When I first envisioned building a forest garden on our property, I pictured a space that could mostly care for itself—fruit trees, berries, herbs, and medicinal plants all layered together like a natural ecosystem. And while that vision has come to life in many ways, I’m now several years in, and it’s time to take a closer look at what’s working… and what needs to change.
If you’ve been following along, you may have seen the build videos on YouTube where we laid out the terraces, prepped the soil, and started planting. (If you missed them you watch below.) Since then, I’ve added quite a few new things—and I’ve also learned some important lessons about spacing, water flow, and long-term plant behavior.
How I Built It: A Terraced Design
Our forest garden is built on a gentle slope, so we created three terraced beds, each one about 30 feet long and 8 feet wide. The goal was to create distinct planting zones based on moisture and sun exposure, while also making access easier for maintenance and harvest.
Terrace layout:
- Upper Terrace (driest, sunniest zone)
Plum, cherry, lilac, apple, rhubarb, comfrey, haskap, catnip, and hops along the fence - Middle Terrace (moderate moisture zone)
Currants, cherry, aronia, male sea buckthorn, haskap, peony, apple, comfrey, rhubarb, raspberries, and more cherry - Lower Terrace (moisture-loving zone)
Elderberries, sea buckthorn, more sea buckthorn, cherry, and raspberries
We grouped plants not just by water needs but also by height, companion relationships, and intended use (fruit, medicine, pollinator support, etc.).
Why I Chose These Plants
Living in Zone 3B, every plant in this garden had to be extremely hardy and capable of handling deep winters, late frosts, and a short but intense growing season. Here’s a quick overview of what’s included:
- Fruit trees and berries:
Norland apples, Romeo and Juliet cherries, plums, haskaps, aronia, raspberries, currants, elderberries, sea buckthorn - Perennials and herbs:
Rhubarb, comfrey, catnip, lilac, peonies, hops - Pollinator and support species:
Comfrey, catnip, yarrow, echinacea, lilac, and peonies are all bee-magnets. Sea buckthorn (with a male pollinator) helps stabilize soil and fix nitrogen.
I wanted a mix of beauty, productivity, and long-term resilience—plants that would do well without much fuss once established. You can find a full map of all the plants at the bottom of this page.
What’s Working
- Terrace zoning was the right call. Water-loving plants in the bottom terrace are thriving, and the drier zone on top is holding up well in heatwaves.
- Haskaps, elderberries, and sea buckthorn are reliable producers. These have proven to be some of the hardiest, most productive plants in the garden.
- Comfrey and rhubarb are thriving. They provide biomass for mulching and are some of the earliest producers each spring.
- Pollinator activity is high. Especially in the upper and middle terraces where flowers and herbs are concentrated.
- Soil health is improving. The no-till, heavy mulch method is building a healthy soil web, improving structure and water retention.
What’s Not Working (Yet)
- Some groundcovers failed. I initially planted strawberries to serve as a living mulch, but they didn’t establish well—likely due to competition and lack of light. I have yarrow that is working well, but let the grass take over except around the base of the trees, and I just mow it. It’s working pretty well.
- Spacing is getting tight. A few trees and shrubs are maturing faster than expected, and I may need to relocate or prune them to maintain airflow and sunlight.
- A few plants are too aggressive. The seabuckthorn has huge thorns, and they grow way taller than I thought they would. Also, it turns out that we don’t use a ton of it, so I’ll likely remove at least one of them.
- Pollination timing is a gap. I need more late-season blooms to better support bees when haskaps and cherries flower. I’m adding native perennials to help.
What I’m Doing About It
- This year, I’m focusing on refining what I’ve already built, rather than expanding:
- Removing or transplanting overcrowded trees and shrubs
- Testing new groundcovers that can outcompete weeds but stay low
- Adding more perennial flowers for extended bloom time
- Watching which plants we actually use in the kitchen—and scaling back the ones we don’t
Final Thoughts
Forest gardens evolve. What started as a tidy set of rows has become something more wild, more beautiful—and sometimes more chaotic—than I imagined. But it’s also more productive, more alive, and more rewarding.
If you’re thinking of starting a forest garden—or reassessing one that’s already planted—I hope this behind-the-scenes look gives you both inspiration and realistic expectations. It’s not instant gratification, but it is deeply satisfying.
If you’d like to follow along with how this space evolves (or see the mistakes I make in real time), you can join my newsletter or membership community where I share regular updates, walkthroughs, and seasonal planning guides.
