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Zones:
Zones are areas of access, numbered from 1 to 5, with 1 being the area that is most frequently accessed, and 5 being accessed very infrequently � maybe only once a year.
Zone 1 is the kitchen garden containing herbs, lettuces, beans, tomatoes and other plants that you require frequently. You might visit this area several times a day, e.g. for fresh herb teas. This area would be close to the house, preferably just outside the kitchen door.
Zone 2 is visited every day or two and contains plants whose produce will keep fresh for a short time, e.g. tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, small fruit trees. This area can be a couple of minutes walk from the house, possibly behind a hedge, trellis or grape vine.
Zone 3 is further from the house and is visited maybe once a week. Here you would plant the pumpkins, squash and other plants that are harvested infrequently as well as the main orchard.
Zones 4 and 5 are only found on larger permaculture installations and could include, in zone 4, coppicing trees for firewood, and farm forestry trees which may provide an annual crop, e.g. nut trees. Zone 5 could be a forestry area in pines or native bush, which is visited only rarely, or may be grazed pasture.
Animals can be fitted into the zones as required, e.g. a house cow and chickens or ducks could be included in Zone 2, while stock which does not require daily attention could be included in zones 4 or 5. Care must be taken that these animals receive sufficient human contact to ensure their health, that they have an adequate supply of food and water, and that they are excluded from areas where they could damage plants.
Zones need not be continuous. Zone 2 on my own residential land is spread between the main vegetable garden, an area of medicinal herbs (the culinary herbs are in zone 1) and the climbing beans growing against a fence. Similarly orchard trees, which could be classified as zone 3, are planted close to zone 2 for amenity reasons (mainly to block views of the neighbour's roof). So the zoning system is largely conceptual and allows for easy discussion of general vegetation types. It is not a set of rigid rules which must be adhered to at all costs.
Guilds:
A guild is a close association of species clustered around a central element (plant or animal) to assist that element. This is similar to companion planting, but goes further by including animals. For example, plants such as comfrey, silverbeet and spinach are useful feed for chickens, so if planted on the outside of a chicken run the birds can feed on the leaves without destroying the plants. This grouping of plants and animals then acts as a guild. Plants within a guild may benefit each other in many ways including:
• reducing root competition, e.g. having a herbal ley instead of grass under fruit trees
• providing shelter, e.g. hedges as windbreaks
• providing nutrients, e.g. interplanting with tagasaste, a nitrogen fixer, to improve soil nitrogen levels
• assisting in pest control, e.g. planting calendula or marigold with brassicas, planting umbelliferous plants as hosts for predatory insects
• assisting in pollination, e.g. planting borage in an orchard to attract bees
There are many plants and animals that are useful in guilds which may not directly add to the quantity of food produced from that guild but may indirectly increase the quality of the food and reduce damage by insects. These will be discussed in a later article. At this stage just be aware that these beneficial plants and animals exist and that it is highly likely that plants and animals which just seem to arrive from nowhere may be of great benefit. Do not be tempted to spray and squash without knowing why.
Garden maintenance:
Permaculture is designed to be low maintenance. In its original concept it focussed on requiring no maintenance, but that is probably unrealistic if used in a small area or if tidiness is required. In the ideal world, you would have sufficient space to allow nature to take her course, for plants to seed and self-sow the next generation, for there to be a huge oversupply so that you can be selective in what you eat, and for your wife not to mind that the grass wets her knees when she hangs out the washing.
However, life just ain�t always like that. So in zones 1 and 2 particularly you will increase your productivity if you replant when the crop dies down or starts to go to seed. Weeds, especially grasses, can also be controlled for optimum production � remember to compost these except for oxalis bulbs and invasive grasses like kikuyu and couch. While birds may appear to be damaging your garden by digging in the surface compost, they are of benefit in eating large numbers of herbivores which eat your plants, so birds are nature�s gift and should be treasured.
It is always beneficial to conserve soil moisture by having as much of the soil surface as possible covered either by plants or mulch, especially in the hot, dry summer weather. This reduces the need for watering and also reduces weed growth. So pile on the mulch, e.g. grass clippings, leaves or compost, but be careful not to pile it against the stems of larger plants, e.g. trees, shrubs and vines, as this can cause collar rot in susceptible plants, e.g. passion fruit. Keep the mulch in a ring close to, but not touching, the stems of these plants. The ring can extend outwards from the plant to the drip line of the outermost branches - this is the area that the feeding roots occupy and which requires fertiliser and moisture. Therefore it may be necessary to extend the area of mulch as the plant grows. Keeping this area under a living mulch like a herbal ley, which retains the moaisture but does not require renewal, is therefore an advantage. However, it is important that plant species used for a living mulch have shallow roots and a spreading nature to avoid competition with the food plants for nutrients. Also, the plants will require more feeding than if they were mulched with compost less nutrients will be available from decopmposing vegetation.
Planting rapidly maturing plants, e.g. radishes or lettuces, between slower maturing annual plants, e.g. cauliflowers, celery, silverbeet, allows you to maintain a soil cover and harvest an extra crop. Once the rapidly maturing plamts are harvested, the area between the longer-lived plants can be mulched to conserve soil moisture and provide nutrients for these and subsequent plants.
Permaculture is designed to make food production easy. If you find that you are spending a lot of time in your garden when you would prefer to be doing other things, then analyse the time you are spending. Most of the time should be spent in planting and harvesting. If it is not, then it is highly likely that you are working too hard and that there is an easier way. So keep a note of exactly what you are doing, why it is necessary and consider other ways that would provide as great or greater benefits with less time and effort.
Custom permaculture designs to suit your needs
Alan Willoughby MSc, PDC * PO Box 296, Tauranga, New Zealand * Tel (07) 544 3087 * willoughbys@xtra.co.nz
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