The Good Life

Imitating nature to grow food seems like a good idea but creating a thriving food forest can be tricky.

A beginner’s guide to growing a food forest

FIood forests have become extremely popular in western gardens since the 1980s. A food forest is a mix of edible plants grown in a forest-like environment. The idea is they’re self-sustaining with low inputs and minimal maintenance.

studied the seven layers (see page 42). I selected trees, plants, and seeds best suited to an organic system, and dedicated a north-facing slope to this wondrous idea.

Several years later, I started asking others how their food forests were working out. I wasn’t the only one disillusioned and disappointed.

The problem is that when I imagined a forest, it looked like New Zealand native bush, a dense entwinement of canopy trees, vines, and shrubs.

But most of the foods I like to eat don’t grow in that environment. Peaches, oranges, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, and courgettes all need lots of sunshine, fresh air, plenty of nutrients, and their own root space to perform well.

I’ve seen successful sub-tropical food forests north of Auckland. They incorporate the plants that prefer a junglelike environment, such as bananas. They love the moist, humid conditions that would rot a peach crop.

It’s very different for anyone in a colder climate. In this two-part series, I’ll share what I learned creating a food forest in the south Waikato.