Welcome to the Agroforestry Word of the Week blog!

We’re making it easy for you to get into the world of agroforestry by sharing common agroforestry terms and examples with you every Wednesday. Subscribe here to receive your weekly word and start building your agroforestry vocabulary and knowledge.

Side View Mapping – /sīd vyo͞o ˈmapiNG/ – noun  

May 15th, 2019

If you missed last week’s phrase, take a second to learn about Top View Mapping, because these two practices are best used in conjunction with each other.

Definition: A visual aid used to improve space utilization when planting. A side view map is a hand drawn picture of the different layers and heights of plants that grow on a farm. A side view map is helpful in identifying gaps to be filled with new and complementary plant species.

Synonym: Vertical Map

In the Forest Garden: Forest Gardens are strategically designed to fill space both horizontally and vertically. Creating tightly knit plants and tree groups that optimize the use of the vertical space available can substantially improve yields, even on small plots of land.

1. Inform decisions about which trees, plants, and crops will best diversify the Forest Garden.
2. Periodically evaluate and assess opportunities to better utilize and optimize the Forest Garden.

Learn more about side view mapping and how it’s implemented in Forest Gardens in Module 3 of the Forest Garden Technical Manual.