The Ultimate Fruit Tree Guild Design Guide: 7 Steps to a Bountiful Guild

Hello, friends. Are you excited to plant a fruit tree guild?

Me too! But it’s winter at the moment, so instead of planting one I’m reading and writing about them, and planning my own for next spring. 

What is a fruit tree guild? Since you’re here, you probably already know, but just to cover our bases, here’s a quick answer. A fruit tree guild is a collection of plants growing together around a central fruit tree that support the tree and each other through the unique ecosystem services that each species provides. 

In this post, I’ll lay out my seven steps to creating a fruitful guild (pun intended) for your back (or front) yard. Let’s jump in.

Step 1. Understand Fruit Tree Guild Basics

Before jumping into designing your fruit tree guild, take a moment to learn (or review) the basic layers and functions within a guild. Having this information fresh in your mind will help you design your guild. There’s no need to leave this page to go read up on fruit tree guilds for this step. I’ll lay out the basics right here. 

What is a fruit tree guild?

Reflecting Nature

The wild equivalent of a fruit tree guild is a plant community. Guilds are designed based on observations of native plant communities (which are part of self-sustaining, biodiverse ecosystems), but are curated to include species beneficial to humans. Species are typically chosen to provide food, but can also provide herbal medicines, crafting materials, perfumes, natural dyes, or any number of other uses. 

A fruit tree guild can stand alone as its own micro-ecosystem in a small corner of your yard, or multiple guilds can stack together to form a food forest covering a larger area.

Building blocks of edible landscape design

A single guild is like a building block of what I like to think of as the true human habitat — diverse, edible ecosystems. If this concept of food forests as human habitat strikes a chord with you, then you’re not alone. I’ve felt this way for a long time, but I want to credit Zach Loeks for putting words to it in an interview on The Urban Farm Podcast. You can check out the podcast below. It’s an inspiring listen. https://www.urbanfarm.org/2021/10/08/640-zach-loeks/

Layers of a fruit tree guild

The layers of a fruit tree guild are the same as the layers of a food forest, though a guild may or may not use all seven layers. The seven layers are:

• canopy
• sub-canopy
• shrub
• herbaceous
• ground cover
• root
• and vine layers

By occupying all layers, a guild maximizes growing space per unit ground area, which in turn maximizes the amount of photosynthesis occurring, which puts more energy back into the system. All this greenery is essentially harvesting energy from sunlight, generating more biomass, sending more roots down to collect nutrients, and cycling shed plant material back into the system to mulch, provide habitat for microorganisms, and build soil.

Functions of fruit tree guild plants

Each plant in a guild provides one or more necessary functions to support the central element and other plants and animals of the guild. These functions include (but aren’t limited to):

• nitrogen fixers
• beneficial insect attractors
• pest repellers
• weed suppressors
• mulchers
• nutrient accumulators
• and, of course, yield producers

Ideally, each plant serves more than one function, and each function is served by multiple plants. This stacking of functions provides redundancy and diversity that makes guilds resilient (and less reliant on their human curators to meet their needs).

Fruit tree guild design methods

Depending on your goals and priorities, there are a couple of different routes to take when designing a guild.

Guild design method 1 – native plant community based

The first starts with researching native plant communities to learn which tree species make up the canopy of your local bioregion. You then pick and choose which species, if any, provide the kind of yields you want. If none of the species appeal to you, then look at similar species or cultivated varieties that may fit your needs better. Native species can easily swap out for cultivated varieties that produce more and higher quality fruit, are disease resistant, or have other characteristics that make them preferable to their native counterparts. Or, substitute different but related species with more desirable yields.

This way, your guild is based on the local native plant communities that have adapted to your specific bioregion.

Guild design method 2 – function based

The second approach to guild design starts with identifying functions and choosing species to fill those desired functions. This method pays less attention to local ecosystems, and so guilds designed this way are more experimental. However, they do offer greater freedom in species selection and require much less research or prior knowledge of native plant communities. As long as you choose species suited to your climate, even exotic species will probably integrate into a guild without major issues.

Then there is the hybrid approach, in which you build out your guild based on function, but mindfully consider native species, and sprinkle them throughout the guild. Alternately, create multiple guilds, next to each other, some native-based and others function-based. 

Step 2: Get Clear on Your Goals

As with any project, it is important to have clear goals in mind before starting. This step helps inform the design, keeps the project in line with your goals, and helps ensure your satisfaction with the result.

Write down your ideas for the guild. Here are some questions to get you started. What edible plants do you like? How much time do you want to devote to harvesting and processing? What will you do with excess yield? Are you willing to climb a ladder to harvest, or is keeping trees low important? What is your timeline for getting the guild established? What is your budget for purchasing plants? Are there any types of plants or plant features you definitely want to avoid (such as plants that have spikey seeds or burrs, or poisonous plants)?

Keep brainstorming ideas about your fruit tree guild project. Consider everyone involved in the property – partners, children, etc. Have conversations with others in your household about their desires and concerns.

Step 3: Site Assessment (and Choosing a Guild Location)

Versatility of guilds

One beautiful thing about fruit tree guilds is that they are customizable for a variety of situations. By using trees with dwarf or semi-dwarf rootstock or berry bushes as centerpieces, they can fit in small urban yards. Or they can expand and multiply to fill larger areas. With mindful species, selection guilds can thrive in locations with partial shade, dry areas, acidic soils, or other site-specific conditions.

Sun or Shade

Most fruit tree varieties do better in full sun, so these guilds, if near a building, are best located on the south side (north in the southern hemisphere). Some fruit trees are more shade tolerant than others, such as pear, plum, and pawpaw, so guilds based on these trees can fill more shady areas of your yard.

Water availability

Think about a given location’s access to water. Some sources of water for getting your guild started include rainfall, collected rainwater, canal irrigation, or city water. Particularly in dry climates, access to water is critical for starting a fruit tree guild. although once established it will need less and less irrigation as the soil improves and its water-holding capacity increases

Accessibility

When locating a guild, consider its distance from your door. The closer it is, the more likely you or your household members are to visit it regularly. Similarly, make sure you have clear access to the site.

Step 4: Species Selection

Decide on the Guild’s Central Element

I’ve been referring to the central element as a fruit tree, however, nut trees also make excellent centerpieces for guilds. Other central species may not produce food at all but provide a different yield (such as wildcrafting materials) or service (such as nitrogen-fixing) depending on what the environment needs or what you desire.

You can also design guilds around plants other than trees, such as berry bushes or other shrubs.

Make sure that the species you choose is a good fit for your climate zone and the microclimate of the site you’ve chosen. Things to consider are

Cold hardiness

Know your climate hardiness zone and make sure the variety of tree you select is hardy to your zone. For those in the US, UK, or Canada, plantmaps.com provides an easy way to find your climate zone

Chill hours

Some fruit and nut trees require a certain number of chill hours below 45 degrees F (7 C) in order to fruit. Learn how many chill hours your location gets annually and make sure it’s enough to support the tree variety you’ve chosen.

Sunlight

Does the tree require full sun or is partial shade ok? Some fruit trees will survive in partial shade or even full shade but won’t produce as much or any fruit.

Water requirements and tolerances

Consider water availability on your site and the needs of your selected variety. If you live in a dry climate and want to grow a thirsty species, make sure you have the resources to keep the tree hydrated. On the other hand, in wetter climates, if your chosen site gets a lot of standing water, choose a tree species that tolerates wet feet.

Soil properties

This is a more advanced area to consider, and I don’t want you to get bogged down in the details. So feel free to skip this for now if it feels like too much information.  However, if you’ve tested the soil in the area you plan to plant your guild in, you can consider this information as well and choose your centerpiece plant (and others) accordingly. What is the pH? What is its nutrient profile? Are there any soil contaminants such as persistent herbicides or heavy metals? If so, you can include species that are more tolerant of the former and can even help clean up the latter.

Weighing these considerations with your desired tree type, you may wish to circle back to step two and reassess site selection. 

Select Support Species

Once you’ve chosen the central element of your guild, it’s time to select other species to support it. This step is going to take some research. 

It’s Okay to Start Small

You can keep things simple by only choosing a couple of support species to get the guild started, or you can plan the whole thing out at the beginning. Either way, the guild will evolve and change over time. 

At a minimum, start with three plants: the central tree, a supporting plant, and a ground cover. You can introduce new species down the line to fill in holes in both layers and functions. 

A simple fruit tree guild example

An example of a simple triad is a fuji apple tree, white clover, and serviceberry. Clover plays multiple roles as a nitrogen-fixing ground cover, and mulch plant, and is edible. Serviceberry bushes attract pollinators and birds with their blossoms and edible fruits. It blooms just before apple trees, so pollinators will already be around when the apple blooms. Its edible berry is good tasting and highly nutritious with immune-boosting properties.

With some trees (including apples) make sure to have at least two guilds with different varieties of the species for cross-pollination. 

The triad above is one guild I started this fall. Next spring I’ll add plants to fill out the guild, including strawberry, walking onion, garlic, yarrow, calendula, lavender, and nitrogen-fixing berry bushes like goumi or buffaloberry.

This slow-rolling guild installation is a good way to dip your feet in and learn from observation and interaction as you go.

Fill out your guild

Eventually, aim to fill in plants in every layer. An exception to this is in smaller spaces where the upper canopy is easily omitted. Also, in guilds centered around dwarf fruit trees, you may wish to omit the vine layer to keep vines from overtaking a very small tree. Or, instead of allowing a vine to grow up the tree, have it climb a nearby fence.

Also, aim to fill in with multiple plants for each of the main seven functions listed above. Additional functions might also be relevant to your goals and specific site, such as wildlife habitat, or additional types of yields besides food.

Remember to stack functions by choosing plants that offer multiple services. And make sure to build redundancy by choosing multiple plants for each function. This will make your guild more diverse and resilient.

Don’t Overfill Your Guild

Do be mindful of not overfilling your guild. More than about seven species in a small area can become too complex with similar species competing for resources. If you want to include more than seven species, then separate them into different sections around the central element. You could have four quadrants with four different sets of species.

Step 5: Plan Your Fruit Tree Guild Layout

If you’re keeping it simple to start, with just three different plant types, this step is easy and can probably be done on the ground just prior to planting. If you have more species, it can be helpful to plan a little ahead of time.

Make a sketch

If you want to plan your guild out in more detail from the beginning and have chosen more support species, I recommend making a sketch. Your sketch doesn’t need to be pretty, but it really helps if it’s at least roughly to scale. 

I find ¼” = 1′-0″ is a comfortable scale to work in, but if you prefer metric, 1:50 is a good scale to start with.

Plant spacing

Use the plant spacing guides on the plants’ tags as a guideline for how much space each will need to grow. Remember to consider both diameter and height when you’re laying out your guild so that shorter plants don’t get covered or shaded out by taller ones. Some herbaceous and most ground cover plants will spread, such as walking onions, strawberries, and mint, so it’s okay to start with fewer plants. They will fill out in future seasons.

Pathways

Envision your guild with all of the plants at their mature size and think about where you’ll want pathways. Leave enough space here and there for access to the inner plants and to harvest fruit. Little pathways, twelve to eighteen inches wide should be sufficient. 

Step 6: Plant your Fruit Tree Guild

Plant your guild’s centerpiece

Purchase your tree either from a local nursery or an online nursery. I love One Green World for sourcing permaculture plants. Ideally, get bare-root trees if you’re planting in spring. For autumn planting, potted trees are fine. Then get your tree in the ground within a few days of bringing it home, if possible.

You have several options when it comes to digging a hole to plant your tree in. 

Standard method

Dig a hole two to three times as wide as the root ball and as deep as the root ball is tall. If you have compost available, mix some into the soil you removed from the hole. About twenty percent compost is good, but not more than thirty percent. To get twenty percent compost, add one shovel full for every four shovels full of soil.

For potted trees, it’s a common recommendation to break up the root ball, even cut it with a knife if it’s root bound at all. In my experience, trees experience more transplant shock when the roots are cut before planting. However, it could help them have better roots in the long run.

Place the tree in the hole and adjust the height until the top of the soil is level with the ground or just a hair above it. For bare-root trees, build up a cone of soil-compost mix in the bottom of the hole and spread the roots out around it. Infill the soil compost mix back in around the roots and gently pack it down. 

Saucer method

In very hard or clay soils, sometimes roots end up staying in the original hole with the nice loosened and amended soil. When they reach the edge of the hole they grow in circles rather than venturing into the less inviting native soil. Options 2 and 3 eliminate this occurrence.  Dig a very wide hole, as big around as the mature tree’s drip line will be. Slope the sides of the hole (like a saucer). This gives thet roots more room and encourages better root growth.

Square method

Another solution, which I like better because it requires less digging, is to dig a square hole, about two to three times as wide as the root ball. The reason behind this is that when the roots leave the nice amended soil and hit hard-packed clay soil they grow along the straight line of the hole edge, get to the corner, then, rather than growing at a right angle, continue out into the native soil.

Plant the support species

Use your sketch as a guide, if you have one, and get those babies in the ground. You may want to acquire all of the plants at once and make a weekend of the planting. You could have your friends and neighbors over for a permablitz.  Or it’s also fine to pick up a few plants at a time and plant them over a month or two, or longer. Use whichever timeline works better for your life, available time, and budget.

Water

When they’re all tucked into the ground, give your plants a good drink of water to help them settle into their new home.

Mulch

Mulch generously around the plants. Woodchips work great. I like to put down a nice thick layer, at least four to six inches deep between plants.

A couple of things to keep in mind when you’re mulching:

• First, don’t put mulch right up to the trunk of your trees or shrubs as it can cause rot to develop.
• Second, if you’re adding plants gradually, go ahead and put mulch down after the first batch goes in. When you plant the next set, just push the woodchips aside, dig your hole, plant your plants, and spread the mulch back in place.
• To reduce weed growth, use a sheet mulching method with cardboard or paper under the woodchip mulch. Just cut out a hole in the cardboard with a utility knife when you’re ready to plant. 

Step 7: Maintain and Evolve Your Guild

(don’t worry, it’s easy)

Water

Water your guild as needed. Depending on your climate it will need some level of irrigation at first. But over time you’ll find that it needs less and less water. In dry climates, like mine in eastern Idaho, you’ll probably need to continue irrigating unless you choose only drought-tolerant species. Perhaps you can set up a rainwater collection and irrigation system.

Prune

Prune the fruit tree each winter when it’s dormant (or at the recommended time of year for the specific type of tree and climate). If you’re not experienced with pruning, make sure to learn how to do it. Proper pruning is critical to keep your guild healthy and productive. A good pruning each season will allow plenty of light and air into the guild, and improve yield. Pruning can also control tree height and keep harvesting easier.

Larger shrubs in the guild will also benefit from pruning.

Weed

Guilds don’t require nearly as much weeding as standard garden beds, but you’ll probably want to do some weeding, particularly early on before the plants you put in fill out, particularly those ground covers. As you weed, pay attention to what’s coming up. You might find some volunteers that make great additions to your guild. “Weeds”  like purslane, nettle, and wild lettuce are excellent mulchers and are also edible and highly nutritious. 

Chop and drop

At the end of the growing season, cut back nutrient accumulators such as comfrey and borage and leave them in place to mulch, decompose, and add nutrients back to the soil.

Evolving guild

Your fruit tree guild will grow and change over time. This is good. This is what nature does. But unlike natural plant communities, fruit tree guilds do better with some management. Some of the changes will occur naturally and others will be made by you. 

As the central tree and larger shrubs grow, they might shade out some of the other plants. This is a normal progression of a plant community and applies to guilds as well. When this happens you can either let those pants peter out and become mulch, or dig them up and transplant them to a sunnier spot outside the guild or into a new guild. 

As your guild matures you’ll learn a lot about not only the plants in it but the relationships between plants. And you’ll develop your own relationships with the plants in your guild. 

Stacking guilds

If you have the space, you can build more guilds next to your first one. Let them blend into one another, fill in the nooks and crannies, and crate paths between. Before you know it you’ll have a food forest – true human habitat – right in your backyard.

Fruit Tree Guild Examples

To finish this post, I’ll leave you with a few fruit tree guild examples from my archive.

• Apple tree guild
• Cold hardy fig guild
• Native, edible PNW guild
• Three sisters guild (not around a fruit or nut tree, but a plant guild nonetheless)

To Sum Up

The steps to creating your very own fruit tree guild are:

1. Learn (or review) fruit tree guild basics: The 7 layers and 7 main functions
2. Decide where to put your fruit tree guild: Pick a site that’s right for your tree and convenient for you.
3. Choose a centerpiece plant for your guild: Choose a tree that’s suited to your climate and that bears fruits you like to eat.
4. Choose support species for your guild: Choose species also suited to your climate and that fill the layers and functions
5. Plan your fruit tree guild layout: Sketch a plan.
6. Plant your fruit tree guild: Make a day of it or spread it out over time, then water and mulch.
7. Maintain and enjoy the “fruits” of your labors!

I hope this post equipped and inspired you to build your own fruit tree guild. With a little investment of time, energy, and a few plants now, you can enjoy a bountiful harvest for years to come. Let me know in the comments if you grow any plant guilds, or plan to. If you don’t yet, let me know what’s stopping you.