“In the horticultural world annuals are the sprinters: they must live their entire lives and reproduce over only a few seasons.”
GARDENING is a process – there’s no end goal – it’s a practice that requires continual involvement and, hopefully, appreciation and reward.
If we understand that gardening is a continual practice – and your time is limited – then what you put in your garden will determine how much upkeep, or hard labour, it needs.
In the horticultural world annuals are the sprinters: they must live their entire lives and reproduce over only a few seasons, and must generally be replanted each year by seed or by buying young plants to transplant in your garden. Salad veg and much of what you can buy in a supermarket are annuals including Lettuce, Zucchini, Broccoli, Daikon and Carrot. Some annuals are biennials and last two years, such as Parsley, while some are prolific self-seeders, such as Swiss Chard, so you really only ever have to plant these once. Other plants are marathon runners in it for the long haul and persist over many years; in the food plant world these range from berries, to a huge variety of fruit, veg, beans, grains and nuts.
Perennials are far less work than annuals to maintain, need less inputs and are much less costly to grow in the long run as you don’t need to replace the entire plant each year.
Designing a food garden with perennials means that the garden will be low cost and low maintenance, especially when compared with food gardens full of annuals. Think orchard and add additional layers with root vegetables such as Jerusalem Artichoke and Sweet Potato, herbs such as Lemonbalm, Angelica, Lemongrass and Marjoram, shrubs such as Black Currants and Goosberries, tall shrubs such as Pomegranate, Persimmon, Guava and Babaco, scramblers such as Pepino melon, vines such as Passionfruit, Grape and Choko, and trees such as Mulberry, Peach, Apricot, Plum, Apple, Quince, Almond, Pistachio, Hazelnut and Macadamia, and the true scope of a low-maintenance garden starts to emerge.
How do we arrange this to create a synergistic self-sustaining ecology? The devil is in the detail, but building and supporting the soil, and creating habitat for beneficial insects and wildlife, along with multiple design benefits to create a comfortable, livable space for the residents, should be the aim of any good Food Forest design. Based on forest ecology, this is biomimicry at its best and produces extremely stable, resilient, intensive food systems that not only look beautiful but are low maintenance and incredibly relaxing to be in.
Food Forests will vary depending on climate conditions and soil – a tropical or Desert Food Forest will look very different to one in a Temperate Climate, although the design principles are identical. In truth, even in the same climate Food Forests all look and feel very different, although the many many benefits of these biodiverse and beautiful spaces remain the same.