Fruit Tree Guilds in the
Edible Forest Garden
A blend of grass suppressors, insect and bird
attractants, nutrient accumulators, mulch plants,
nitrogen fixers, soil fumigants, and pest repellants,
all surrounding a central food-producer tree.
The members of the fruit tree guild support the fruit tree
in numerous ways: by luring beneficial insects for
pollination, boosting soil tilth and fertility, reducing root
competition, conserving water, balancing fungal
population to counter disease, diversifying the yield of
food, creating habitat, and several other functions. The
result is a healthier tree and a varied ecology. Also, this
biological support replaces human intervention, shifting
the gardener’s workload onto the broad back of nature. If
we leave out one of the guild’s pieces, we’re stuck with
performing that part’s task.
Eliminating grasses near fruit trees will lessen the need
for fertilizer. Grasses are surface feeders and thus vie for
nutrients with trees, whose principal feeding roots also lie
near the surface (where most nutrients reside).With less
root and nutrient competition, the fruit trees may be more
vigorous.
The guild:
Grass-suppressing bulbs: The shallow roots of bulbs
keep grasses from moving into our guild. Bulbs should be
planted in a circle at the mature drip line of the tree.
Useful bulbs include daffodils, camas. garlic, garlic
chives, wild leek. Bulbs for this guild should be spring
flowering and summer dormant.
Insect- and bird-attracting plants: The tempting
blossoms of flowering plants will lure pollinators for
boosting fruit set and attract predatory wasps that feast
on pestiferous larvae such as borers and coddling moth.
Mulch plants: Growing mulch under the tree helps the
guild build its own soil. Mulch makers include soft-leafed
plants such as comfrey, artichokes, cardoon, rhubarb,
crimson clovers and nasturtiums, all of which can be
slashed and left to compost in place. A ring of comfrey
around the tree can be hacked down four or five times a
summer. As the nutrient-rich greenery rots, it delivers a
huge dose of minerals and organic matter to the soil. The
resulting thick layer of compost is home to a thriving and
diverse population of worms, fungi, bacteria, and other
helpful denizens of the soil. This rich and living soil will
suppress diseases because the churning soil life
competes fiercely for food and habitat below the ground.
With all the resources divided up among the soil’s many
inhabitants, no one microbial species can get out of
balance and become a pest.
Nutrient accumulators: The deep taproots of these
plants plunge far into the mineral soil and dredge up
important nutrients: potassium, magnesium, calcium,
sulfur and others. As the guild matures, nutrients will
begin to recycle within the guild rather than requiring
extraction from mineral soil by deep roots. The
accumulator plants will then become redundant and
begin a natural decline that the gardener can accelerate
by pulling them up and replacing them with others.
Nitrogen fixers: Since all-important nitrogen is so freely
available from the air, nitrogen fixers are a critical
component of guilds. Nitrogen fixers pull nitrogen from
the air and hold it on or near their roots to provide
nitrogen to plants that need it. Two or three small
nitrogen-fixing shrubs can be placed at or just outside the
mature drip line of the central tree.
Soil Fumigants and Pest Repellants: Certain plants
exude substances that repel pests, like nasturtiums and
certain marigolds.
Habitat nodes: Piling up stones, logs or brush near the
fruit tree guild and creating small ponds and puddles will
attract lizards, frogs, snakes, and birds. These beneficial
animals gobble up slugs, leaf-eating insects, and harmful
larvae. Predators such as these are important for
preserving balance.
Basic Fruit Tree Guild: one fruit tree, one or two
artichokes or cardoon, several comfrey, a dozen
insectiary plants, dozens of bulbs, a hundred or so
crimson clovers.
Currant – Red and black currants, plant at the mature
drip line of the tree; insect- and bird-attracting
Yarrow – Nutrient accumulator; insect- and birdattracting
Nasturtium – Soil fumigant and pest repellent; mulch
plant
Other soil fumigants and pest repellants: false indigo,
elderberry, marigold.
Dill - Insect- and bird-attracting
Wildlife nurturers: Dogwood, elderberry, chokecherry,
blueberry, native roses, hawthorn, wild cherries.
Welsh Onion - Bulbs at drip line
Garlic Chives – Bulbs at drip line; nutrient accumulator
Cardoon - Insect- and bird-attracting; mulch plant
Bellflower - Insect- and bird-attracting
Comfrey - Nutrient accumulator; insect- and birdattracting; large quantities of biomass
Good King Henry - Insect- and bird-attracting
Mallow - Insect- and bird-attracting
Salad Burnet – Nutrient accumulator; soil stabilization
Other nutrient accumulators (for potassium,
magnesium, calcium, sulfur, and others): dandelion,
plantain, chickweed, nettles, chicory, chamomile, fennel,
lamb’s quarters, mullein, walnut, sunflower.
Other insectiary plants: lavender, sunflower, lily, mint,
bee balm, coriander, feverfew, goumi, autumn olive,
mallow, hyssop, lavender, honeysuckle, mock orange,
black currant, red currant, gooseberry, rose, rosemary,
red and black raspberry, elderberry, lilac, blueberry.
Deer do not eat: Maximilian sunflower.
Vining: Maypop (exquisite, exotic-looking blossom, bees,
butterflies, edible fruits)
Comfrey: Bees and other beneficial insects, nutrient
accumulator (potassium, calcium, magnesium into roots
and leaves), deep roots, vigorous biomass producer –
slash down 4-5 times a season to compost in place or in
compost bin.
Mashua (vine, trellising up a 6’ fence): Edible
nasturtium, inca tuber – healthy plant produces 8 pounds
of tubers packed with vitamin C, smaller than Inca
relative, the potato – nectar and pollen for bees - repels
nematodes, fungal diseases, and some harmful insects –
interplant with potatoes, corn, beans to control pests of
those plants.
From: Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale
Permaculture by Toby Hemenway
For more information contact: Edible Forest Gardens
edibleforestgardens@gmail.com
www.edibleforestgardens.wordpress.com