting plants a year or so later. My vision of a grouping often changes over time. I will enlarge the bed to include plants that fit my new vision.
In all these cases, my focus is on matching each plant with the most suitable habitat. I also consider how the plants will work together in the future, both in terms vertically and horizontally.
As I see how the grouping evolves, I make changes over time.
Undisturbed Soil: An Essential Cornerstone
An edible perennial garden must have soil that is covered by living plants.
It seemed difficult, if it wasn’t impossible, to cover the 40,000 sq. ft. (3,700m2) of my garden with edible plants.
As it turned out, I spent the first few seasons preoccupied with finishing the woody layers in my forest garden. Then I began planning and planting an expansion.
In my original plans, I had not included edible groundcovers.
Instead, I kept the soil covered with mulch and replenished it frequently until I had time to plant herbaceous groundcovers and plants.
Addressing the Ground Cover
In a forest garden, there are three different ways to handle the groundcover layer.
Plant all layers at once if you have a smaller plot.
You can also do this in sections on a larger plot: sheet-mulch, or prepare the area as you see fit, then plant the area. Then move to the next area.
It may take several weeks, even months to complete your garden plan, depending on the size and shape of your plot.
Figure 13.2. Multiple layers and types of plants increase the garden’s resilience and self-sustainability while creating a landscape that is lush and inviting for humans.
I went with a third option.
Important of Ground Covers
First, I planned and planted my entire forest garden. This included the understory and overstory layers.
The next layer I added was the shrub layer. Lastly, I added groundcover and herbaceous plants.
As I finish this manuscript, the last step is to create planting beds around trees and shrubs that already exist.
Sheet mulching can be done in sections and ground cover is added to the area during the growing season. I cover the ground with a blanket of plants that is ever expanding.
Breaking down a Herculean job into manageable chunks makes it possible.
Grouping plants to sustain sustainability
In deciding what to plant, I would like to stress the importance of maximizing diversity in terms of types of plants as well vertical layers.
It is more difficult for diseases and pests to spread and locate hosts if you use plants of different heights.
The maximum variety of habitats for animals and insects can be found in the vertical greenery.
A better soil ecosystem is also a result of diversity. Different species of plants will take up nutrients at varying rates and amounts.
Consider Root Structure
Plants with different root systems can be mixed together to maximize the amount of living roots in the soil, from the topsoil all the way down to the subsoil. Root competition is minimized.
As you plan your groupings, You should consider the roots of the plants that you intend to integrate. Avoid clustering plants that may compete with each other for water, space or minerals.
There are several categories of plants that contribute to a garden’s diversity while providing essential self-sustaining services, including nitrogen fixation and accumulation of other nutrients, attracting beneficial, and deterring pests.
Even though some of these plants aren’t food plants for humans, they are important components of an edible forest garden that you will want to include in your design.
Recommended Reading
Garden Strawberries — A Sweet and Delicious Ground Cover
Planting, transplanting and pruning trees