Forest Gardens: The Garden of the Future
Forest gardens replicate woodland ecosystems that provide food, fuel, and medicine, support wildlife, and could boom in popularity as the climate changes.
Expert Insights from Toby Hemenway
Toby Hemenway, a permaculture expert and author of "Gaia's Garden," explains how gardens can function as ecosystems. He describes the basic parts of an ecological garden (soil, water, plants, and animals) and shows how to create backyard ecosystems through guilds.
Understanding Plant Guilds
"Guilds are groups of plants that function as an ecosystem to provide produce for humans, create cover and food for wildlife, nourish the soil, conserve water, and repel pests."
— Toby Hemenway
Classic Example: The "Three Sisters"
Corn
Provides a natural trellis for beans to climb
Beans
Fix nitrogen in the soil, nourishing all plants
Squash
Large leaves inhibit weeds and conserve water
The Benefits of Forest Gardens
Self-Maintaining
No weeding, watering, digging, or feeding required. Can be left to look after themselves for weeks or months. Disease resistant by design.
Highly Productive
Reduce your weekly food bill with free, organic produce grown in your own backyard.
Eco-Friendly
Completely organic approach that creates habitat and food sources for local wildlife while building healthy soil.
Adaptable
Can be implemented in any outdoor space—from inner-city terrace backyards to country estate grounds.
How to Get Started
The essence of forest gardens is that they are arranged on forest principles with edible layers of self-sustaining perennials that provide food, fuel, medicines, and wildlife support.
Plant Native Trees
Start with native trees that will eventually largely look after themselves, forming your canopy layer.
Add Understory Plants
Plant herbs and salad leaves underneath, such as dandelions and nettle, creating your herb layer.
Mimic Forest Floor
Cover the earth around plants with bark chippings to mimic the self-mulching forest floor.
Build Layers Year by Year
Layer and build plants up year on year. The seven layers all coexist happily within their own ecosystem.
The Seven Layers of a Forest Garden
High Canopy (Vertical Layer)
Tall trees like oak, walnut, or chestnut
Tree Canopy
Fruit trees like apple, pear, cherry
Dwarf Trees
Dwarf fruit trees, smaller specimens
Fruiting Shrubs
Berries like blueberries, currants, gooseberries
Herb Layer
Perennial herbs, vegetables, flowers
Ground Cover
Strawberries, low herbs, spreading plants
Root Layer
Root vegetables, tubers, beneficial soil organisms
Related Resources
Wildlife Attraction Resources:
Additional Gardening Resources:
Gardening in an Environmentally Friendly Way — Chemicals and toxins in our environment hurt wildlife and us. This step is important in having your garden certified as a Wildlife Habitat. Backyard Habitat
Start Your Forest Garden Journey
Create a self-sustaining ecosystem that feeds you, supports wildlife, and requires minimal maintenance