After a design lesson I taught to some Spanish students a few days ago, I thought I’d share some insights: 7 lessons for beginners when it comes to designing. From the start, people often think designing is some complicated process only consultants can handle. I’m here to call bullshit on that. There’s too much of it in this space. Designing is something we can do ourselves -without paying someone half your monthly salary for a single day of their time. Let’s empower each other to design! Anyone who gatekeeps this knowledge, making it seem more complicated than it is so you remain dependent on them, is a con artist. I’ve dealt with those people and I don’t want you to. They stunt progress in this space and actively disempower others. That’s where I come from when it comes to designing, and yes, a bit of a rant - but it matters. With that in mind, here are 7 lessons for beginners: 1 – Design should be practical, not theoretical. Start with what’s actually around you. What plants grow in your area? Don’t assume you need one perfect species - especially if you haven’t seen it thrive in your conditions. Experience matters far more than fancy spreadsheets or theoretical plant lists. Don’t get bogged down in the theory - learn by doing. That's difficult for us nerds out there - and yes I'm a big nerd to when it comes to technicalities. Step away from that even though it's hard. 2 – Use powerhouse plants. Don’t shy away from fast-growing plants. Eucalyptus, acacias, or other “aggressive” species are often the most effective for your system. Growth rates in the Mediterranean are much slower than in subtropical regions so keep that into account too . If you’re hesitant because a plant grows quickly, that’s usually a sign you should use it. 3 – Focus on early-stage species, not later succession species; Your main concern should be the placenta and early secondary species. Later succession species can be planted once you understand your site better. Trying to plan everything at once often leads to frustration and failure. Early-phase gaps have a bigger impact than gaps in later succession.

Olive groves are everywhere in the dry Mediterranean zones. And yet many ancestral groves still keep this 10x10m spacing. Now it's going more towards the 6x6m or 7x7m spacing but still it shows that this idea of planting at maturity spacing is highly unefficient. You're not gonna get any return from this planting for decades. We can use these spaces in a much smarter way ! Here's what we've done on a 150m row !

Hey everyone 👋 I’m noticing there’s a lot of great content on syntropic agroforestry design and succession, but much less on land preparation before planting, especially in Mediterranean contexts. I’d love some practical input on what you actually do before the first trees go in: • Is subsoiling always needed? For which soil types, and how do small growers even access one? • Do you add compost or manure at the start in planting lines? • Any experience with ash or rock dust early on, or better to let biology do the work? • Does a single initial plowing ever make sense in compacted Mediterranean soils? If you had to rank the most important interventions at the beginning, what would they be? Curious to hear real-world experiences (successes and failures), especially across different Mediterranean soil types. Thanks! 🌱

A minimalist low cost 0.5 hectare design. Almonds are a crop species we're not risking much with as they are present in big monocultures in the area. We'll have grapes climbing up the eucalyptus (living tutor) in between each of the almonds. This plantation is a big deal for the Mediterranean as very few people have doen them in such scales because of the costs of high density. I aimed for lower density but used the right species that grow fast. In this way, while we won't get the full syntropic effect at year 1, we reduce the costs by using tough-ass tree and bush species that don't require high amendments and irrigation ! Progress on the planting will be shared as soon as teh broadbeans have sprouted nicely !

I think before going on and planting your crop lines (on a bigger scale - more than a couple hundred meters) it is key to check out which species perform well and have them in the soil for about a year before choosing to use them again. Here I share my disapointment with tagasaste because of our soil conditions (heavy clay) and the fact it's a difficult plant to propagate, expensive and ect. Watch the video to see which plant I use as a replacement !