Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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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.