Who said the greatest hunger a person has is to be needed? When it comes to gardening I’d consider it the height of success if I’ve designed myself out of the system completely. No watering, no propagating, just eating!
After 6 months of neglect: a boiling February, an unseasonably hot autumn and a cheerless winter; the food forest hadn’t even missed me. I was relieved. Some plants like the Warrigal greens, parsley and wormwood had actually attempted to take over the joint while I was gone!
So this list is for the busy, busy people out there, who just want to water intermittently, then leave plants to their own devices except for the occasional, to borrow a phrase from Jackie French, “hacking back the jungle” (maybe we can even train the chickens to this for us). I never thought I would ever curse having TOO MANY vigorous plants in the food forest, but I certainly did when I had to write this list, by number 20 I had lost the will, so I hope you find this useful! Drop me a comment if you do, I read everyone and cherish them!
The Survivors & multipliers
These are the plants that not only survived, but thrived on neglect. Taking the mickey really, not for the perfect manicured potager garden, but oh so wonderful for a community food forest. They are great filler plants when a garden is just getting established, after which plants like Warrigal greens can be cut back to create a space for a new plant. Once established these hardy plants will improve the soil, protect it for moisture loss and help to create a better environment so softer plants can also take root.
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Nasturtiums
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Chard
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Parsley
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Mint
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Wormwood
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Pineapple sage
Acts as a living mulch
Great Companions for fruit trees (repels bugs, attracts predatory insects) as well as to cabbage family, Turnips, Radishes, Cucumbers, Zucchini
Pretty edible flowers
Seeds cam be pickled as caper substitute
Leaves can be used in salads and pesto
Spread across the ground, roots easily by layering
Self-seeding
Can be harvested all year, if it starts bolting cut the stalk and it should resprout
Good companion for bean, cabbage family, tomato, onion
Young leaves can be used in salads
Its colourful stems are delicious baked or grilled
Leaves can be used as spinach substitute in warm weather
Self-seeding
High in vitamins and minerals
Good companion to asparagus, tomatoes, chives
Wonderful in falafel stem and all!
Yum in tabouli
Self-seeding, when we came back from overseas we had an entire wicking bed and two huge pots full of parsley that we never planted there, lucky it’s so useful!
Good companion to cabbages and tomatoes
Great fresh or dried for herbal tea
Some like it hot, but for those who don’t a minty raita is great on a curry
Robust, can be used as a permaculture lawn or living mulch (but can choke out other plant if not harvested regularly)
Quick spreading by runners, you can just rip a fistful out and replant it
Pest and animal deterrent so best utilised on garden borders to stop those pesky pets weeing on the veg!
Can supress weeds because roots secrete growth inhibitors, should keep away from other plants for this reason
Chop and drop for paths for above reasons
Grow near chook pens to control external parasites
Sends out roots and shoots to multiply
Our housemate loves to make pineapple sage cupcakes from the flowers and leaves
Adds nice fruity taste to ice teas and cocktails
Extremely vigorous if chopped inches from the ground will resprout bushier and fuller (like a beard!)
Provides nectar for native spinebill
Used for treatment of anxiety and depression
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Warrigal greens
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Saltbush
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Elderflower
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Feverfew
High in antioxidants and fibre. Captain Cook’s crew ate it aboard the Endeavour to prevent scurvy and it was the first Australian edible to be cultivated overseas. Can be used just like spinach.
Like nasturtiums makes a great pesto (who needs spinach and basil anyway, the capricious creatures!)
Completely smothers weeds, so excellent under fruit trees (just be careful to cut it away from other smaller plants so it doesn’t just plow over them)
Disease and pest resistant
Self-seeds readily and is easily propagated by cutting, just snap it off and shove it in the ground like elderflower and it will just keep on growing.
Tough, drought tolerant and longlived
Can grow in very poor soils, it has thrived in the dry, compacted edges of the food forest
Seeds can be ground for damper, or the dried leaves used as a garnish
Leaves can be used in salads, blanched to wrap fish or even in fritters
Prostrate forms are a vigorous groundcover that are like a carpet so they don’t smother like warrigal greens; shrubs can be shaped to form a low hedge
Repels insects and vermin
An excellent hedging plant, often seen in British hedgerows, birds and bees love it.
Flowers make delicious elderflower cordial
Elderflower fritters are also yummy
Strike extremely easily from cuttings, I have cut twigs and just poked them in the ground and they have sprouted!
Good companions crop “banker” to attract predatory insects which reduce aphids, spider mites, thrips and white fly on nearby plants
Self-sows easily
Chewing the leaves is said to reduce migraines, but as with all medicinal plants it is best left to the experts, pregnant women in particular should avoid self medicating with medicinal herbs
Creates a compact 30cm hedge that is great for delineating borders, pretty daisy flowers
Dried sachets can be used to deter moths from clothing
Yellow dye can be made from the leaves and stems
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Native raspberry
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Rocket
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Nettles
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Dandelions
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Strawberries
It is high in antioxidants and it studies with mice was shown to prevent damage to the liver.
Similar taste to commercial raspberries
Hardier in this climate than commercial raspberries, can be shawn off at the base whilst in leaf and resprout within weeks (It was accident, but it came back even bushier!)
Self-fertile, but more success by layering – takes root where canes touch the ground
Tolerates full sun to full shade, but more likely to fruit with sun exposure.
Good companion to bush beans, celery, carrots, nasturtium, mint, dill, lettuce, cucumbers, onions, rosemary, potatoes
Cover crop, is an effective biofumigant that will overwinter. Before it sets seed chop to the ground and incorporate into soil. Suppresses weeds, fungal pathogens and insects.
Minimises surface compaction with its tap root.
Young leaves great in salads
Self-seeds readily
Good companion, increases volatile oils in plants e.g. valerian, mint, sage and rosemary
Compost activator
Makes a delicious pesto, but harvest when leaves are young for best flavour. Great on pizza as well as pasta.
Winter forage for chooks, even increases egg production!
Habitat for butterflies and other beneficial insects.
Roots are fantastic in stirfries.
Roots can also be used as a coffee substitute for those trying to kick the addiction, but love the ritual.
Flowers and young leaves are great in salads
High in vitamins and nutrients especially calcium, iron and vitamin A & C.
Spreads readily via their puff ball seeds, grows anywhere.
Good companion of Borage, Lettuce, Spinach, Sage
Groundcover to exclude weeds (especially wild strawberries) Look lovely on borders as a barrier to grass.
We had surprising success with strawberries in the food forest wild and standard, they have survived very dry conditions and although those in the driest spots did not fruit as well we still have gotten a constant trickle of fruit this spring, can’t wait until summer! we just ate them straight off the bush.
Try this strawberry chia seed jam
Spreads via runners
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Radish
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Clover
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Borage
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Yarrow
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Calendula
Good companion to peas, nasturtium, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach (attracts leaf miner away), chervil (Improves growth & flavour), carrots
Good nurse crop, they grow fast so if you plant them in a circle around a tomato or other slow grower it will protect it from sun, wind, weeds and pest until it is big enough to look after itself. Often sown with carrots and keeps the soil moist.
Radish leaves can be used in stir-fries or salads and are more nutritious than the root.
My french friend eats baby radishes like an apple, fresh from the garden and then eats its leaves too! That’s a bit too spicy for me so I prefer them sliced in a salad.
If you choose daikon radishes they are very good at breaking up compacted soil , scavenging nutrients from deep down
Fixes nitrogen in the soil
Attracts beneficial insects
Great ground cover/green manure in cooler months (dies down in summer)
Try clover tea for multiple health benefits including being anticarcinogenic and relieving PMS
Self-seeds
Good companion to Tomatoes (attract bees, deters tomato worm, improves growth & flavour), squash, strawberries (increases yield)
Pretty blue or white edible flowers can add colour to salads and pastas; sugared they can also be used in sweet dishes as cake decoration or in drinks
Borage leaves make a tea that soothes the stomach and the heart!
Leaves have a cucumber taste commonly used in soups
Self-seeds like a champion
Attracts beneficial insects with its pretty flowers
Increases essential oil production of herbs
Compost activator
Useful herb for wounds stops bleeding, relieves pain and has antimicrobial properties.
Spreads through seeds and underground rhizomes, once you have it, it’s for life.
Beneficial insect attracting
Nematode deterring plant, so a good companion for tomatoes
Bright orange petals add lovely colour to salads or vegetable stock
Oil made from the flowers is used in creams and balms to help heal wounds, burns, cracked skin & co
Self-seeds
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Sorrel
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Cherry Tomatoes
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Lemon balm
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Basil mint
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Marjoram
High in Vitamin & minerals, especially A, C & iron
Dynamic accumulator – long tap roots mine for nutrients so it is not only good for breaking up compacted soil, but a good cover crop which can be slashed to add nutrients to the top soil
Grows in sun or shade
Leaves add a nice lemony taste to salads or soup
Drought tolerant
Grows from seed or by division
Kids love finding these sweet treats, we just let the plants sprawl.
I’m sure I don’t really need to give you any recipes, but this is a chance to send a shout out to two of my favourite cooking blogs vegie num num and green kitchen stories
Cherry tomatoes are hardier and faster to ripen than larger varieties
Cherry tomatoes require less heat/sun hours
A surprise favourite in the food forest that seemed to come up of its own accord. We let it go to seed and sure if they sprang up again this spring.
Forms a low hedge, so good for borders
Create a soothing tea from the leaves, considered a mild anti-depressant
Can be used in baking – how about lemon balm biscuits?
Flowers attract beneficial insects
Self-seeder
Strong scent repels cabbage moth so plant near brassicas
Doesn’t quite taste like basil, but has its own delicious flavour that I love adding to Banh Xeo
Can be pruned to form a low hedge for borders
High essential oil content
Great filler, like mint it spreads by runners
This is included in a list of “plants that benefit everything” with lemon balm
Tea from leaves good for sorethroats and aids digestion
Pretty delicate leaves, flowers attract beneficial insects
In our garden golden marjoram is far more vigorous than oregano
Keeps full flavour when dried, mmm…tomato marjoram dip
