🌱 Food Forest Blueprint
Permaculture food forest design

Three food forest drafts for Demo

Maps are north-up: Garden Way runs along the bottom (south) edge, the driveway is on the west (left), the pool is behind the house to the north.

The two large backyard trees (one either side of the pool) are assumed removed, so Zones F and H can each carry 2-3 fruit trees.

Draft 1 - Balanced Food Forest

Edible structure in every zone, ornamental at the street

The balanced option. A layered food forest: fruit trees anchor Zones A, D, F and H; deer-resistant berry shrubs form a protective collar in the front zones; herbaceous companions carry the bloom season from April to frost. Low-maintenance species only, with the owner's Zone A request honoured by putting an Asian pear on the street-facing (south) side of Zone A.

Plants
183
Approx. budget
$5,106
Your rating
5

Overview Blueprint Budget

Draft 2 - Deer-Proof Berries and Kitchen Herbs

Maximum edibility and browse resistance, minimum pruning

The hardiest option. Every front-zone plant is either extremely deer resistant or protected by thorny or dense neighbours, and the edible payload is pushed into berries, currents, gooseberries and herbs rather than into tender fruit trees. Zone G becomes a perennial asparagus bed, and the backyard leans on pawpaw, plum and hazelnut with a heavier understory.

Plants
201
Approx. budget
$5,457
Your rating
—

Overview Blueprint Budget

Draft 3 - Native Woodland Garden

Fewer plants, more natives, near-zero maintenance

The lowest-maintenance option and the most wildlife-friendly. The palette is almost entirely native to the Cincinnati bioregion: serviceberry, American plum, pawpaw, hickory, hazelnut, nannyberry, arrowwood, spicebush and native perennials. Fruit trees are fewer, the front zones lean on large native shrubs, and Zone G becomes a low-mow native strip instead of a lawn.

Plants
173
Approx. budget
$4,517
Your rating
—

Overview Blueprint Budget

How to work through the options

  1. Look at the blueprint. Every plant is drawn as a true-scale circle on the survey plan, keyed to the legend.
  2. Read the zone briefs so you can see exactly what each planting zone has to achieve.
  3. Check the budget — every line says whether the price is a listed nursery price or a planning estimate.
  4. Rate and annotate a draft on its own page, then compare all three side by side.

Nothing here is ordered on your behalf. Nursery availability changes: Growing Value Nursery and the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute publish seasonal lists, and TreeYo sells by preorder and appointment.