The Food Forest Lab
The Orchard of Flavours Botanical Garden is likely the most comprehensive and documented Food Forest Lab in Southern Europe, thriving in a Mediterranean climate. Our approach is very results oriented: developing food forests that support biodiversity and sustainability while focusing on productivity and scalability.
Whether you are a gardener, farmer, or environmental enthusiast, our lab offers practical insights to help you create your own Food Forest.
The Benefits of a Food Forest
A Food Forest, also known as a "forest garden" or "edible forest," is a self-sustaining, perennial polyculture designed to mimic the natural ecosystem of a forest. The primary objective of a food forest is to produce food while maintaining ecological balance and enhancing biodiversity.
Key Features of a Forest Environment
Very Good Soil: Healthy, nutrient-rich soil is the foundation of any successful food forest.
Density: A high density of plantings mimics natural forest ecosystems.
Layers or Strata: From ground cover to canopy trees, multiple layers of plants maximize productivity and habitat diversity.
Diversity: A wide range of plant species fosters a resilient ecosystem.
Our Food Forest Experiments
Our Assessment Criteria:
Our Food Forest experiments are assessed using the following criteria:
Growth Rate: How quickly plants establish and thrive.
Resilience: Biodiversity and soil microbiology's role in ecosystem health.
Fruit production: quantity, quality, and predictability.
Ease of Maintenance and Harvest: How practical and sustainable the management of the forest is.
Cost Efficiency: Implementation costs.
Scalability: Potential for replication.
Water Efficiency: Effective use and conservation of water resources.
Our Context
Mediterranean climates: hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. It occurs between 31° and 40° latitude, typically on the western sides of continents. Rain mainly falls in the winter, with little to no precipitation during summer. This climate is common in the Mediterranean Basin, parts of California, central Chile, southwestern Australia, and the Western Cape of South Africa.
Rusticity zone (USDA): 10 b
Soil type: Heavy clay soil (slightly alkaline)
Our Protocols
At the botanical garden, we are conducting observational experiments to evaluate the effects of different planting protocols on plant growth and ecosystem health. While all test plots share a standardized soil preparation process, the primary experimental variables under investigation are plant density, spatial organization and size.
Density refers to the number of plants per unit area. By varying density, we aim to understand how crowding affects competition for resources such as light, water, and nutrients, and how it influences overall plant health and yield.
Organization refers to the spatial arrangement of plants within the plots. This includes patterns such as row planting, grid planting, or random distribution. We are examining how different organizational strategies impact factors like light penetration, air circulation, and root space, which in turn affect growth patterns, disease resistance, and biodiversity within the plots.
Size refers to the wide range of different sized plots of land considered while trying to determine a system that is easily applicable and able to cover the largest possible area in one planting while remaining cost effective.
Our Methodology
It is beyond our scope and financial means to conduct controlled experiments. Our method is systematic observational research. We try to apply scientific rigor by varying specific factors (like plant density and spatial organization) and assessing their impact using clear criteria. This method is effective in ecological and environmental studies where the complexity of living systems often makes controlled experiments impractical or undesirable.
The aim of our observational studies is to develop optimized planting strategies that maximize growth efficiency and sustainability and that can be easily applied.
Learn more about the studies that inspired us by clicking here.