The Unplanned, Satisfying Growth of Our Food Forest

Garden Layout Contest

When I first started writing this post, I intended for the post to be my entry for the garden design contest held by @offgrid-online. However, the more I write, the more it is turning into a post about our progress. In this post, I will show you the start of my food forest and how it progressed over the years. I will also show you the layout of my food forest and the plants that I considered must haves.

View of the food forest from our deck

The Beginning

I have to admit, I am the type of person that over thinks things and don't tend to start doing anything until I think I am prepared and have learned all that I need to. I am glad I did not let my personality get in the way of starting our first garden. I really did not have a garden layout or design in mind when I first started gardening. I asked my husband for two raised beds and he put them in an area on our property that received the most sunlight.

These photos above show the very beginning of our food forest. Photos taken in March of 2012. We started our first year of gardening with two raised beds. Our dog is monitoring the process, making sure it was done properly.

I chose raised beds because the soil on our property is terrible and since I had no experience with growing food when I first started, I thought it would be necessary to bring in better dirt in order to produce. My husband dug down and piled a bunch of rotted wood from our property at the base of each raised bed (inspired by hugelkultur). Then we filled each raised beds with better soil and organic soil amendments.

Fast forward to the second year, we added two more longer raised beds. Then filled the new raised beds the same way we did with the first two raised beds. We continued to add raised beds for the first three years of gardening. Some beds are created with cedar wood and some are created with split logs from trees cut from our property.

We added two more longer raised beds in the second year (2013). Of course Mr. Dog is always monitoring

We used logs & rocks from our property to create new beds to save money

We needed to fence the garden from the start, as we have a lot of deer visiting our property daily. And the deer around us seem to eat anything that grows. It is still the case today, so the fencing expands as the garden grows into a food forest.

We decided to add a small orchard three years into our agricultural journey. We expanded our garden to the East side and planted a few fruit trees there. This is when I first started to learn about permaculture. So, I added plants such as comfrey, oregano, yarrow, onion at the base of fruit trees to deter pests and add fertility to the soil. The original orchard area is going into the forth year now and really taking shape. We love the way the orchard area is growing, so we expanded to the West side of the garden and added another orchard this year. Soil building is still the main goal in this newly expanded part of the food forest. We also planted some blueberries and nitrogen fixers in this area during early Spring.

This photo above shows the original orchard we put in in the Fall of 2015. Photo taken May of 2016.

Permaculture was starting to fill my mind around this time. I wanted to implement some of the permaculture principles I had been learning about in books and online. So, an herb spiral was constructed in the Summer of 2016. It was a great way to observe how permaculture principles work in my own food forest. The results encouraged me to continue learning about permaculture and I continued to implement it's principles in the orchard areas.

Photo above shows the herb spiral right after it was constructed and planted in June of 2016.

As we bring more and more varieties into the food forest, we needed more trellis. We looked into many different ideas and decided on a tunnel created with cattle panels and T posts. We planted four female and one male Issai hardy kiwi, but after two years of growing them this way, I realized cattle panels are not a good option as a trellis for growing hardy kiwi. The vines tend to wrap around the panel tightly no matter how much I tried to train it to not to. Cattle panel cuts into the wrapped kiwi vines as they get older and thicker. I have been pretty frustrated with the kiwi situation, so this year I did something drastic, I cut the hardy kiwi to about knee high. I didn't care if they died, but I really didn't think they would. After the cut, they are actually doing much better, showing vigorous, healthy growth. One plant is producing more kiwi than any previous year (I guess no relocating it quite yet). My male kiwi died last year, so it appears the variety of kiwis I have are self-pollinating.

Hardy kiwi and spaghetti squash growing on the cattle panel tunnel. Photo taken September of 2016.

As you can see, I had no specific plans when I first started gardening. I didn't know we would end up creating a food forest and grow as much of our own food as possible. I think this has worked out better for us since we didn't rush into things and made it too overwhelming for us. We took our time learning and observing from our own food forest. We were sharpening our food growing skills while we observe. A few flowering bushes/trees had to be relocated when I realized they were not in the best spot as they grew older and larger.

My Food Forest Layout

Raised Beds (center part of the food forest)

Even though I did not purposely design our food forest the way it is today, it somehow still works and flows perfectly. The center of our food forest has several raised beds to grow annual vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squashes, potatoes, etc. Raised beds allow for easier gardening. Not having to bend over and strain the lower back is well worth the investment of a raised bed. Raised beds also provide much better drainage. Raised beds offer less soil compaction because you are not walking on the beds or near any of the soil that is actually grown in. Raised beds create a longer growing season by warming up earlier than the hard frozen ground. I am able to plant Spring crops earlier with raised beds.

Several raised beds are located in the center of my food forest away from fruit trees. This way I don't have to worry about trees getting too large and shade out the annual vegetables. (Photos taken in 2018)

Orchard Area (East & West part of the food forest)

The way our orchards are planted, we don't have to worry about the fruit trees getting larger and blocking out sunlight for the annual vegetables. I plant intensely in this area following the permaculture principles. The layout in the orchard area mimics nature and when there, makes you feel like you are strolling through a secret, hidden park.

Original orchard area. Fruit trees planted with permaculture tree guild. Plants such as comfrey, yarrow, oregano, rosemary, sea buckthorn, blueberry etc are purposely planted under and around the fruit trees as understory to add fertility, attract beneficial insects, and deter pests. (Photos taken in 2018)

Plants with Purpose

One of the questions in the contest is if you grow specific plants and why. Also, are the plants planted where they are for a specific reason?

I love comfrey and use it to fertilize all the fruits and vegetables I grow. I purposely plant comfrey all around the raised beds and throughout the food forest. I can chop and drop quickly and then use the cut comfrey as mulch throughout the entire growing season. Comfrey has bell shaped flowers that seem addicting to pollinators. Their flowers bloom from Spring to frost, making them a perfect plant to attract pollen transporting insects. Comfrey also needs significant watering, so planted this way, I can water all my annual vegetables and comfrey together. I also make liquid comfrey fertilizer, so additional comfrey is purposely planted throughout the food forest to make sure my comfrey stash never runs out. If interested in making your own liquid comfrey fertilizer, you can read my post on How to make liquid comfrey fertilizer at home

Comfrey is planted throughout the food forest, so I can mulch and fertilize quickly. There are more individual comfrey plants in my food forest than any other plant.

• Marigold & Calendula are must haves in the garden. I plant them at the base of my tomatoes and pepper plants to attract pollinators, deter pests, and just as eye candy.
• Learned from an old farmer that lime basil is amazing at deterring mosquitoes, so I planted some of that this year specifically for that reason. We will see how effective it is.
• I have different herbs such as oregano, rosemary planted everywhere throughout the food forest after learning that the strong scents, or aromas, from these herbs can confuse pests.
• Yarrow is also very useful in the food forest. Its leaves are high in potassium and phosphorus. I plant yarrow at the base of fruit trees to fertilize the trees and attract beneficial insects.
• Sunflowers are always grown in the food forest to attract birds, bees, and beauty. A garden or food forest without sunflowers just looks a little naked. And for the pollinators, they make easy targets, because without pollinators, our food supply would drastically be reduced .

Flowers are not just eye candy, they are necessary to attract pollinators. And without pollinators, our food supply get drastically reduced.

This post has been fun for me to put together. I have not seen photos from the beginning of our journey for years. I now wish I would have taken more and encourage anyone starting a food forest or garden to snap away. Looking back and seeing all the photos really woke me up to how much has been accomplished. And, most of that progress was really done by mother nature, we just planted the seeds. It's quite amazing and encouraging to see how much the garden has grown and with hard work we now have a food forest.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you are interested in submitting an entry to the @offgrid-online garden layout contest, you can read the details of the contest here.

All photos come from my food forest
Photo copyright: @thelaundrylady

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