What to Plant Under a Fruit Tree: A Simple Fruit Tree Guild
The best plants to grow under a fruit tree are ones that feed the soil, draw in pollinators and replace grass, which competes with young trees for water and nutrients. A simple fruit tree guild combines comfrey for mulch, a nitrogen-fixing shrub, chives or garlic chives, pollinator flowers and a low ground cover. This guide explains what each layer does, what to plant, and how to set up a guild around a new or existing tree.
Short on time? Start with comfrey. Three or four plants of Comfrey Bocking 14 around the edge of the tree give you a free, potassium-rich mulch you can cut several times a year.
What Is a Fruit Tree Guild?
A guild is a group of plants that support a central tree, a key idea in permaculture and food forest design. Instead of a tree in a circle of grass, you surround it with plants that each do a job: feeding the soil, attracting pollinators and pest predators, covering the ground and giving you extra harvests. Our guide to starting a food forest shows how guilds fit into a larger design.
Why Not Just Grass?
Grass is one of the strongest competitors a young fruit tree faces. Its dense, shallow roots take water and nitrogen from the top layer of soil, exactly where young tree roots feed. Replacing grass with a mulched guild usually means faster growth and earlier cropping.
The Layers of a Fruit Tree Guild
Nutrient accumulators: deep-rooted plants whose leaves are cut and dropped as mulch
Nitrogen fixers: plants that add nitrogen to the soil
Aromatic plants: strongly scented plants that may help confuse some pests
Pollinator flowers: plants that attract bees, hoverflies and other beneficial insects
Ground cover: low plants that cover bare soil and keep weeds down
Mulch: wood chip, leaves or cut comfrey on any bare ground
1. Comfrey: The Mulch Maker
Comfrey's deep roots bring up nutrients, and its large leaves can be cut three to five times a year and laid around the tree. Plant it around the outer edge of the canopy rather than against the trunk. For a lower option in dappled shade, dwarf comfrey forms a spreading ground cover.
2. Nitrogen Fixers: Free Fertiliser
Nitrogen-fixing plants work with soil bacteria to take nitrogen from the air. Silver buffalo berry is a hardy nitrogen-fixing shrub with tart red berries; plant it a few metres from the tree, and include male and female plants if you want fruit. Clover sown as a ground cover also fixes nitrogen.
3. Chives and Garlic Chives: The Aromatic Ring
Chives are traditionally planted in a ring around apple trees. Their strong scent may help confuse some pests, their flowers feed bees, and you can snip the leaves all summer. Garlic chives do the same job with a milder garlic flavour and late-summer white flowers.
4. Pollinator Flowers: More Fruit
More pollinators at blossom time means a better fruit set. Sow calendula and borage in the gaps; both are easy annuals that self-seed and attract bees and hoverflies. Sweet cicely is a perennial that thrives in the partial shade under a canopy.
5. Ground Cover and Soft Fruit
Cover the remaining soil with low plants such as alpine strawberries, which cope with light shade and give small, sweet fruit. Around the sunny outer edge of a larger tree, fruit bushes such as currants or gooseberries add a second harvest.
How to Set Up a Guild
Mark the circle: the guild extends roughly to the edge of the tree's canopy, or about 1 to 1.5 m around a young tree.
Remove or smother the grass: lay cardboard over the grass, wet it, and cover it with 5 to 10 cm of wood chip or compost. Keep mulch a hand's width away from the trunk.
Plant in rings: chives in an inner ring about 30 to 50 cm from the trunk; comfrey and flowers further out; nitrogen-fixing shrubs at the edge.
Leave access: keep a path or stepping stones so you can reach the tree to prune and harvest.
Cut and drop: each summer, cut comfrey and lay it on the mulch around the tree.
Autumn is a good time to set up a guild. Plant the tree and perennials in the dormant season, and sow annual flowers in spring.
FAQ: Planting Under Fruit Trees
What should I plant under an apple tree?
Good plants for under an apple tree include chives in a ring near the trunk, comfrey around the canopy edge for mulch, pollinator flowers such as calendula and borage, and low ground cover such as alpine strawberries. A crab apple nearby also helps pollination. Avoid grass right up to the trunk, as it competes strongly for water and nutrients.
Is comfrey good to plant under fruit trees?
Yes. Comfrey is one of the best plants for a fruit tree guild. Its deep roots draw nutrients up from the subsoil, and its potassium-rich leaves can be cut several times a year and used as mulch around the tree. Plant the sterile variety Bocking 14 around the edge of the canopy, not against the trunk, as it's hard to remove once established.
Should I remove grass from under fruit trees?
Yes, especially for young trees. Grass competes strongly with young fruit trees for water and nitrogen, slowing growth and delaying fruiting. Remove or smother the grass in a circle at least 1 m across, and replace it with mulch and useful guild plants. Keep mulch away from the trunk to prevent rot.
Can I plant vegetables under a fruit tree?
Yes, if they tolerate some shade and don't need digging each year. Perennial vegetables such as French sorrel, sea beet and Good King Henry work well in the dappled shade under a canopy. Avoid root crops that need regular digging, as this damages the tree's shallow feeding roots.
Build Your First Guild
A guild turns a single fruit tree into a small, self-feeding ecosystem. For the full design process, from choosing trees to planning every layer, it's all in The Complete Food Forest Blueprint, our step-by-step ebook from Earthling Plants.
Comments