permaculture

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe@silcom.com>]

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.