Martin Crawford, in his book, “Making a Forest Garden”, described a visit to Robert Hart’s food forest.

He said, “This seeming riot of plants and trees, when explained, proved to be an intelligently designed, three-dimensional food system, based on perennial plants, which offered a whole new way of imagining agricultural systems.”

Where we live, on the Costa Blanca North, equidistant between Alicante to the south and Valencia to the north, and a little inland, bears very little resemblance to the situation in which Robert Hart was building his forest. So whilst I can use many of the ideas that he suggested, such as a variety of ‘storeys’ or ‘layers’, many of the challenges faced here, from climate and low rainfall, are very different from his experience.

Put briefly, I hope that this food forest will provide increasing amounts of food from plants, as well as herbs for medicinal purposes and infusions to drink, firewood for our woodburner, and a shady, comfortable outdoor space to relax in and share with others. The ‘forest’ aspect will emerge as the years go by, and the trees I have planted become established, and the other layers will be supported by this structure.