Creating a Permaculture Garden

 

This year I took on a very significant new approach to our garden. Earlier this year (in a Facebook note) I wrote about our new favorite word, “Permaculture” and reshaping the garden to encompass the concept of permaculture. This project has been ongoing for over the last month in a half. Weather has played a role and what could be accomplished and when various tasks could not be accomplished. One of the principles of the permaculture is to go slow and observe.  The observation has been going on for the last two years. The garden has produced in the past but through observation I noticed our soil was not improving in quality and in fact it seemed each time I tilled the soil it had not changed much; meaning I was not seeing a richer soil because of any additional composting. I noticed a significant amount of water being used to keep the plants watered. Having a well can be beneficial as you are not charged for using your water but it does not make sense to work on water reclamation as you pour gallons on to your garden.  In years past we planted what we liked but really did not give much thought on what goes well together in the garden. We probably got lucky in our choice of plants. This winter I did extensive research on what might produce a better garden utilizing the principles of permaculture.

Dawson our daughter (recent graduate in environmental science) holding an outline of the principles of

permaculture.

The design I came up with involved building raised beds filled with sticks, stones and other organic material. The beds were to be constructed utilizing logs from our woods. Through the advice of our daughter, I created swales between each bed to help collect water back into the soil.  In between each bed I secured recycled cardboard from our town recycling center (formally called the dump)! The cardboard was placed down on to the soil and on top of the cardboard I poured wood chips, I collected these from the township (they were going along the roads chipping trees that were in the way of the road). The purpose of this was to work on water retention, soil rehab, and control the growth of unwanted plants. The added benefit will be the reintroduction of worms to the soil. The area will grow with some of the earth’s best soil producers, worms! Eventually the wood chips and the cardboard will decompose and we will plant plants that will hold water, add nutrients to the soil and work as ground cover.  When we can plant the ground cover it will also be an added benefit to the chickens that are now going to be housed next to the garden. When completed we will have a chicken run through the garden directly from the coop.

 

This is one of 7 raised beds with the swale leading underneath the bed. In addition the bed is planted with plants that work well together, tomatoes, onions, basil, dill, and nasturtiums. You can see the wood chips left of the bed and we are using hay to heavily mulch each bed.

Along with putting beds in we will be inoculating fresh cut logs (not the ones pictured) from live trees. We have pretty large elm coming down in our pasture; the power company wanted it taken down as it is so close to our power line. We were more than happy to have them come in and take it down! Some of the logs from the elm will be used for inoculation while the remaining will be used to finish the other beds.

Earlier this winter I built a cold frame to start seeds in; unfortunately I did not get to those seed plantings! The good news, because the building of this new concept it has taken a lot more work to complete,  and therefore the garden has been delayed in planting; thankfully I have the cold frame, and now all or most of the seeds are planted and in the cold frame waiting for the finished beds.

The other concept I undertook, in this garden building adventure, is to create an environment within the garden that would invite back the bee population. This will be accomplished by planting flowers, placing bee baths throughout the garden and creating an overall environment inviting to the bees. In between the logs on each bed I am planting flowers and other types of plants. One bed for example has cucumbers planted between the logs and they will climb a trellis I put in front of them. In another bed I built a log teepee that will allow squash, beans and peas to climb for easy picking and keeping them off the ground. In this bed I also planted sunflower plants and flowers. All of the items planted go together and give other plants nutrients.

This bed contains carrots, lettuce, and at the top of the bed I have planted cucumbers between the logs. In the far back you can see the teepee for the squash, beans and peas.

Cucumbers planted at the top of the carrot bed in between the logs with a trellis in front of the cucumbers, allowing the cucumbers to climb trellis instead of lying on the ground.

In the background you can see the cold frame (built out of old florescent light covers and an old window). Further back you can see the chicken coop which was built mostly out of old pallets. I am not finished with the coop as I am going to use old cedar siding we have here on the farm and leftover metal roofing.

As a chef I am very interested in food, where it comes from, how it is produced and what might be best practices when it comes to raising/growing food.  I undertook this project along with building a coop, planting a vineyard (small one with 51 grapevines) and taking care of chickens as research. We are undated with information today about our food, organic, GMO’s, non GMO’s and other information thus I felt I wanted to go about raising food for our house and study how sustainable growing food in a permaculture environment could work. We have been eating fresh eggs from 5 hens for about 8 months and honestly I can say, the eggs are awesome to eat. I make our mayonnaise with the eggs and no one has gotten ill. I have started making our bread on a regular basis and will be producing batches of bread to freeze, allowing me time to do the work on the farm.  All of the seeds and plants used are non GMO seeds or plants; you can actually seek out these seeds and plants when you go about planting your garden. I did not have any trouble in finding these items.

As the garden springs to life I will report on the progress and start putting in some of the recipes for the items I am preparing from the garden. In the meantime, go slow, observe, and focus on what you can accomplish now and plan for what you envision later!