Planning and planting a food forest on a slope in Bordeaux

Hi there,

I have never posted here before and am relatively new to permaculture in practice. I have learnt some about it in theory and seen many examples of permaculture gardens.

I am helping to plan a food forest for a West facing slope close to Bordeaux in France in clay soil.  
The slope is 50 degrees at it's steepest which is the North end and gets more gradual towards the South but as you will see from the pictures still remains quite steep.
It is also currently covered with dwarf elder (I think).

I have so many questions but I will prioritise a few
- you will see tarp has been put over the Northern end to suffocate the current growth. The intention is to cover the rest of the area to suffocate the plants and I imagine that will take some time.
- the next stage I am thinking of is to put down straw or wood shipping to help loosen the soil - how long would I want to leave those down before beginning to plant? Would I want to put any cover crops in at the same time?
- for planting I am wondering if it would be best to start with a section (maybe 1/4) at the Southern end and the least steep, planting there to see how things go and gradually moving across OR if it best to plant across the whole slope at one time to see the success/progression as a whole?
- I haven't got as far as planning what to plant yet for the climate, soil and design so any suggestions would be welcome - as you will see there is one large walnut (English I believe) tree at the Southern end to keep in mind and an olive tree a little further along. The only plantings towards the other end are vegetables at the top of the slop - tomatoes mainly.
- Finally, I did think about putting in swales but understand that could be very challenging on such a slope so either I just plant without or the other idea I had heard about is a checklog terrace? Does anybody have experience with these and any advice?

I know I have a lot to consider and am so new to this but I also want it to be enjoyable and to observe and learn as I go so here goes...

Thanks,

Caz

Hi Caz,

Welcome to Permies!

Looking at your photos I have two suggestions:

1) Work with terraces and incorporate swales into the terraces. Looking for "Sepp Holzer, terraces" here on Permies I come across this thread , where food foresting a steep slope has been covered before!

2) I get the idea of using plastic, but it's not very eco-friendly, also not for the critters in the soil. How about working with thick mulch? Would that work? One would have to think of a way to pin it in place somehow, so that it doesn't roll down the slope.

Good luck!