George's Garden - a half acre garden designed for maximum yield, convenience and children
,
<Intro>
who the garden belongs to
where it is
how i got the garden
why i need it
what are the constraints
how to further the design
Survey (collecting all site information): drawing of site (any plans?). Soil condition. Aspect. Current planting scheme (permanent and annual). Buildings/ elements.
Four long raised vegetable beds:
This is how they were planted when I took them on
Four long raised vegetable beds:
This is how they were planted when I took them on in June
Bed 1 (nearest the polytunnel) - left side broad beans, right side potatoes
Bed 2 - left side strawberries, right side empty
Bed 3 - left side asparagus, right side garlic
Bed 4 - broad beans
Rotation:
After cropping beds 1, 2 (just the garlic) and 4, it is worth considering the nutritional status of each bed.
Assess/ Analyse (SWOC analysis: Strengths/ Weaknesses/ Opportunities/ Constraints or Challenges)
Bed 1 - broad beans, as a legume, are nitrogen fixers. Brassicas are a good follow on, so the spring cabbages have gone in, interplanted with chives, garlic chives and spring onions. I'll also sow some clover: interplanted with cabbage, clover can reduce the native cabbage aphid caterpillar populations by increasing the number of predatory ground beetles.
On the right hand side of the bed, the potatoes came out in July, so it's high time to put in mustard. This will help to reduce any eelworm by hardening their cysts and preventing them from emerging on time, confusing their breeding cycle. There is no clubroot here, so I should be safe. Mustard is a brassica and mustard green manure can spread club root disease. Next spring, this is where the leeks will go. I may well pop a few carrots inbetween, as the smell of the leeks will help to deter carrot root fly.
Bed 2 - The strawberries will stay in, but get thinned out to 9" apart. Right now (Oct 2102), they'll get a winter mulch. They'll be companion planted with borage next spring, to strengthen resistance to insects and disease.
I planted up fennel and marigolds on the right side, so I will underplant these herbs with new strawberry runners on that side, ready for clearing out the left side after they have fruited in July 2013.
Bed 3 - The asparagus is a perennial crop, so it will stay in situ. I'll interplant this autumn (2012) with elephant garlic. I'm off to the horse field to pick up a load of this summer's dung - it'll add plenty of organic matter to the soil, to the benefot of the garlic.Asparagus and I both love parsley, so there'll be a good sowing of that in the spring, and probably some marigolds, too.
The garlic side will be planted up with leaves next year - chard, kale, spinach. So for now, I put some winter rye on it to hold the ground, and dig it in during the early spring weeks, while I start the leaves in the polytunnel
Bed 4 - I'd like this to be a bed of brassicas, the natural follow on to legumes. Some beetroot in here too - I love the tops deep fried in chickpea flour batter, and love pickled beetroot even more. This bed needs to be planted up quickly, and a sprinkling of lime wouldn't go amiss.
Design (Apply permaculture principles)
Maintain (or Manage)
Evaluate
Tweak
who the garden belongs to
where it is
how i got the garden
why i need it
what are the constraints
how to further the design
Survey (collecting all site information): drawing of site (any plans?). Soil condition. Aspect. Current planting scheme (permanent and annual). Buildings/ elements.
Four long raised vegetable beds:
This is how they were planted when I took them on
Four long raised vegetable beds:
This is how they were planted when I took them on in June
Bed 1 (nearest the polytunnel) - left side broad beans, right side potatoes
Bed 2 - left side strawberries, right side empty
Bed 3 - left side asparagus, right side garlic
Bed 4 - broad beans
Rotation:
After cropping beds 1, 2 (just the garlic) and 4, it is worth considering the nutritional status of each bed.
Assess/ Analyse (SWOC analysis: Strengths/ Weaknesses/ Opportunities/ Constraints or Challenges)
Bed 1 - broad beans, as a legume, are nitrogen fixers. Brassicas are a good follow on, so the spring cabbages have gone in, interplanted with chives, garlic chives and spring onions. I'll also sow some clover: interplanted with cabbage, clover can reduce the native cabbage aphid caterpillar populations by increasing the number of predatory ground beetles.
On the right hand side of the bed, the potatoes came out in July, so it's high time to put in mustard. This will help to reduce any eelworm by hardening their cysts and preventing them from emerging on time, confusing their breeding cycle. There is no clubroot here, so I should be safe. Mustard is a brassica and mustard green manure can spread club root disease. Next spring, this is where the leeks will go. I may well pop a few carrots inbetween, as the smell of the leeks will help to deter carrot root fly.
Bed 2 - The strawberries will stay in, but get thinned out to 9" apart. Right now (Oct 2102), they'll get a winter mulch. They'll be companion planted with borage next spring, to strengthen resistance to insects and disease.
I planted up fennel and marigolds on the right side, so I will underplant these herbs with new strawberry runners on that side, ready for clearing out the left side after they have fruited in July 2013.
Bed 3 - The asparagus is a perennial crop, so it will stay in situ. I'll interplant this autumn (2012) with elephant garlic. I'm off to the horse field to pick up a load of this summer's dung - it'll add plenty of organic matter to the soil, to the benefot of the garlic.Asparagus and I both love parsley, so there'll be a good sowing of that in the spring, and probably some marigolds, too.
The garlic side will be planted up with leaves next year - chard, kale, spinach. So for now, I put some winter rye on it to hold the ground, and dig it in during the early spring weeks, while I start the leaves in the polytunnel
Bed 4 - I'd like this to be a bed of brassicas, the natural follow on to legumes. Some beetroot in here too - I love the tops deep fried in chickpea flour batter, and love pickled beetroot even more. This bed needs to be planted up quickly, and a sprinkling of lime wouldn't go amiss.
Design (Apply permaculture principles)
- Observe and Interact – “Beauty is in the mind of the beholder”
I have only been observing this garden since June, but it's a sheltered large walled garden, the beds all facing south east. There is reasonably heavy rainfaill, but the soil has been traeted with large amounts of rockdust and manure, so it is nutritionally sound, friable and well drained. - Catch and Store Energy – “Make hay while the sun shines”
The beds that aren't going to be planted up until next spring will be covered in green manure, to bothe feed the ground and increase organic when they are dug in, and to protect against nutrient erosion ans weeds by providing thick ground cover. One will have a covering of horse manure, using what would otherwise be a pollutant if it remained on the field. - Obtain a yield – “You can’t work on an empty stomach”
Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the working you are doing.
- Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback – “The sins of the fathers are visited on the children of the seventh generation”
We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well. Negative feedback is often slow to emerge. - Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services – “Let nature take its course”
Make the best use of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior and dependence on non-renewable resources. - Produce No Waste – “Waste not, want not” or “A stitch in time saves nine”
By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste. - Design From Patterns to Details – “Can’t see the forest for the trees”
By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go. - Integrate Rather Than Segregate – “Many hands make light work”
By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other. - Use Small and Slow Solutions – “Slow and steady wins the race” or “The bigger they are, the harder they fall”
Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and produce more sustainable outcomes. - Use and Value Diversity – “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”
Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides. - Use Edges and Value the Marginal – “Don’t think you are on the right track just because it’s a well-beaten path”
The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system. - Creatively Use and Respond to Change – “Vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be”
We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing and then intervening at the right time.
Maintain (or Manage)
Evaluate
Tweak