permaculture

[mIEKAL aND <dtv@mwt.net>]

permed@nor.com.au wrote:

> What a great example of the principle of zonation at work...
>  mIEKAL aND wrote:
> >We made an herb spiral during our first permaculture course here at 
> >Dreamtime
> &
> >because we didn't keep it weeded & maintained, it became quickly overgrown 
> >&
> is
> >largely burdock & blackcaps now & is thoroughly unnavigatible. This also
> happened to
> >a large medicine circle (I believe similar to what is being called a 
> >mandala
> garden)
> >which was created in an area that is not used on a daily basis & it to has
> gone wild
> >& most of the original planting have been superimposed by the more
> >aggressive local "weeds."
> This is to be expected in 'out of zone' situations - it's a location
> rather than system issue - Herb spirals & mandala/circle gardens will
> only 'work' close to a kitchen feeding people daily where the cook/s use
> the garden. Community centre landscapes can be productive but need to be
> designed as public low-maintenance landscapes.
> These zone 1 kitchen garden systems do need daily interaction like
> planting, browsing, weeding, eating, harvesting, pruning, foraging,
> mulching, munching and many common weeds can managed through 'harvesting'
> - burdock root is a prized root veg in Japan, chickweed, pigweed &
> dandelion in salads -

burdock grows everywhere here with no effort, in intensive spaces it quickly 
becomes
a dominator species. so for us it is more useful to have spaces that are 
clear of
burdock, thistle & cow parsnip (which many fair skinned people get burn scars 
from).
in addition to using in stirfries we also make tincture from the burdock & 
have used
the burrs sculpturally in art installations.  they would make great buttons.
portulaca is another edible that grows everwhere in disturbed soil here.


> the more often you eat from the garden the better
> it's managed and it doesn't really feel like 'work', it's simply a part
> of feeding yourself.
>
> A bit about herb spirals...
> it does work if you plant the right herbs (or rather DONT plant the WRONG
> herbs?!), then keep harvesting/pruning, mulching and culling weeds.
> The best perennial herbs are compact bushy (sage, thyme, marjoram,
> savory), prostrate plants (carroway thyme, prostrate savory) and
> non-invasive clumpers like chives, sorrel.

these are great species, but in wisconsin only chives & sorrel are perennial. 
 mints,
mugwort, wormwood, lovage, borage, elecampane, licorice& comfrey are some of 
the ones
we've managed to get going here.

> Think twice about oregano and
> definitely don't plant mints, tarragon and other invasive or vigorous
> 'wanderers' as they can take over in a few years. Larger herbs like
> rosemary need serious harvesting/pruning back to maintain the desired
> size.
> For the right herbs the herb spiral (or other raised rockery) provides
> the perfect environment for these hardy sun-loving plants (sage, thyme,
> marjoram, savory etc) that prefer alkaline and free draining soil between
> rocks- the radiant heat from the rocks increases potency of their
> essential oils which translates to flavour and healing properties.
> I don't know if Bill realised this when he dreamt up the herb spiral.

Im not clear why people say he created herb spirals. Ive seen these mentioned 
in
other gardening book much earlier than the 70s...

>
>
> Robyn


mIEKAL