Food forests are designed to mimic natural forests and usually have seven layers:

 a canopy layer of tall fruit and nut trees,

 a sub-canopy layer of dwarf trees,
 a shrub layer of fruit bushes,
 a herbaceous layer,
 a ground cover,
 a rhizosphere layer of root crops and a vertical layer of vines. 1

Live fence-

 Teak, silver oak, Carissa Carandas (vaag kaya,kalakai/kilaakkaai),

 Moringa, Flax tree(avisa, ali maram, sesbania grandiflora), sapota, pomegranate,
gooseberry(amla)
 Glyricidia, avisa

Layers Eg:-

 Mango, coconut, tamarind, jamun, Badam, cashuarina, Jack fruit, Neem, Bhel, wood apple,
Dates, sapota, Peepul tree, Black babool (prickly acasia), Mahua, Palm trees
 Gooseberry, Papaya, Mandarin Orange (Mousambi), dwarf trees(Mango, coconut, sapota),
orange, lemon, guava, nutmeg, Indian figs (gular), arecanut, Nitrogen fixing trees (moringa,
glyricidia, Flax tree, bi-annual pigeon pea) (pruning and using as mulch )
 Sitaphal, pomegranate, banana, papaya, dwarf moringa, coffee, cocoa, cardamom, clove, castor
beans, pigeon pea
 Last layer:-
1. Vegetable crops-mirchi, tomato, brinjal, okra, capsicum other veggie crops
2. Root crops- onions, turmeric, ginger, yam, elephant foot, colocassia, sweet potato, cassava,
3. Mix with flower plants like marigold, spinach; bund supporting plants-lemon grass, vetiver
 Ground cover-clovers, Chickpeas2, hogweed (punarnava, mookiratai, atika mamidi 3), Weeds like
cassias, crotolarias, indigos, desmodium, sesbanias & Wild varieties like mung, black gram, horse
gram, cluster bean, lab lab are useful for mulching. 4
 Creepers-bitter guard, bottle guard, ridge guard, snake guard, water melon, pumpkin, ash guard,
beetle leaves, black pepper, long pepper, grape, vanilla, beans, cucumber, passion fruit

1
“Food Forests Offer Better Profits to Farmers – Village Square,” accessed June 28, 2020,
https://www.villagesquare.in/2019/01/28/food-forests-offer-better-profits-to-farmers/.
2
Laurence Manchee, “Nitrogen Fixing Cover Crops and Living Mulch,” Keela Yoga Farm (blog), December 28, 2017,
https://www.keelayogafarm.com/2017/12/28/growing-green-manure-portugal/.
3
Prabalika M. Borah, “Care for Some Grass?,” The Hindu, August 10, 2017, sec. Food,
https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/care-for-some-grass/article19463316.ece.
4
“Organic Farming through Green-Culture_Weeds and Mulching_BN Nandish_Shimoga_OFAI SAC_2009.Pdf,”
accessed June 30, 2020, https://www.indiawaterportal.org/sites/indiawaterportal.org/files/Organic%20farming
%20through%20green-culture_Weeds%20and%20Mulching_BN%20Nandish_Shimoga_OFAI%20SAC_2009.pdf.
 5

Some Practices:-

 creating a live fence with local trees,

 to setting up a rain hose that replicates a drizzle without disturbing the soil,
 Picking perennial species like banana and turmeric that require minimal manual intervention
 Planting saplings like banana and marigold; green chill and bamboo that help each other
 using plants like vetiver and lemongrass to strengthen soil structure

Patanjali Jha’s Layers

Fencing- Ber, Neem, Babool, timber with guduchi (creeper)fencing- 75ft

1st LayerMoringa 75ft

2nd Layer-Citrus (Lemon (yield- 3-4quintals/tree) 25-50ft) , Papaya (annual crop)30ft , Banana 25ft

3rd Layer-Guar/cowpea/arhar- 18-20ft/nitrogen fixing

Support layer-Vines- betel,

4th Layer-Vetiver- great carbon sequestration, soil protection, nutrient recycling, water conservation.

5th Layer- Turmeric, yam, sweet potato, aloevera, shatawari (asparagus)

Friends of the Farm

 Bees=> Indian Bees in MP

 Purmia farm30,000 kg of mono-floral honey, European bees
 White ants

5
5 Layer Model/36*36 Model, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvjfZDoLBtM.
Bihar Farm-

 Moringa-the DOC of moringa is useful in water treatment filters.

 Korondha, gulberia
 gandharaj lemon-30Rs a piece
 Kadamab (flowering plants), sheesham, silk cotton plants,guava
 Vegetable hummingbird (Agathi,avisa) tree
 Tuar,cinnamon
 Pink pepper
 Lacadong Turmeric
 Touch me not-Bees food, nitrogen fixing
 Skin of lemon is anti-cancerous, Khus water