How to grow your own food

There are plenty of powerful benefits to growing your own food, both for yourself and for your community. You may be interested for health benefits, the environment, sustainability, or cost-saving reasons. However, all of these apply regardless of which one is most important to you! In this article, we will show you how to start a food forest, whether you live in a small apartment or have a large plot of land.

It’s Better for the Environment

Establishing a food forest has a wide range of environmental benefits. One of those is that is increases your local biodiversity and provides a habitat for many species of insects, birds, and other animals. Another benefit is that it also helps capture carbon from the atmosphere and build healthy soil.

Benefits To Your Health

Working outside helps you stay active and improve your fitness levels. You’ll absorb more Vitamin D by spending the day in the sun and eat a healthier diet when it comes time to harvest your delicious produce.

Building Community

Growing a food forest is a great way to connect with your community and have a positive effect on your neighbourhood. Spread the love by sharing surplus produce and educating others on the importance of local food production.

5 Simple Steps

It is not difficult to get started with growing your own food. Here are 5 simple steps, and a basic guide to growing your own food, inspired by the lessons of permaculture and food forest design. For more detailed guidance, and a food forest blueprint of your own, get in touch with our team.

Know Your Environment

Although it may sound simple, don’t overestimate the importance of this step. Take time to familiarize yourself with your surroundings and learn about the native plants and animals that live around you. What natural features can you take advantage of, such as slopes, rock features, or areas that get more sun than others? For example, if you have a sunken area in your backyard, consider turning it into a natural pool for irrigation and rainwater collection.

Design Your Garden or Food Forest

The design process encompasses choosing the right plants for your environment and where they should go to benefit the whole garden. Research which plants thrive when planted together and how to attract beneficial insects that can help control pests. You’ll also need to know about each plant’s light, soil, and water requirements. Read this post to learn about the eight layers of a food forest and arrange your plants accordingly.

If you live in an apartment with a balcony or only have a small yard to work with, you can still apply these concepts on a smaller scale. One example; set up a trellis behind a large planter box so that you can grow a fruiting vine and herbs out of the same soil.

Prepare The Soil

Soil type and soil quality are crucial to the success of your garden. That’s why it’s always a good idea to test your soil before planting. Once you have a better idea of your soil’s composition, you can add any needed amendments.

Stay away from chemical fertilizers or applying too many synthetic amendments. Instead, compost your food waste and use it to build your soil quality over time. Adding organic mulch will also help suppress weeds and keep your soil moist without disturbing it so that worms and beneficial microorganisms can get to work.

Plant The Seeds

Plant your garden during the appropriate time of year so that your plants can establish themselves in the right conditions. Start with taller plants that take longer to grow, and make sure you space out your plants in accordance with their fully grown sizes. You should also consider the sun and water requirements that your garden will have when it’s fully established.

For example, will the apple tree you’re planting now overshadow your vegetable patch in a couple of years? If you’re working with a small space, use raised beds. This way, you don’t need to till the soil and can build the bed layer by layer with compost and mulching materials.

Maintain & Nurture

Use a resource-efficient, sustainable irrigation system, such as drip irrigation. Also consider rainwater collection systems that can be attached to your roof gutters and stored in large barrels.

When it comes to weeds, try to work with them rather than seek to eradicate every weed you can find. Many weeds are beneficial in terms of attracting pollinators and accumulating nutrients in the root zone for other plants to access. You’d be surprised how many common garden weeds are not only edible but are delicious too!

In Conclusion

If you’re interested in creating your own food forest, you can make the process easier by purchasing one of our blueprints. Each of our Food Forest Landscape Blueprints is completely customized to your unique needs and environment.

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Top 10 reasons why you should start with a professional design.

Get it right the first time!

Buying and placing perennial plants on your property is a big investment of your time and money to begin with, and you often won’t know if you were successful until at least a year or more has passed. Our Designers thoroughly evaluate your property when considering what plants are selected, how they are placed, and how water and people move through the landscape for ongoing growth and abundance.
Plan For Success

Did you know the most common reason homesteads fail is going in without a plan? You wouldn’t build a house without a plan, would you? Having a clear plan will help you develop a budget, phase your implementation, and manage your time so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.
We Turn Problems into Solutions!

You don’t have a surplus of Grasshoppers; you have a deficiency of Chickens! You don’t have a drainage problem; you have a water retention opportunity. Permaculture designers are trained to turn limitations into opportunities, creatively using and responding to change and integrating multiple design elements to work together harmoniously.
Obtain a Superior Yield

There is a difference between a tree surviving and THRIVING. Our designs begin with restoring healthy soil as the foundation on which layers of plants are stacked that work together in close proximity, creating ultra-abundant ecosystems. This means we can pack more food into less space, and no yard is too small for us to generate a yield.
We Know Plants…and The Company They Like to Keep!

Not only will we help you select varieties of edible plants that will flourish in your climate, but we will select “companions” to create communities of plants that are stronger together than they would be alone. Pest & Weed deterrence, Nitrogen Fixation (improving soil fertility), Pollinator Attraction, Habitat, Mulch, and Compost Production are just some of the functions happening in these thoughtfully designed systems.
Use Your Resources Wisely!

Your Design is thoughtfully created to eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides; conserve water usage; and be low maintenance. They can also thoughtfully moderate energy usage by being conscious of plant placement in relation to the sun and heat sinks on the property.
Let Your Livestock Work for You

Without a Design, it is all too common for homesteaders to become slaves to their livestock, spending considerable time and money to sustain their animals and leaving their land extracted. This is all backwards; it is the livestock that should providing a yield and leaving the land regenerated! Our Homestead Designs ensure you have the right space, water, pasture, fodder, infrastructure, and strategies in place to seamlessly integrate livestock onto your property and into your lifestyle.
GROW Your Assets

Every fruit begins as a flower, and edible plants can be just as beautiful as ornamental ones! Professional designs carefully consider aesthetics to create landscapes that will boost your curb appeal and property value. Plants can be selected for the color of their flower and the time of year they bloom, water features placed thoughtfully, fences and arbors used as trellises for flowering vines, and captivating living-scenes surrounding
Support, mentoring ...

Our Design Process includes a minimum of 3 consultations to co-create, explain your design, answer questions, and educate you on its successful implementation…but the journey doesn’t stop there! Your designer can help coordinate the installation with our team or offer DIY support and we would love to help you continue your journey to be an example for your community to demonstrate living in freedom and abundance!
Designed for You

Don’t have a lot of time to spend in the garden? No problem. Do you love to live outside and want immersive spaces where you can reconnect to nature? Consider it done. Your design is created for your unique goals, lifestyle, and interests in mind so that it enhances your life. We can include juice & smoothie gardens, tea gardens, outdoor kitchens, livestock, children’s sensory gardens & play areas, medicinal gardens, flower (pollinator) gardens, potagers, apiaries, culinary gardens, and more within your design.