New food forest mass in Portugal

Over 2 one month long food forest courses we have nearly finished a mass planting of a new food forest in Portugal. we planted guilds, installed a swales and a pond, put in cover crops and sheet mulching. Some photos here:

Photo of the design done by the group, inbetween all of these plants are cover crops, sheet mulching, compost piles and paths. inside each circle is a guild of companion plants


Each guild was designed by a different student on the course


Photo of one of many guilds being planted. on each guild we plant a nitrogen fixer, dynamic accumulator, insect repellers, beneficial insect attractors, we try to include some spring flowering plants to have flowers all year. We include shrubs, ground cover, herbaceous layer and rhizome layer. Onto of that we fill the gaps with annual nitrogen fixers such as beans and clovers that will be chopped and dropped back in as the main plants take over.


Each guild is planted in a big circle with a mount around to catch water and  for a large polyculture. This is to keep visiting humans away from the tree and use the water  for many plants. Each guild is filled with a thick layer of bio char/compost, green mulch and then brown mulch


Three guilds planted next to each other packed with perennial vegetables.


Photo of the whole food forest with students standing by one of their guilds


For more pictures, designs of guilds and info for future courses check the below link
CLick here for more photos from the course

Hi Keela, what's the size of the forest garden?
What's your water resource? and do you plan to irrigate through drip irrigation or flood?

Velho Barbudo we have around 2 hectares now with different food forests:

some info is here: webpage

Looks great!
We are starting a similar project (2 ha food forest) close to Lisbon soon.

Which cover crops would you recommend?

Philippe Elskens wrote:Looks great!
We are starting a similar project (2 ha food forest) close to Lisbon soon.

Which cover crops would you recommend?

Where around Lisbon?
I just fell in love with trees and we are buying 5ha of land at Arruda dos Vinhos where I plan to plant a lot of them.
Still finding my way around all of this.

Joana Soares wrote:

Philippe Elskens wrote:Looks great!
We are starting a similar project (2 ha food forest) close to Lisbon soon.

Which cover crops would you recommend?

Where around Lisbon?
I just fell in love with trees and we are buying 5ha of land at Arruda dos Vinhos where I plan to plant a lot of them.
Still finding my way around all of this.

We are just a couple of minutes away then! I've sent you a PM

Hello Permies
Hi Joana, hi Philippe
Philippe you forget about the other conversation, we had in the other thread
I'm at Arruda dos Vinhos too... that make us neighbors.. ohh soo nice
I gonna send you both a PM
All Good for ALL