27 Powerful Pioneer Plants (That Build Soil and Nourish Your Garden)

When staring at a blank lawn, whether it’s green or brown, pristine or weedy, it can be difficult to imagine how it could possibly transform into an edible forest garden. Pioneer plants that build soil are the answer.

Landscapes transition from prairie grassland to forests over time in nature. This is called succession. You can guide your own backyard through succession by planting appropriate pioneer plants that build soil quickly to support the trees and perennials of a food forest.

If you don’t have much growing or have mostly grass and want to transition to a permaculture garden or food forest, then consider introducing some pioneer species.

What Are Pioneer Species?

Pioneer species are the first organisms to colonize an environment. They can survive in the conditions that exist, which are often exposed, nutrient-poor, low water, and disturbed areas. As they grow, they make the environment more habitable for other species to succeed. 

Most weed species, such as mallow, stinging nettle, chickweed, and dandelion are pioneer plants. These are the plants you see lining roadways and overtaking vacant urban lots.

It’s true that some pioneer plants can be invasive, and your neighbors might be less than appreciative of a yard full of puffy white dandelions, so be mindful about introducing them. However, these plants are especially suited to regenerating soil, and beginning the succession of open fields, to shrublands, to forests.

Choosing Pioneer Plants for Your Project

1. First, work with what you have. Often the very weeds already growing on your site can serve you well, because those are the plants that want to grow on your site and in your climate. Put these plants to work for you, at least in the beginning. Cut them off at the base for chop-and-drop mulch, or pull them up and leave them in place for the added biomass. Over time these weeds can be replaced with more desirable plants.

2. Be mindful about introducing species to a site that may cause problems later on. Check the “caution” heading in the table below, and also confirm that the plant in question isn’t invasive in your region. For the US, this can be done at the USDA National Invasive Species Information Center. Understand that the “poisonous” label below is present if any part of the plant is poisonous, even when other parts are edible. This seems like a good time to mention my disclaimer, which includes warnings about consuming new or wild plants

3. Building soil is great, but choose plants that you can use as well. Many of these plants have edible greens, can be made into teas, or have other uses. Pick the plants that you like to have around and use.

4. The following is a list of pioneer plants that also either fix nitrogen or are dynamic nutrient accumulators or both. These are not the only pioneer species helpful in starting a food forest. Others provide important functions, such as providing food and shelter for pollinators, generating large amounts of biomass, and providing ground cover and microclimates for other plants that aren’t as hardy. Some plants below do these things too, but I only included the nutrient accumulators and fixers in this list.

List of Pioneer Plants that Build Soil

The following plant species are temperate climate pioneer species that thrive in disturbed areas and add nutrients to the soil, either as nitrogen fixers or dynamic nutrient accumulators.

Common name	Zone	Form	Nutrients	Uses	Functions	Caution
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)	3-10	medium herb	P, K	medicinal	aromatic confuser	dispersive, poisonous
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)	2-10	small – medium herb	K, Ca	edible greens, medicinal	generalist nectary, Aromatic confuser
False indigo (Amorpha fruticosa)	3	large – very large shrub	N		invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary	poisonous
Milk vetch (Astragalus glycyphyllos)	4-8	small herb	N	medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover	poisonous
Siberian pea shrub (Caragana arborescens)	2-7	large – very large shrub	N		wildlife food, invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary
Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)	5-8	prostrate herb	P, K, Ca	tea, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, specialist nectary, ground cover
Chicory (Cichorium intybus)	3	small – large herb	K, Ca	edible greens, tea, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary	dispersive
Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina)	2-6	small shrub	N	tea, medicinal	wildlife shelter	hayfever
Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca)	5-10	small herb	Fe	edible fruit, tea, medicinal	wildlife food, generalist nectary, ground cover
Garden strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa)	3-10	small herb	Fe	edible fruit, tea, medicinal	wildlife food, generalist nectary, ground cover
American licorice (Glycyrrhyza lepidota)	3-8	medium herb	N, P	edible root, culinary, tea, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary	expansive, persistent
Lupine (Lupinus perennis)	3-9	small herb	N, P		invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover	poisonous
Siberian crabapple (Malus baccata)	3	small – medium tree	K	edible fruit, medicinal	wildlife food, generalist nectary, coppice	poisonous (seed)
Prairie crabapple (Malus ioensis)	2	small – medium tree	K	edible fruit, medicinal	wildlife food, generalist nectary, coppice	poisonous (seed)
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)	3	small – medium herb	N, Fe	tea, sprouted seeds, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary	dispersive
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)	5	small – medium herb	P	Culinary, tea, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover, aromatic	dispersive
Peppermint (Mentha x piperita)	3-10	medium herb	K, Mg	Culinary, tea, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover, aromatic	expansive
French sorrel (Rumex acetosa)	3-9	small – medium herb	P, K, Ca, Na, Fe, Na	edible greens, medicinal	generalist nectary, ground cover	dispersive, poisonous
Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella)	3	prostrate herb	P, K, Ca, Na, Fe, Na	edible greens, medicinal	generalist nectary, ground cover	dispersive, expansive, hayfever, poisonous
Annual chickweed (Stellaria media)	4	small herb	P, K	edible greens, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover	dispersive
Large flowered comfrey (Symphytum grandiflorum)	4-8	small herb	P, K, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg	Medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover	persistent, poisonous
Russian comfrey (Symphytum uplandicum)	6-8	small – large herb	P, K, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg	Medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover	persistent, poisonous
Red clover (Trifolium pratense)	3	small – medium herb	N, P	tea, edible flowers, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover	dispersive
White clover (Trifolium repens)	4	prostrate – small	N, P	tea, edible flowers, medicinal	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary, ground cover	dispersive
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)	4-8	small – large herb	K, Ca, S, Cu, Fe, Na	edible greens, tea, medicinal	invertebrate shelter	stings, expansive, dispersive, poisonous
Tufted vetch (Vicia cracca)	6	low vine	N, P, K	edible greens, edible seeds	invertebrate shelter, generalist nectary	poisonous
Sweet violet (Viola odorata)	6	small herb	P	edible greens, edible flower, medicinal	ground cover

References

The information in this table comes from Dave Jacke’s Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture, Vol. 2: Design and Practice (affiliate link). This book is my single most essential resource on permaculture plants and is well worth the price. I only wish I’d bought it sooner.