Due to the burgeoning interest in growing your own food, creating food forests has become a popular topic within the sustainable gardening community. In a food forest, not all plants grow an edible crop. Leguminous trees and shrubs are often planted to provide nitrogen, which is released only when they are pruned.

What is Coppicing?

Coppicing is a process involving cutting trees and shrubs down to a stump and allowing them to regrow multiple shoots. It is sometimes used in timber forests to provide a never-ending supply of lumber from the same source. Coppicing serves a much different purpose in a food forest.

How Are Leguminous Trees Utilized in Food Forests?

When you think of legumes, peanuts and peas come to mind; however, many members of the legume family grow into large shrubs and trees. Leguminous trees and shrubs are able to remove nitrogen from the air and store it in their roots. When they are pruned, that nitrogen is released into the soil. Growing and coppicing legumes in a food forest serves multiple purposes:

• stimulating leguminous plants to release nitrogen into the soil
• removing growth to open up the area to sunlight
• providing organic material to feed other plants
• providing material for staking plants, and building trellises or small fences
• providing propagation material

Which Legumes Are Good for Coppicing?

The legume family is the third largest plant family in the world, containing a multitude of trees and shrubs. Not all leguminous trees will grow in all climates, so it's a good idea to talk to a landscaper in your areas who is familiar with food forests for recommendations. A few possibilities are

• Acacia - thorny tree that makes a good barrier plant
• Albizia - mimosa trees with pink, yellow or white powder-puff flowers
• Calliandra - tropical powderpuff trees
• Eleagnus - a popular landscape shrub with edible fruits
• Cajanus cajan - pigeon pea, a small shrub with edible peas and leaves
• Inga edulis - Ice cream bean

How Often Should Legumes Be Coppiced?

For firewood or stakes, let the shoots grow to a proper diameter before coppicing. You don't have to cut all of them at one time. If you need to cut them to open up an area to air and sunlight, you can selectively cut shoots and use them as organic matter to feed other plants, or as propagation material. In some instances, the trees are coppiced in the winter or early spring to open up an area so crops can be planted, then allowed to grow back to provide shade during the hot summer months.  

A properly designed food forest is a self-sustaining ecological system, and leguminous trees and shrubs are a vital part. Coppicing legumes allows them to release nitrogen back into the soil, provides organic matter to feed other plants and provides wood for a variety of uses. If you are interested in learning more about food forests and coppicing, contact a landscaper--such as one from Campbell's Nurseries & Garden Centers Inc--experienced in food forest design to help you make your edible landscape the best it can be.