Building Soil: Let Your Plants Do the Heavy Lifting

In a food forest, healthy soil is essential—but the beauty is that once you’ve set things in motion, your plants can do much of the work for you. Over the years, we’ve relied on nature’s cycles to create and maintain rich, living soil that feeds our forest. Here’s how:

The Power of Nitrogen-Fixers

Certain plants, like pigeon peas and clover, are nitrogen-fixers. These plants work with soil bacteria to pull nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form that other plants can use. By strategically planting them throughout our food forest, we’ve been able to naturally enrich the soil without relying on synthetic fertilizers.

• Our Favorites: Black Pigeon Pea and Ice Cream Bean.
• How They Work: Once established, these plants boost soil fertility by improving nitrogen levels, providing a healthy foundation for fruit trees and other crops.

Pro Tip: Plant nitrogen-fixers around heavy feeders like mangoes or jackfruit to give them a natural nutrient boost.

Chop and Drop: Nature’s Mulching System

One of the easiest ways to build soil in a food forest is by using the chop and drop method. Instead of hauling in mulch or compost, we let the plants do the job.

• How It Works:
  1. Grow fast-growing plants like pigeon peas, comfrey, or lemongrass.
  2. Periodically chop their leaves and stems, leaving the cuttings right on the ground around your other plants.
  3. As these cuttings decompose, they release nutrients back into the soil, mimicking the natural cycle of a forest floor.

This method not only feeds the soil but also helps suppress weeds, retain moisture, and regulate soil temperature.

Pro Tip: Rotate your chop and drop plants so that different areas of your forest receive fresh organic matter throughout the year.

Deep Root Systems: Breaking Up Soil and Improving Drainage

Certain plants with deep taproots, like comfrey or arrowroot, do an incredible job of breaking up compacted soil and improving drainage. These “dynamic accumulators” pull nutrients from deep within the soil and make them available to surrounding plants when their leaves are chopped and dropped.

• Our Go-To Plants: Comfrey, Taro, Papaya, and Jerusalem Artichoke.
• Bonus Benefit: These plants also act as natural water channels, helping rainwater penetrate deeper into the soil, reducing runoff and erosion.

Ground Covers: Nature’s Blanket

Ground covers like sweet potatoes and nasturtiums protect the soil by acting as a living mulch. They prevent erosion, suppress weeds, and retain moisture—all while producing food or flowers.

• Why We Love Them: Ground covers work tirelessly to improve soil health while maximizing your yield.

The Result: A Self-Sustaining Soil Ecosystem

By integrating these plant-based methods, our food forest soil has become incredibly rich and fertile. We rarely need to add external inputs because the plants themselves keep the nutrient cycle going. Every year, our soil improves, becoming more capable of supporting a diverse and abundant ecosystem.

Pro Tip: The more you let your plants do the work, the less maintenance you’ll have in the long run. Focus on creating a system where every plant plays a role in feeding the soil and supporting its neighbors.