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  • From: Marian Dombroski <MDombros@umd.edu>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] mandala garden
  • Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2005 12:23:07 -0400

Also called a keyhole garden, if that is more philosophically palatable.


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The mandala garden is not grounded in Buddhist philosophy at all, even
though a number of Buddhist cultures produce beautiful mandalas. But so
do a lot of non-Buddhists in other cultures. There are Christian
mandalas, Jewish mandalas, Goth mandalas, Wiccan mandalas and atheist
mandalas, so I think you are safe.

The mandala garden simply creates more edge, and more edge in
permaculture philosophy creates more opportunity for diversity,
interaction and symbiotic relationships. The advantage in a community
garden would be maximizing the use of a space that's small relative to
the number of people that want to extract produce and flowers from it.
The disadvantage would be allocating and coordinating separate plots
(assuming this a typical community garden, not a communal garden) so
that the advantages of edge are preserved. As Carrie implied, mandala
gardens may not be suitable for every place and everybody. One works
for me, although a second garden next to it is a combination of raised
beds, rows and patches.




  • [permaculture] mandala garden, Marian Dombroski, 06/06/2005

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