Edibile Forest Gardens

Forest gardening is an idea whose time has come.

We can consciously apply the principles of ecology to the design of home scale and large scale systems that mimic forest ecosystem structure and function.

"By mimicking Earth's various ecosystems (depending on what type of garden we want to create), we can make significantly less work for the gardener, while at the same time decreasing inputs, creating more diverse, self-sufficient, resilient and beautiful landscapes, and increasing yields."

Incorporating knowledge from the fields of permaculture, indigenous knowledge, agriculture, ecology, biology and other natural sciences into a holistic set of evolving tools and techniques, edible forest gardening is one of humanity's greatest hopes for a stable and prosperous future.

'Food Forests have been around for thousands of years in tropical and sub-tropical climates. In fact, there is a Food Forest currently still producing food in Morocco that was established 2,000 years ago! The concept of food forestry was almost lost to the annals of history when Robert Hart decided to adapt this design to his temperate climate in the UK in the 1960’s. The idea of a Forest Garden was brought to the public’s awareness when Robert wrote a book documenting his grand experiment. Bill Mollison, the co-founder of Permaculture, visited Robert’s site in 1990, and he quickly adopted this design element into his teachings and work. Initially, when Robert Hart described the layers of the Forest Garden, I believe he did so based on what he had and what he studied. Since then, Robert Hart’s categorization of the layers of the Forest Garden has stood unquestioned. Until now.

I am not actually arguing about the existing layers. My issue is that there are certain layers that have been ignored or overlooked. My goal is to resolve this discrepancy today. As you can see in my illustration above, I believe that there are 9 layers in a Forest Garden. The first 7 are identical to Robert Hart’s initial design. The missing layers are the Aquatic or Wetland Layer and the Mycelial or Fungus Layer.'

Here are my Nine Layers of the Edible Forest Garden:
 [Nine Layers of the Edible Forest Garden (Food Forest)]

1. Canopy/Tall Tree Layer
2. Sub-Canopy/Large Shrub Layer
3. Shrub Layer
4. Herbaceous Layer
5. Groundcover/Creeper Layer
6. Underground Layer
7. Vertical/Climber Layer
8. Aquatic/Wetland Layer
9. Mycelial/Fungal Layer 

 

Permaculture and Superfoods advocate David Wolfe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNDJ3-XNifM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLoVcziHpLw

http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/about_book

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/plant-an-edible-forest-garden-zmaz07aszgoe.aspx#axzz3NxyudqGi

http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/about_gardening

http://www.nofa.org/tnf/sp02/supplement/edible.php

Agroforestry Research Trust in England:
http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/

Plants for a Future database, an incredible, highly detailed, massive database of useful plants for forest gardens around the world:
http://www.pfaf.org/

North American Native Plant Society:
http://www.nanps.org/

Edible Forest Gardens Facebook group

New Earth Cooking - Empowering people through food
https://www.facebook.com/newearthcooking/videos/1188726517847979/