How to grow a food forest

Permaculture expert Christopher Shein says his backyard food forest takes less effort to manage, which means more time with daughter Gitanjali Victoria. Permaculture expert Christopher Shein says his backyard food forest takes less effort to manage, which means more time with daughter Gitanjali Victoria. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close How to grow a food forest 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

Wild and overgrown, Christopher Shein's incredibly productive South Berkeley garden couldn't be more different from the traditional vegetable plot. There are no straight rows of carrots, no orderly stands of corn or beefsteaks in cages. Instead, vines loop and drip over arched trellises, and tree branches bend under the weight of swelling fruit. Kale and collard greens cozy up beneath an almond tree. Fava beans and thornless blackberries commingle next to perennial tree tomatoes.

"This is a jungle, for sure," says Shein, standing amid it all. "It's chaotic. But it's intentional."

Six years ago, when Shein moved in, the backyard had a lawn and a couple of large shade trees. At the far end, a flower bed separated the grass from three poorly placed raised vegetable beds, which received adequate sunlight only half the year.

"In our climate, you can grow vegetables 12 months out of the year. Had they put the beds in the middle of the yard, they would have used them more," he says. After a period of observation, Shein, a permaculture expert and instructor at Merritt College in Oakland, chose to develop the lot's productive capacity by growing a food forest.

Food forests reflect the principles of permaculture, a holistic philosophy that borrows freely from ecology, landscape design and sustainable agriculture, but differs in its distinct emphasis on the value of mimicking natural ecosystems. Mutually beneficial plant relationships are cultivated by growing multiple crops in the same location at the same time, much like they would in a diverse, productive forest.

In Shein's garden, 12 to 15 types of plants might be growing in each bed at any one time. There's a method to what might seem like madness: Groupings are thoughtfully plotted to encourage cooperation, maximize vertical as well as horizontal space, and minimize the work of the home gardener. Food forests rely primarily on perennials, which help construct a permanent, self-sustaining system, but Shein also incorporates annual crops, such as tomatoes.

Shein is a veteran urban farmer, having helped start dozens of community gardens in the East Bay. He has taught permaculture at Merritt College since 2002, where an acre food forest is developing, and recently published "The Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Permaculture" (Timber Press; 2013).

While highly dedicated, he's practical and pragmatic when it comes to his priorities. Embracing the concept of a food forest allows him to spend less time and less effort in his backyard and more time with his two young daughters. He spends an hour or two each week maintaining his roughly 3,000-square-foot backyard, and most of that time is spent tending to compost and caring for his chickens and ducks. He waters his forest with a drip system for a mere 20 minutes a week. But has no less bounty to show for it. There's something from the garden on the table at every meal.

To the novice gardener, supporting such a diverse ecosystem may sound daunting. But once established, a food forest provides nutrients for the soil, suppresses weeds and attracts beneficial insects. And if some crops fail, others will succeed.

Shein's backyard has eight layers: the tall trees (full-size fruit or nut trees), the foundation of the garden; the small-tree layer (semi-dwarf fruit trees); the shrub layer (raspberries and blackberries); the herb layer (low-growing culinary, medicinal and ornamental herbs); the ground-cover layer (strawberries, nasturtiums); the root layer (carrots and parsnips); the vine layer (grapes or kiwi fruit); and, finally, the fungi layer (edible mushrooms).

"There are thousands of possibilities," Shein says. "What do you like to eat? How much sun is there?"

Every food forest is different. There is no specific, ideal combination, and flexibility is an asset. But to be productive, every food forest needs to include four types of plants:

-- Nitrogen fixers: The most important ally plants are members of the legume family including peas and beans as well as perennial plants such as acacias, alders or mesquite. Nitrogen fixers fuel plant growth.

-- Living mulch: Plants that protect the soil and keep it from drying out, slowly building up soil fertility over time. Shein grows "cut and come again" plants like comfrey with the specific intention of turning them into mulch, which eliminates the need to bring in straw, wood chips or sheets of plastic. Annuals with large leaves (think pumpkins, squash and zucchini) also function as efficient soil protectors.

-- Nutrient accumulators: Plants whose deep roots seek out micronutrients and make them available to shallower plants. Common nutrient accumulators include horseradish, chicory and marigolds.

-- Insectary plants: Pollinating insects are essential to fruit and seed crops. The aster, mustard and carrot families of plants are all pollinator magnets.

While the benefits of companion planting are apparent in one season, a food forest, like any forest, can take years to establish.

"It's a constant give and take, an evaluation and re-evaluation. I'm testing and tinkering and making mistakes," Shein said. "But as long as you learn from your mistakes, there's value. Gardening is so experimental."