In today’s episode of the Grow Edible Podcast, I chat with Michael Judd, the author of Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist about how to create a food forest. Michael has an interesting history; he spent his early adulthood in rural Latin America, including living with a Mayan community in Guatemala. These experiences gave him a unique opportunity to see mature food forests managed by indigenous cultures who have literally thousands of years of experience maintaining sustainable perennial food systems.
Michael’s Easy Step-By-Step Mini Food Forest
In this show, Michael talks about his step-by-step plan to create a food forest, even if you don’t have very much room.
Step One: create a large “patch” of super fertile soil with layered, top-down mulch, including a thick layer of woodchips to feed the fungal layer.
Step Two: Plant your anchor tree in your prepared patch – something like a dwarf apple, a persimmon, or even a large fruit shrub is good if you are very space limited.
Step Three: Surround your anchor tree with four types of perennial support species. Include nitrogen fixers like wild blue indigo or lupin, living mulch “chop-and-drop” plants like comfrey, insect habitat plants like yarrow and pollinator plants like echinacea.
Step Four: make as many patches as your space will allow, allowing them to eventually merge together. If you only have room for one patch, that’s ok too! Even one patch of a tree plus support plants counts as a mini food forest.
Step Five: As you expand, add additional layers to your patch: try edible groundcovers like alpine strawberries or edible vines and brambles like thornless blackberry to add depth and layered texture to your food forest.
Show Notes
Today Michael and I discuss:
- How to make a super fertile soil patch with layers of compost, woodchips and cardboard.
- The psychology of Chop-and-Drop mulching.
- The four categories of companion plants Michael recommends for a food forest “guild”.
- How to adapt the food forest concept to small scale and urban backyard environments.
- Why temperate-climate gardeners need to spread out their food forest plantings to account for lower light-intensity.
- What “sneaky” edible plants you can grow to discourage feral hippies, confuse zombies and fool the HOA landscape committee.
- How to save money implementing a food forest, and where it might not make sense to go the cheap route on your edibles.
- Michael’s favorite unusable edible fruit for vodka infusions.
- Why fruit growers should consider embracing alcohol fermentation as an efficient way to deal with seasonal bounty.
Resources for Today’s Episode
- Michael’s book, Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist.
- Ecologia Design, Michael’s edible and ecological design company.
- A really cool series of videos featuring Michael at Edible Landscaping Nursery in Virginia, sampling unusual fruits and giving tips for how to incorporate these edible choices into a suburban backyard.
- My original review of Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist.
The Giveaway!
Michael has super generously agreed to give away three copies of his book, Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist.
To be entered to win one of three copies of Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist, leave a comment below telling me what your dream food forest would look like!
Contest open until Wednesday, August 27th. Winners will be notified by email and shall have 24 hours to claim their prize. US addresses only due to shipping (sorry international readers!).
Good luck!
Podcast Stuff
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The theme music for the Grow Edible Podcast is Rodeo, graciously provided by my dear friend, the supremely talented Kristen Ward. You can find Kristen’s music on iTunes and Amazon. Rodeo is off the Last Night on Division album – it’s one of my favorites!
Perpetual hat tip to Erik and Kelly of Root Simple, the cool Godparents of the urban homesteading movement. Erik and Kelly put out a sharp and edutaining podcast in addition to writing great books, running a fantastic blog and generally spreading their urban farm wisdom far and wide. They graciously allowed me to steal their phrase “audio companion.”
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I am all about edible landscaping- and fruits and veggies are just as beautiful as flowers to me! I would love a big vegetable garden with raised beds and in-ground areas, large fruit patches and an orchard with a variety of fruit and nut trees!
I’d love a “food forest” with hazelnuts, wild blue indigo, echinacea, blueberries, and wintergreen as a groundcover.
My dream food forest/garden of Eden consists of plum, cherry and peach trees surrounded by swathes of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. Interspersed between this is all the vegetable bounty of summer, including tomatoes, cubes, zucchini and pretty pumpkins winding through it all, with herbs peeking out everywhere; basil, chives, lemon balm and cilantro. Of course, there are also perennial explosions of color dotting this piece of heaven including bee balm, lupine, Russian sage and lavender. There is no lawn in site, but places for the birds to nibble their share of berries and seeds, and fresh water. Now all I need is to know how to make this dream a reality…have to read this book!
How cool! Love the concept. I would start with an apple tree, and stick to berries below it.
My food forest would look like all the remaining patches of grass in my yard turned into as many types of fruits and beneficial flowers as I can get my hands on. This book looks awesome!
We have a couple dozen young fruit trees planted in standard orchard rows on our property, and I’d like to start getting some understory planting going to reduce mowing and boost the area’s productivity!
For starters, I’d love to copy Paradise Lot. But, given what I cook with a lot and what our family eats, a mini-orchard with apples, plums, & peaches would be amazing. We’ve got lots of berries going, but I’d love to add to their variety by getting more unusual ones. Plus, none of my plants are currently supported as a guild. Nuts. Onions. I want perennial onions. Hmmm…what else? I get jealous about chickens & ducks and would be thrilled if our landlord gave into that idea.
My dream food forest would have a living, deer-resistant hedge (working on that now, but I’ve got a large perimeter to cover so it’ll take awhile!), several fruit trees – both common and uncommon – and other edibles, all interspersed by a grassy meadow being mowed by grazing animals (got to get the o.k. from my dad, who owns the property, for the grazing animals, so that probably won’t happen anytime soon).
I really want all types of pomegranate in our side yard now!! One of my all time favorites. I would love to add a cherry tree. We already have asian pear and it is fruiting this year again. Blueberries abound, and since I’ve finished all the raised beds this year, time for the food forest side yard!!
My ideal food forest encompasses the whole neighborhood! I’m happy to begin with my own yard and let it spread like beautiful abundant infection. (c: I’ve already got some young fruit trees in my front yard sheltered a bit by my neighbor’s maple. I’m also hoping to work with my neighbor to use swales between our houses to simultaneously divert water away from his basement (which floods every time we get more than 2-3 inches of rain in a storm) and collect & sink it into a food forest between our houses. I’m all over the logistics of using swales with diametrically opposed water management concerns in such close proximity. How to best use the harvested water in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing to my semi-conventional neighbors/friends is what I need help with. (c:
It makes me giddy to think about an edible forest surrounding our home. The biggest challenge where we live is finding edibles that can survive harsh climate and short growing seasons. One day we will have fruit of all sorts, veggies galore, herbs and all things green living in perfect harmony protecting and nourishing each other in a beautiful “secret garden” lay out. My dream may come true within my lifetime and that would be glorious.
I appreciate all those who are producing valuable information on permaculture and edible landscaping. It is the only way to go. Thanks for featuring Michael Judd on your blog!
My dream food forest is on 5-10 acres that would allow me to have every fruit and nut tree or bush that I want. Ten- to fifteen-year plan 🙂
Love this podcast, keep them coming! Can’t wait to read this book!
Loving all the podcasts!
My ideal food forest would make use of the 3 apple trees we have in the backyard by planting some mulch layers and pollinators friendly plants for my new beehive. So interested in permaculture but it’s been a bit overwhelming to actually “do” anything. Keep telling myself I’m in the observe stage. 😉
Our family just moved into a new home and could very much use direction on how to plant edible landscaping. Our two small boys enjoy picking blueberries, tomatoes, and herbs:). We plan replace most of the existing shrubs with blueberries, plant a kitchen herb garden and grow heirloom tomatoes but we would love to grow citrus, figs, blackberries, raspberries… We just need help determining what to plant where, how to combine planting to be mutually beneficial to each other, and how to take care of pests. This book sounds wonderful!
I would love to have a cherry tree and peaches and apricots, but they are marginal in my area without extra special care. Still trying to figure it all out, along with running the farm by myself
The apple tree triplets were nibbled on too close to the nub last winter by our area’s peripatetic moose mama and her calf of the year, but they are hanging in there as future anchors of our permie-style dream (for the half of a half-acre not occupied by the cabin and its leachfield, perhaps I should add); we have several bags of birch leaves composting away. Junior blueberry bushes are in containers for overwintering indoors to build up their root system (after the loss of several transplanted baby bushes, and even kinnickkinnick–a great ground cover if inedible by people–in a previous, harder winter). Two huckleberry bushes are growing outdoors but not yet bearing, ditto for a red currant bush. We treasure fireweed and dandelions and clover and bluebells–nature’s gifts to bees and butterflies as well as us–and plan on planting potatoes and salad makings in a raised bed next summer for the long days of our short growing season. (Realistically, I also do sprouting on the kitchen counter year round and grow microgreens in trays on the windowsills in whatever light of whichever season–or more precisely, anything that flourishes at 55 degrees indoors.)
I dream of having a garden that would have apple, pear and avocado trees. Perhaps even a dwarf citrus tree. I would also like to have a garden that would sustain my family throughout the summer and fall. I would like to have enough after feeding my petite family to fill my pantry. Another area I would really like to focus on is our bee population and ensure that my garden helps to support the bees.
My dream food forest would have lots and lots of macadamia nuts. Because I live in the Pacific Northwest, this will firmly remain as a dream.
And to follow up with a question.. let’s have Michael’s and Paul Wheaton’s worlds collide!
Sheet mulching sounds great. Killing grass by smothering it and using those nutrients to help prepare a bed for better things, fantastic. But… what if you don’t want to use cardboard or newspaper? Both have ‘toxic ick’ from their production processes.
I’m actually running into this issue right. now. I’m trying to kill some grass to create beds, and had a little bit of an ‘a ha’ moment when I decided to lay down a bunch of rhody prunings over some of the grass. It might not be as effective (or quick) as using cardboard or newspaper, but I figure giving it 2-3 weeks to do some initial smothering, followed by some compost and a layer of mulch, might do pretty well without having to resort to Things That Paul Can’t Stand (and I happen to see his point).
My dream food forest would contain hundreds of different herbs that all blend and flower, looking more like a fancy flower garden than anything edible. It would cover my entire front yard (which gets the most sun and is the warmest, also it stays warmer during the winter considering how many annuals I’ve managed to overwinter there) and have stone paths winding through it.
*daydreams*
I would like to see fruit and nut trees with nut and berry shrubs and low items like alpine strawberry and stepable herbs. I would also like to have a mushroom-growing area.
A bigger yard! Ha to grow, a nice variety of veg, seeds, nuts and berries like for trees I’m partial to citrus and apples. This would allow me to grow enough to put up for the rest of the year which would be amazing!
My ideal food forest would have pie cherries, apples, pears, elderberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, paw paw, plums, persimmons, persian mulberries, sea berries, goumi, thimbleberries, um, and even more! I need to get some nitrogen fixing support species for the couple of apple trees and berries that I already have.
My food forest would have a cherry tree and a fig, asparagus and onions and garlic, and lots of berries.
I want more berries in my yard. Raspberries, strawberries, goji berries, mulberries, etc.
Mine would be a maze that you would eat your way through but not worry about getting through because everything would taste so good!
I checked this book out from the library and loved it. I think my dream food forest would actually be within the confines of my current set up. I’d love to try a modified swale as we have a super marshy area. Of course it would have to have tons of berries… My kids can’t get enough!
i would love a FRUIT forest with kale and cucumbers mixed in 🙂
There are so many plants is like to try. I have extensive annual plantings, but would like to move towards more perennials.
Very interesting, enjoyed the podcast, it made me think. I have a established yard in a hoa suburb, I am going to remove some rodies and replace with blueberries. Thanks for the idea.
My urban forest has 3 apple trees from seed (fun and unpredictable) surrounded by a guild of coneflowers, strawberries, sweet clover and lambs ear sage for texture and for the bees.
I would love to have *any* edibles at this point. We moved here a year ago, and the outdoor space needs a ton of work.
I am going to miss this little homestead we have started when we sell our house in 2 years. My dream food forest would be to see these trees, shrubs and plants grow to maturity–peaches, apricot, prune, apples, almonds, pawpaws, blackberries, blueberries, elderberries, and maypops (hardy passion fruits native to the Carolinas and cultivated by the Cherokee). My bucket list right now is to try growing saffron under my asparagus fronds (I live in the sandhills of NC) and to expand or join the beds under our fruit trees to grow garlic through the winter.
I am not even sure I can answer this properly because this podcast ( and a little troll thru the Raintree website) have filled my head with a million ideas. A couple blueberries, I think, or maybe a hardy apricot under planted with I don’t even know what. I’ve been thinking about adding fruiting bushes to our homescape …but then I get distracted by the idea of chickens and bees and haven’t yet pulled the trigger.
I don’t even know what I would want in a food forest, I just know I want one!
My dream food forest would have a microclimate warm enough for a few citrus and an avocado tree. Since I live in a cold spot in the Willamette Valley though, I’m compromising with a greenhouse. Otherwise, I want bunches of apple, cherry, pear, plum and hazelnut trees, alpine strawberries, blueberries a bunch of herbs tucked in the spaces and room left over to indulge my plant-hosting tendencies. Also, well behaved chickens that only dig up weeds, never my plants.
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I’m in the process of designing a food forest at my new home here in Lansing, MI. I’m hoping to plant a larger tree or two (possibly a chestnut) on the west edge of the property, and then establishing a mix of dwarf fruit trees amongst swales & Sepp holtzer style raised Hugelculture beds along the sloped southern side. The lot to North of the house will be fenced in and grow a mix of wild rose, grape, and hazel hedge, with more open mixed vegetable, flower and herb plantings through the lot. I’m looking into the feasibility of establishing a greywater wetland/pond system as well as a small hoophouse.
Mine would include a bench, chairs, and hideaway spaces for the kids tucked in among the edibles.
My dream food forest… Well its tough to detail since you can’t see my yard, but to sum it up I suppose it would be the place that I could sit and read, reach from my chair and grab a snack, and find that relaxing spot that I have been dreaming about for too long. Oh, and any berry bushes would need to be thornless since my two year old loves to run around naked eating berries and pretending its Eden!
You said it best Erica, if you are working too hard, somethings wrong. I have been skeptical of the whole permaculture thing as messy and slug haven like. Been working too hard and still have messy slug haven. Started a month ago by making in situ compost piles in the area, adding drainage swales and woodchip paths. I’m putting in a quince tree and blueberries. So Im taking the plunge and your fab podcast is so very timely! Will add gooseberries, serviceberry, monarda (bee balm) and sea buckthorn, yarrow and herbs left to bloom. Glad to see East coast folks love Raintree as much as we do! I drop $$ there too!
Goumi, sea-buckthorn, baptista, alpine strawberry all sound wonderful and seem like they might do well in my northeast location. Wonderful podcast!
Love the podcast! I can’t wait to get started. I have some of the basic everyday fruits and berries, but clearly its time to add some super food hardy varieties like the goumi bush Michael mentioned. Awesome if interview!
My dream food forest involves either taking over the neighbor’s yard or figuring out how to get him to work with us (by doing things our way, of course) so there’s enough room to grow plants and to raise chickens properly. I’d like to figure out how to get our blue/straw/rasp/lingon berry plants to do a little better. I’d like to replace our Norway Maple (I think that’s what it is) with something food-bearing. I’d like to put a permanent end to the ivy and Hawthorne blackberry and morning glory coming in from the neighboring yards. I’d like tomatoes & peppers to be more consistent in our geographical area. I’d like to have more room for potatoes, onions, pumpkins & other things that could store well, so we could have more of these things later in the year. I’d love to grow a couple of kinds of dry beans, enough of each for at least a handful of meals. But I’d mostly like to feel more like I know what I’m doing even with what I have going on in my garden.
My dream food forest would be several edible trees, including fig, citrus (calamansi, kumquat, lime, and meyer lemon) and a native paw-paw! surrounded by edible perennials like lavender, lemongrass, pandan, rosemary and self-seeding plants like borage and nitrogen-fixing clover. No lawn grass anywhere (I live in Southern California and hate seeing lawns everywhere). No, I want plants that serve a purpose, whether to provide yummy things or to build healthy soil and plants that support a healthy habitat for animals and invertebrates (the good kind!).
I plan to plant apples, elderberry, hazelnuts, and raspberries. For perennial herbs I’ll have yarrow, echinacea, and chamomile to start. I’m hoping to get ducks for “fertigation”.
Lots of berries, lots of herbs, tomatoes that are taller than I am, big, happy brussels sprouts, garlic o’ plenty and on and on…all surrounded by deer proof fencing with an ocean view.
My ideal food forest would include almonds, pecans, a walnut off to the side, a variety of stone fruits plus apples, pears, and a quince. Underneath I’d try out daffodils, borage, chives, dill, clover, thyme, & who knows what else. Thanks!