I’ve Written About The Seven Food Forest Layers, But Pippa Chapman’s Food Forest Garden Has Just Three Layers. Three or Seven, Both Are Good and Worth Considering.
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I’ve been gardening for over 60 years and I am still learning. Especially when it comes to food forests. So I loved this video featuring Pippa Chapman, author of The Plant Lover’s Backyard Forest Garden, talking about a simplified three layer food forest.
Her food forest gardens are more ornamental than I’m used to. More edimental than many. But that looks good to me and is something I might start to copy.
Here are the key points regarding Pippa’s very productive food forests gardens.
1. The Simplified 3-Layer Food Forest
While traditional forest gardening often refers to seven layers, Pippa simplifies this to three main tiers for easier design:
Layer 1: Trees & Large Shrubs: The permanent “backbone” of the garden. Examples include fruit trees (apple, plum) or large shrubs (Sea Buckthorn).
Layer 2: Herbaceous Layer: Plants that often die back in winter but provide seasonal structure. Examples include Lemon Balm, Yarrow, and Fennel.
Layer 3: Ground Cover: Low-growing plants designed to cover the soil, suppress weeds, and retain moisture. Examples include Lamb’s Ears and Siberian Bellflower.
2. Featured Plants & Uses
The video highlights specific plants chosen for both function and yield:
Sichuan Pepper: A large shrub with edible leaves and seeds (peppercorns).
Note: Pippa warns that eating fresh peppercorns can numb the mouth for an hour.
Sea Buckthorn: Produces bright orange berries with a “sherbety, zingy” flavour, suitable for cordials or fruit leather.
Yarrow: A favourite herbaceous plant that attracts beneficial insects for natural pest control. Leaves and flowers are harvested for tea.
Soapwort: The leaves contain saponins and can be used as a natural soap substitute; they lather when rubbed with water.
Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina): An effective ground cover with soft, absorbent leaves that can be used as natural plasters due to their antimicrobial properties.
Siberian Bellflower (Campanula poscharskyana): An evergreen ground cover that grows in sun or shade. Both leaves and flowers are edible, providing salad greens throughout winter.
3. Design & Maintenance Principles
“Chop and Drop” Mulching: Instead of removing waste, prune plants and drop the material directly onto the soil. This recycles organic matter and acts as a mulch.
Seasonal Timing: Delay cutting back dead stems (like Fennel or Verbena) until late winter to provide seeds for birds during the colder months.
Harvest Succession: Plan the garden to ensure a continuous harvest across different months, rather than having a glut of produce all at once.
Aesthetics: Approach the design like an ornamental border, focusing on colour and texture contrasts (e.g., silver foliage against purple flowers) rather than strictly following utilitarian planting rules. This is where Pippa deviates from the more common food forest design and is why I describe here gardens as food forest gardens!
Placement Strategy: Place trees and shrubs first as they are difficult to move. Herbaceous perennials can be easily lifted and divided later if needed.
