Permaculture: Design your Paradise

But wait, there's more

People read this blog and they get back to me asking questions like:

Will you talk about food for people with cancer?
Will you tell me how to make my garden bug free?
Has permaculture to do with aquatic plants?
I never heard of permaculture, is it like biodynamics? Is it expensive?

What gave me the idea for this blog were all the people at my work, friends in town, internet buddies and other people I know. All of them are amazed that no matter what the time of the year, I will rock up at work or at their place with a bag of fresh fruit and vegies for my lunch, or a box full of the same for their fridge. I always have too much of everything I grow and I love to give it away.

Some of these people had a vegetable garden themselves at some stage, and they tell me it's too hard, too much work, too many weeds, and in the end the bugs ate everything anyway, so they gave up. The others think it's a HUGE effort to start a vegetable garden and you need time and money, and they don't want to spend either, maybe next year. But next year never seems to come.

So the initial purpose of this blog was to show people that you can do things differently. If you think ahead and design your garden right, it won't take much effort, it will mostly look after itself, and it will also be incredibly productive and beautiful and attractive to wildlife.

I created this kind of garden by designing it along permaculture principles. Some of them I have already shortly covered, and I will most likely talk about a few more in the future, and about how they relate to a vegetable garden.

But permaculture is not only about vegetable gardening. It can be applied to vegetable gardening, very well and with great success indeed. But there is sooo much more to it.

It is a set of design principles that can be applied to any situation, a garden, a farm, a community, a new housing estate. The principles aim at creating a system that is as close to self sufficient as possible. Minimal input for maximum return, while preferably using renewable resources and minimising the impact on the environment. Achieve a maximum result for the smallest possible change.

Sustainability is the keyword. Permaculture is a philosophy and a vision, of living on this planet in a way that ensures our great-great-great-grand-children will still be able to enjoy what we enjoy today.

Let me just rattle of some of the principles (in no particular order) as Mollison states them in his book A Designers Manual:

Responsibility for our actions and the outcomes, for what we leave behind. Take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children.

Cooperation, not competition, is the basis of future survival.

The rules of use of natural resources: Reduce waste, hence pollution; thoroughly replace lost minerals; do careful energy accounting.

Law of return: Whatever we take we must return.

Care of the earth, care of the people: Provision for all life systems to continue and increase, provision for people to access those resources necessary to their existence.

Setting limits to population and consumption.

Buy the way, permaculture doesn't shun technology at all. If technology can help to achieve the desired outcome, go for it.

And here is another quote to make you think, it's one of Birch's six principles of natural systems:

Our ability to change the face of the earth increases at a faster rate than our ability to foresee the consequence of change.

For people who are interested in permaculture within a global context, I have added another book to the reading list. It's Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren, who founded the permaculture movement with Bill Mollison. (Though Bill seems to get all the credtit and David is forever referred to as 'the other' founder.) A lot of food for thought in that one.

To return to the initial questions: Yes, permaculture has to do with all of that and more, and at some stage or other I will be talking about it.

I am hoping to be set up in about two to three weeks so you can subscribe (free, of course) to receive a regular newsletter. The newsletter will be telling you which topics I'm currenly talking about, about new tips and ideas, and about what else is going on in the world that might be of interest to an environmentally responsible person (and those contemplating to become one).

So stay tuned! I'll be back.

B.

Turn Problems into Solutions

It’s one of Bill Mollison's most popular qotes:

“You don’t have a snail problem, you have a duck deficiency!”

If you see yourself confronted with a perceived problem, why not try and look at the situation from a different angle. Is there any way to use it to your advantage?

A common example is that low lying spot at the bottom end of your garden, where the water just won’t drain away.  Perfect location for a pond, or a bog garden with swamp plants. Thought about growing watercress, water chestnuts, or kangkong (a tropical water spinach)? How about iris, primulas and lilies? Many flowers are suited to boggy spots. The ducks you’re getting for eggs and to clean up your snails will love it, too.

Got an ugly wall? If it gets sunlight it’ll help you to grow frost sensitive species outside their range. The wall stores the heat from the sun over night and keeps your lemon or avocado tree warm.

So the builders left a pile of rubble behind? Any chance of turning it into a rock garden? Throw on some soil, collect a few better looking rocks to place on top of the rubble, and look on the internet for plants that like to grow on rocks. Now you have a feature instead.

When the builders cleared the area for my house, they left behind a huge pile of shrubs, trees, and grass mixed with soil. I don’t own any machinery to remove it and didn't want to hire any. Instead I planted a circle of coconut palms around it, (I live in a warm climate, just use species suited to your conditions), left an opening wide enough to back a trailer into it, and invited all neighbours to dump their ‘garden refuse’ there, instead of burning it or taking it to the rubbish tip. (Yes, that’s what they usually do with it.) The palms are thriving, I never have to mulch or fertilize them, and since I later interplanted them with suitable hardy shrubs and flowers you can’t see the pile anymore. Everybody is happy.

The principle of turning problems into solutions goes hand in hand with the idea of working with nature rather than against it. No point trying to create a lush tropical garden if you live in a desert climate. There are stunning succulents to add aesthetic appeal, and many useful plants that get by with very little water, like dragon fruit and pineapple, to name two delectable examples.

Don’t waste your money, time and energy by trying to force something that nature never intended to happen. Look creatively at what you have already got, try to see the benefits and look at ways to use the situation to your advantage.

By the way, this advice applies to the rest of your life as well. Next time you face a problem remember this principle and search for the good in the situation. It’s always there, all it takes is willingness to see it.

Permaculture Principles IV

Multiple Functions

No living being can function on its own. It's true for you and for everything in your garden. So it makes sense to not look at the elements in your garden as isolated objects, but to look at the connections. Still, many gardeners don't take advantage of these connections, though it can be easily done by placing together elements that mutually benefit each other.

The easiest way to get started here is to try and think of three uses for every element in your garden. I can usually come up with at least five, but three is enough for beginners.

A tree can provide fruit, provide shade, and act as a windbreak.

Dill an be used as a herb, the flowers attract beneficial insects, and add visual appeal to your garden.

A hedge can provide fruit, privacy, and shelter for wildlife.

A pond can grow aquatic plants, hold fish, and attract birds and other wildlife.

A wall can give privacy, support climbing plants, and store heat (important if you want to grow frost sensitive plants in cooler areas).

Look at what every element can provide, and what it needs, and then put elements together (here we talk about relative location again), so they support each other. I'll give you one example:

I mentioned in a previous post that I always put my compost piles under my favorite fruit trees. Not only does the pile feed the tree, but the tree shades the pile and protects it from drying out. Instead of a compost bin I use a circle of wire mesh to hold the materials in. I position the circle so one side gets sunlight, and on that side I grow tomatoes or cucumbers, using the mesh as a trellis. The plants provide shade for that side of the pile, and without any fertilizing or attention they invariably thrive and I get a bumper crop. Of course there are also flowering herbs growing under the tree, we covered that. The insects they attract do the pest control and help with pollination. Once the vegetable plants have finished bearing I pull them up and throw them on top of the pile, no need to cart garden refuse around.

To return to the multiple functions, the tomato in this example provides you with fruit, shields the pile from the sun, hides the pile from your vision (since a loaded tomato bush looks a lot better than a pile of half finished compost) and in the end provides nutrients for the tree. Get it?

The tree, compost pile, herbs and vegetables in this example all work together and look after one another, and that means less work for me. Remember, I'm so intrigued with permaculture because I'm lazy. All I do in the end is pick what I need for my pasta sauce and salad. I only wish I could find somebody to cook it for me!

Permaculture Design Principles III

Relative Location

The principle of relative location is another important time and energy saver. It looks at the location of elements in relation to each other. The aim is to place the elements in your garden so that one fulfils the needs of the other. It's all about connections.

The easiest way to explain this is with examples:

I have a huge sprawling tree near my house that doesn't have a very dense canopy. It provides dappled shade underneath, which is perfect for raising seedlings. To place my propagation area there saved me building a shadehouse, which would have required lots of time and money.

Whenever I start a new compost pile I put it under one of my favorite fruit trees. Every time it rains, valuable nutrients get washed out of the pile, but instead of being lost in the ground, the tree will take them up and thrive, and I save myself the not very tempting task of shoveling compost.

Herbs that attract predatory insects ('good bugs'), like dill and coriander, are great for growing under fruit trees. They don't need to grow in rows there, so you can let them self seed. That's one less task for you. The good bugs, which love the flowers of these herbs, will save you spraying, and nobody likes spraying.

My kitchen garden is located between the house and the chicken pen. I collect garden refuse on one way (chickens love caterpillar riddled greens), and on the way back I pick the salad for dinner, (caterpillar free leaves, the chickens and me usually end up going halves that way).

Grow fruit trees inside the chicken yard. Pick what you want, and don't worry about the rest. Saves on feeding the chickens and there's no need to clean up fallen fruit.

I put my bird bath where I can see it from the kitchen sink. Doing the dishes is one task that I haven't managed to outsource to some garden creature yet, so anything that makes it more pleasant needs to be done!

If there is a task in your garden that is laborious, repetitive, or in any other way not much fun, there is probably a better way of doing it, or arranging for nature to do it for you. The list above gives examples for bigger gardens, but it should get you started thinking in the right direction. Make yourself a cup of tea, sit down in your favorite garden chair, (that's what gardening is all about) and brainstorm some outsourcing strategies.

Permaculture Design Principles II

Zone Planning or Zone Analysis, Part 2

We covered the purpose of zoning and zone 1 yesterday. So let's now look at the remaining zones:

Zone 2: This is still an area receiving a lot of attention. It's usually fully irrigated - if your climate requires it, that is - and mulched. It contains fruit trees, shrubs and trellised fruit, bramble berries, hedges, ponds or windbreaks.

It might also feature hardy perennial herbs that aren't used on a daily basis, and vegetables that take a long time to mature, and are only picked once or twice. Think potatoes or sweet corn, cauliflower and onions.

Other species I evict from zone 1 to zone 2 are unruly rambling vines that take up a lot of space and forever threaten to smother everything else around them (cucumbers!). Then there are the herbs that re-seed themselves every year without me doing anything (dill, coriander, borage), they happily grow under my fruit trees in zone 2.

There are no clearly defined borders between these zones, and they certainly aren't of a circular or any regular shape, I've already mentioned the frequently traveled paths, the edges of which belong to zone 1. The main questions to ask yourself is how often you visit certain areas, and how much your plants - or animals - need you or you need them.

Unless you live in a rural area and have acres to play with, you won't have much room to include the remaining zones, so we'll only cover them shortly:

Zone 3: Still managed, but neither mulched or irrigated, this area features your large fruit or nut trees. On farms this are your main crop areas and large pastures.

Zone 4: Only semi-managed, this is an area for gathering wild foods and for growing timber.

Zone 5: Unmanaged bush. Now I said that these zones are not relevant, unless you have a biiig block of land, but zone 5 is an exception. Even on a garden sized bit of land you can set aside a suitable area for native plants and wildlife only. This is especially the case if you're lucky enough to have your block adjacent to a wild area like a state forest or a nature reserve (I know, I know, realistically few of us are that lucky). You can then even have a strip of zone 5 cut through your zone 1 and 2, a wildlife corridor straight to your favorite deckchair!

If every garden had a strip of zone 5 and we could link them all together, can you imagine how much of a difference we would make? I'm dreaming again, I know, but the dream is always the first step to changing the reality. So what does your neighbour think?

Permaculture Design Principles I

Zone Planning or Zone Analysis, Part 1

In permaculture zoning means dividing your garden - or farm or a whole village - into different areas according to how often you need to visit these areas. Zoning saves time and energy by reducing necessary travel. Believe me, it makes a huge difference.

The zones are numbered from the inside out, with zone 0 being the house, well, in our case anyway. From here we move outwards:

Zone 1: This is usually the area closest to your house, but it also extends along frequently traveled paths. Everything that needs a lot of attention should be placed in zone 1. Examples would be seedlings that require daily watering, frequently used herbs, salad vegetables, a lemon tree, your favorite flowers or scented shrubs, but also the area where you collect compost or your clothes hoist.

Say you have chickens and you visit them daily to feed them and collect the eggs, then a propagation area along the path would make sure you don't forget to water your precious seedlings.

Or say you only have a tiny yard and a busy corporate lifestyle. Place your seedlings so you fall over them when you walk from your car to your house, and you'll notice any problems before it's too late.

Or another example: You're throwing a dinner party, it's raining and you started cooking late, because as usual you've been held up in the office. The guests have arrived, the soup is ready, and the fresh chives to add that extra zing are at the end of a muddy path right down the bottom of your garden. Are you going to venture out to get them? Things like parsley and chives should grow right on your doorstep, and you'll actually use them.

These are just a few examples, but I'm sure you get the drift. Forget that old fashioned idea that useful plants like herbs and vegetables should be separated from your 'ornamental' garden, in a vegetable patch in a far corner of your yard. Herbs and vegetables are very ornamental in their own right, some are outright spectacular. It's time we give them the place they deserve, which mostly happens to be in zone 1.

Permaculture: A short introduction

The term permaculture combines the words permanent and culture, or agriculture. The philosophy behind it was developed in Australia, by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. In 1978 they published Permaculture One, introducing a 'design system for creating sustainable human environments', based on close observation of natural systems.

In Introduction to Permaculture Bill Mollison writes: "The aim is to create systems that are ecologially-sound and economically viable, which provide for their own needs, do not exploit or pollute, and are therefore sustainable in the long term. Permaculture uses the inherent qualities of plants and animals combined with the natural characteristics of landscapes and stuctures to produce a life-supporting system for city and country, using the smallest practical area."

Now that's a mouthful. I prefer Linda Woodrow's definition in her beautiful book The Permaculture Home Garden:

Permaculture is about "...saving the planet and living to be a hundred, while throwing very impressive dinner parties and organising other creatures to do most of the work."

Or, for many more definitions, look at the site of the Permaculture Net.

What Bill Mollison describes in his books is a wholly integrated design system that's modelled on nature. The beauty of it is that the principles work everywhere, they can be applied to whole villages or to your backyard or balcony. I won't go too much into the details, but rather try and explain the basic principles as they are applied to an average garden (Well, is there such a thing as an average garden? Every garden is unique, but you know what I mean).

The main point is that by designing your garden to emulate a natural system, you can eliminate a lot of work for yourself. Nobody digs and sows, plants and weeds, or sprays bugs in a forest. Still, it grows and feeds its inhabitants.

Learn from nature. Nature has already developed a solution to every problem that you could possibly encounter in your garden. Respect that something that has evolved over millions of years probably makes more sense than what humans came up with during the last few centuries.

Work with nature rather than against it, and you will be repaid with abundance.