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  • From: Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe@silcom.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Permaculture in your urban yard
  • Date: Thu, 02 Sep 2004 05:12:32 -0700

Advice From Gaia's Garden
Permaculture in your urban yard
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/archive/2004/09/01/greeng.DTL

Lisa Van Cleef, Special to SF Gate
Wednesday, September 1, 2004


Because permaculture got started in Australia, where there's a whole lot of land, the early books on the subject were all about designing gigantic spreads: how to choose the most logical site for your orchard, where to graze your sheep and how to handle the water runoff in your back forty.

But this practice isn't limited to big-sky country. Basically, permaculture is a set of principles and techniques for designing holistic, human-friendly landscapes modeled after nature. Combining the best of wildlife-habitat gardening, edible landscaping and native-plant cultivation, permaculture recognizes the landscape as an ecosystem.

This methodology, according to Toby Hemenway, the man who domesticated permaculture, can be can be put into play just as easily in your urban backyard. In his best-selling book, "Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture," Hemenway popularizes this jargon-laden, technical design system by scaling it down to home-garden size and presenting it in very readable language.

Hemenway got his start in 1993, when he was a mid-level manager at a biotech company that, he says, "wasn't really what I had in mind." After stumbling across one of permaculture founder Bill Mollison's books at a Seattle public library, he was so inspired that he quit his job within a few months, and he has been teaching, writing and consulting on permaculture and ecological design ever since.

Hemenway, who recently moved to Portland, has a new urban garden to work with, and his latest project seems like the perfect model for us fellow gardeners with small urban yards and a maritime-influenced climate to learn from.

One of the primary permaculture principles, based on nature, Hemenway says, is that of multiple uses: Whatever nature produces, it has multiple functions. He points out that a single fruit tree will provide food, shade and wildlife habitat, as well as mulch from fallen leaves. It will also loosen the soil with its roots, serve as a windbreak and more.

A garden can multitask in the same way. Rather than limit a garden to one use, plan it to provide food, herbs, wildlife habitat, privacy, a play space and a rest space and to attract helpful insects -- and to be pretty. As for Hemenway's new garden, he's keeping it simple, going for a garden that provides food, offers habitat to wildlife and contains a couple tranquil spots.

For food, Hemenway prefers to plant perennials rather than annuals to eliminate annual seed starting, tilling and the weeds that turning the soil brings. Perennials, thanks to their deeper root systems, which better can tap into moisture and minerals underground and need less water and fertilizer than annuals, and, because they grow year-round, they provide dependable habitat for wildlife and beneficial insects. He will also bring in dwarf fruit trees and grafted trees that will produce several species on the same tree.

Hemenway does plant some annuals, of course, including salad greens such as arugula, mustard and chard that thrive in our maritime winter. He always lets some go to seed, however, so they can pop up throughout the yard, eliminating the need to reseed.

Nature does not waste energy, and neither does a good permaculture design. Hemenway will plant his greens and other plants he uses most often close to the house and less essential ones farther away. He jokes that, ideally, the vegetable garden should be planted between the car door and the house door so you can harvest your evening salad on your way in.

Hemenway grows plants such as parsley to attract beneficial insects like tachinid flies, which eat cutworms, thrips, spider mites and others. He attracts birds by letting them eat a share of the berries and fruits he grows, and he suggests providing a shallow birdbath for them as well. (His book has a terrific list of plants that attract wildlife.)

To get ideas for creating tranquil areas in the garden, he visited a couple of Portland's Japanese gardens. Regardless of a garden's size, Hemenway says, every one can provide you with a couple spots to rest and regenerate from the urban grind. He is quick to point out, too, that if you desire a place to host parties, you can create one in your garden as well.

The foundation for all this natural bounty is, of course, the soil. Hemenway says that the first thing any new gardener needs to do is make friends with someone at a local tree-trimming company in order to be able to collect some of its mulch. He advocates consistently maintaining a thick layer -- at least 9 inches -- of mulch around your plants, following nature's model of a forest floor. Deep mulching helps conserve water, suppresses weeds, attracts soil-benefiting earthworms and breaks down into soil-enriching compost.

Hemenway says the real secret to a nearly maintenance-free garden is to put the work in during the first few years: Keep your soil well mulched, select plants that will thrive in your climate and, to cut down on labor, use perennials rather than annuals. After those early seasons, your Eden will be humming along on its own, and you can go on a long vacation and return to a garden that's neither a jungle nor a desert.

As Hemenway points out, you can visit a forest and return in two months, and, with no human involvement, it's still in great condition. Nature's systems are furiously efficient, and, the more we imitate them, the healthier our gardens will be.

Hemenway will be in Half Moon Bay Sept. 10-12 to lead a Bioneers' workshop, "Natural Patterns and Permaculture Principles: Ecological Design Workshop," which will focus on edible landscaping, soil building, water conservation and other methods to increase the diversity, fertility and health of your garden. It's an opportunity not to be missed. For more information, check out this page on the Bioneers' Web site. http://www.bioneers.org/programs/food_farming/wisdom_eco_design04.php

For more information about permaculture, see this previous column and this one.




  • [permaculture] Permaculture in your urban yard, Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson, 09/02/2004

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