permaculture

["Kelly Finigan" <kfinigan@telus.net>]

Rob:

Not everybody else has tens of acres. My home is a very inner city townhouse
(2 blocks from the oil company headquarters towers) of 720 sq ft.

Backyard is 12ft by 20 ft. In front, I am turning the driveway into planter
boxes with trellis and pergola, the front lawn [a wedge about 25 feet long
tapering from 20 feet to nothing]and boulevard [about 8 feet wide by 20 feet
long between sidewalk and road] are shared with a neighbour who gladly gave
us permission to sheet mulch. We are turning the back into a forest garden
(4 dwarf espalier apples on the north side, dwarf sour cherry, elderberry,
currant, nannyberry, rhubarb, comfrey, lots of perennial flowers) with a
small roof catchment pond and herb spiral, mushrooms under the deck (in
shade).

The front raised beds are for annual vegetables and climbers, next year I am
thinking of installing a "vertical aquaponics" system (see
www.bagelhole.org) on the driveway too. The front "lawn" areas are becoming
a "savannah of perennial vegetables (asparagus, sea kale, onions, etc),
herbs and edible flowers with a few dwarf apple trees (there is an existing
30 ft green ash that shades part of the area).

Oh, we also don't own the land (housing cooperative) so we have to consider
all this kind of temporary (if we leave, the next folks may not want it...)

so, don't feel bad about your bit of land...it sounds quite big to me! (not
to mention less severe winters, adequate rainfall and longer growing season)

cheers,
Kelly



Kelly Finigan, M.Sc. P.Eng., Permaculture Designer
Essential Elements Inc.
744 - 4 Street NW       Calgary, Alberta, Canada         T2N 1P2
1-403-283-7270           fax 283-9783     kfinigan@telus.net
----- Original Message -----
From: <rob.sheppard@btinternet.com>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 3:44 AM
Subject: [permaculture] Re: Where you from?


> Hi - I've been lurking on this list for a while, picking up the odd tip
here and there.
>
> My name's Rob, and I live in Romford, UK - a small to medium sized town in
the county of Essex in the South-East of England - just east of London,
Romford is also in the most easterly London Borough of Havering.
>
> Well, reading about people's tens of acres of land will make this seem
"quaint", but I have a suburban garden measuring about 100 foot by 25 foot.
Its runs north-south, with the house (a modest Victorian semi circa 1890) on
the southern end (front room catches lots of sun and is good for growing
plants indoors).
>
> At the moment the garden is in transtion - I've lived here for exactly one
year, and being completely new to gardening and permaculture, I've spent
most of that year reading and thinking rather than doing. But now I've made
a start - the weekend just gone I planted 3 fruit trees and three more will
go in next weekend. The garden is basically overgrown grass with 6 existing
ash trees of various ages. The transition is to a forest (woodland seems
more appropriate) garden, and since I'm vegan I will be using vegan-organic
principles, composting, mainly no dig, raised beds, mulches etc. The idea is
to grow a few fruit and veg to eat, and also to learn about forest gardening
with a view to taking on a bigger plot in the future.
>
> Can't remember where I first heard about Pc, but I like its joined up
thinking and the fact that it offers solutions rather than just the usual
"don't do this and don't do that" as most people concerned about the
environment do.
>
> Well, that's about all for now,
> Cheers,
> Rob Sheppard
>
>
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