Paolo De Guidi

I know Maioli, some 60km north of Bologna. They have a big selection of old fruit trees and plants. Th staff is very friendly. Here is the website: http://www.maiolifruttiantichi.it/en/p62/register-to-download-the-catalogue/

Thanks for the quick answers and the ideas!

Both bushes and grasses are going to be planted in the hedgerow that will limit the terraces, of course. Clover, iris, rosmary among others, and yes, mulberry, great! My question was more focused on trees tho, that is to say on a taller layer of the food forest scheme. Fig sounds interesting (my neighbour has a very vigorous one just next to my terraces), altough i don't know about the speed of roots growth which is really a crucial point here. Keep shooting folks, thanks!

Hi everybody and congrats for the fantastic forum. Here is Paolo, beginner permaculturist from Italy. I recently dug a few terraces in my steep field and blocked them with a barrier made of wooden poles. Altough stable now, it will eventually rotten and loose strenght so I need some strong roots near the wall to help hold the whole thing up. At first I was only thinking about a small hedgerow, something out of rosemary and sage bushes. But now I realize I need some bigger roots, so the answer is trees (also more appropriate to the food forest concept I'd like to develop here). Ideally this plant should: grow its roots rapidly, give fruits and enjoy the sun (my slope faces south west and in summer is burning hot). So the question is: which tree do you suggest?