Permaculture and the backyard garden

Permaculture stands for "permanent agriculture."   To learn more about permaculture, check out my last post.   I had a love-hate relationship with it, but there were some Permaculture slogans that, after three or four years of planning my own garden, (and much to my chagrin) have become part of my own basic philosophies in gardening. Enjoy.

1) Plant in “zones”

In permaculture, a "zone map" becomes an intricate diagram of an entire farm: zones zero through five indicate a range of planting activities, from an herb garden all the way out to a semi-forested orchard-and-grazing area, for all those sheep I will never have. But the concept is practical:
plant according to human nature, not just nature-nature – and make things easy on yourself, not harder. My favorite concept is the home zone, zone zero: in this zone goes everything that will be close to where you live, everything that needs extra TLC, or that can go in your dinner tonight. You will be a lot more likely to use basil in your cooking if you can dash out the door to cut some while you leave a pot on the stove. You will be more likely to water a plant if it is on your path to your front door. The spirit of permaculture stresses working with systems, not fighting against the natural flow of things. I love the idea that permaculture also takes our systems, (like our busy schedules) into consideration, just as much as wind patterns or shade maps. This is the reason I never got a community garden – I loved the idea of the extra space, but to me it violated the spirit of the “zones” – I want to be able to run outside and snip basil and rosemary for dinner with no extra thought or planning. The point is, take yourself into consideration as you plan a garden, not just nature.


2) Pay attention to “nature’s nature” too.

Above and beyond chicken-tractors and pig-poop heating systems, this is the basis of permaculture. Part of gardening is learning about what nature does in your plot, and learning to work with it, period. This goes for everything from noticing where the sun and shade go, to noticing if you have a slope in your yard that leaves some plants without water, to watching what kinds of bugs, pests and diseases blow through every summer. As much as I hated the idea of spending a summer observing my backyard, instead of just planting willy-nilly, it would've saved me the effort of preparing beds that ended up in 100% shade by mid-summer. But just sitting and hanging out in my garden also helped me notice the lacewings that showed up all by themselves to prey on the cabbage-munching caterpillars – not even “organic pesticides” needed. Time and observation really have been my best teachers.


3) Leave no soil uncovered.

This is kind of “no child left behind” for the garden. According to permaculture (and most organic gardeners) the soil comes before anything. Bare soil bakes in the sun, losing moisture, precious nutrients and microfauna, killing off all that richness we are trying to cultivate. So soil should always be covered – with crops, cover crops, mulch or even weeds. In my garden I’ve stuck by this adage – crops crowd almost every available surface, I lay down compost and mulch between them, and in the shady corners and paths where no vegetables are planned, I let weeds or clover come in. Welcome, messiness, welcome rich soil.

4) Pay attention to edges, eschew rows and single-crop garden beds.

To some, my garden might look like a mess – I’ve got tomatoes growing on top of peas, in one bed I’ve got onions growing next to radishes, eggplants with peppers, carrots along the borders, and cucumbers climbing the wall, with beans coming in underneath the bok choi. Also, there are corners that are not cultivated at all- sumacs and clovers thrive in the shade. But remember, yield can be infinite. In the spring, my peas tower over my tomatoes, but by midsummer they’ll have switched position, neither one suffering from their neighbor. Planting multiple kinds of plants together mimics the way plants grow in nature. The diversity helps slow the invasion of pests and molds, and also helps me pack in more plants into my tiny space. Also, the mass of plants provides cover for beneficial insects, birds, dragonflies, lacewings and maybe even toads to live, eating up the bugs that might harm my plants. Which brings me to my favorite slogan….


5) You never have a “too many slugs problem” – just a “too few ducks problem” –

I think this is my favorite – although I don’t actually own any ducks, I try to keep the philosophy intact. The idea is to beef up nature’s own balancing act, instead of focusing on just one element in the food chain. A lot of organic solutions (like spraying plants with soapy water to kill aphids) kills off all insects, indiscriminately. Last year I tried something different – imitating how food systems work in nature: I planted flowers with tiny blooms that provided pollen for the smallest insects and I left out dishes of water for birds, dragonflies and lacewings to drink. With just these two steps, I soon found my garden populated not just by aphids and caterpillars, but also by the next step up the food chain: spiders, bats, toads, birds, and ladybugs all became my willing helpers in maintaining the balance. Although my lettuce, cabbage and eggplant all suffered some aphid-induced holes in their leaves, the plants not only survived, but thrived.


6). With good enough soil, yield is infinite.

I’ve come to believe this is true – although without the breakneck need to eke out every possible scrap of growth from available soil. I have found that after a few years of consistently adding compost and respecting my soil, I can plant vegetables very close to each to each other, and still get the delicious, faith-inducing bumper crops that organic gardening promises.