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  • Plants By Structure
    • Low Trees 4-15m
      • Banana – Musa × paradisiaca
      • Black Mulberry – Morus nigra
    • Ground Covers 0-15cm
      • Warrigal Greens – Tetragonia tetragonioides
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      • Comfrey – Symphytum × uplandicum
      • Cranberry Heath – Astroloma humifusum
      • Large Tick-trefoil – Desmodium brachypodum
    • Vines & Creepers
      • False Sarsaparilla – Hardenbergia violacea
      • Passionfruit – Passiflora edulis
      • Wombat Berry – Eustrephus latifolius
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Edible Forest Garden Design

Tree and Forest Structure of and Edible Forest Garden
Forest Structure

An Edible Forest Garden is a perennial polyculture of multipurpose plants.

Forest gardens are

  • Perennial, as most plants regrow without replanting;
  • A Polyculture, as many species grow together;
  • Multipurpose, as each plant contributes to the success of the whole by fulfilling many functions.

Forest Ecosystem Mimicry
The aim of an EFG designer is to garden like a forest, thus to mimic forest ecosystems. Forest gardeners use the forest as a design metaphor, to model structure and function while adapting the design to meet human needs.

The structure of a forest may be defined by nine layers: Tall Tree, Low Tree, Shrub, Herb, Ground, Vine, Topsoil, Subsoil, and Substratum. To fully grasping the multitude of ecosystem interrelationships in a forest or forest garden is perhaps impossible.

The text and image on this page was drawn from the work of Dave Jacke & Eric Toensmeier, Edible Forest Gardens.

Design Resources

  • Nutrient Accumulators
  • Worm Farming
  • Aquaponics
  • Poor Drainage Clay Soils
  • Shallow Soils
  • Dry Conditions
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