Intro to Permaculture
By Sonya Welter
I recently attended a workshop on permaculture gardening led by Dave Jacke, co-author of “Edible Forest Gardens.”
One of the tenants of permaculture is to share what you know with the community, so I thought I would take this opportunity to offer the readers of Urban Garden Casual a brief introduction to permaculture.
Permaculture is the ultimate in casual gardening, not because it is unplanned but because once it is established, a permaculture plot requires much less work than a conventional garden.
New beds are established with a no-dig technique known as sheet composting or lasagna gardening, and weeds are controlled with mulch instead of with hand pulling or herbicides. Plants are grown together in combinations that are mutually beneficial, so that you’ll have fewer pests, less disease and bigger yields.
With permaculture, what you are doing is creating mini-ecosystems in your garden. Rather than sowing tidy rows of single types of plants, you would group different plants together into what’s called a guild or polyculture. So, for example, you might have an apple tree in the center of your planting, then just beyond the drip line of the tree you could plant currant or hazelnut bushes as understory shrubs.
Beneath the apple you could plant perennial herbs like chives or wildflowers like hyssop or black-eyed susan to attract pollinators. The herbs and flowers will also help crowd out weeds. Since the plants here are perennials, this type of permaculture planting will mostly take care of itself, providing you food, beauty and wildlife habitat.
Permaculture often incorporate animals into a garden design. Bees provide pollination (plus honey and wax) and livestock like chickens, goats or cows provide manure for fertilizer (plus meat, eggs and milk). You could also plant some native trees, flowers and grasses to attract wild beneficial insects and birds.
Permaculture is less about formal rules and more about learning from nature, and about trial and error to figure out what works best in your situation. After years of container gardening, this year I get to start work on a big, in-the-dirt garden of my own. The previous owner of my house didn’t do much landscaping, so I’ve got a blank slate to work with, and after the permaculture workshop, I’m really excited about everything that I can do in my 50 by 140 foot lot. I can’t wait to turn my yard into a thriving, edible wilderness.
June 10th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Great post the more people that become aware of Permaaculture the better. Have you gotten a copy of The Designers Manual by Bill Mollison yet, amazing body of work.