In a couple of weeks I will begin my Permaculture Design Certification class. To get ready I am re-reading Bill Mollison’s Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual and have started reading David Holmgren’s Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. It’s a great reason to start designing.
We do not intend to live here for more than a few more years. However, in the interest of continuing my education, I want to begin applying the principles and techniques. This will also provide more food from our garden should our move be delayed.
Below are some sketches I put together while planning the initial round of improvements. If you have an interest in Permaculture, please leave comments. I will also answer any questions as best I can.
The first image is a profile of the valley I live in.
To the north is a mountain that rises several hundred feet above my home’s elevation. Storms usually break over it when coming down from the north, shielding us from the heaviest rain. However, most of the rain that does make it over the mountain passes through our yard on the way to the stream.
To the south is a wooded ridge that blocks much of the southern sun exposure. Between the home and ridge is a dam fed, trout stocked, stream. The main road is in front of the house.
Legend:
I,II,III,IV are my Zones. G/H Garage and House. PB is a Pole Building. The Dots/Circles Dots/Double Circles are trees.
Dotted lines divide zones II,III,IV. The dots to the NE represent a hill of wild strawberries already on the property. All the black marks are what are currently on the property. Gray Xs are what I intend to put in. Gray SW to NE lines (barely visible) are for the area that floods. Circles C are compost bins.
Wind(1) and Wind(2). These are the directions the winds come onto our property. Because of the ridge, mountain, and tree coverage, very rarely do winds whip in from the north or south. Instead, it comes in along the road. 1 comes in heading east and causes some disturbance to the front yard, but not much. 2 is the real killer. There is a curve in the road just past the Eastern edge of the property, causing the Westerly wind to cut directly through the protection of the trees and pound into the Eastern side of the house.
This is my yard as it stands. This is a rough picture, not to scale, with some trees placed in ad hoc at the moment until I can trek through the snow and get the measurements needed for something more accurate.
Zone I to the west of the house is also the leach field for the septic tank. This limits any plantings in the soil, but it gets a nice mid-day sun and serves as my nursery/hardening off area. Zone I in front of the house is the kitchen garden with onions, tomatoes, peas, greens, cucumbers. The westerly half size bed is a strawberry patch filled with everbearing and day-neutral strawberries. This mix gives great strawberries from the last to the first frost fairly consistently.
The field to the North of Zone II has been a bit of a problem over the past few years. The bushes that edge it along the road are forsythia and lilac. They hold in the summer humidity and have caused quite a few problems with pests, fungus, and disease. This will no longer be used for planting, but perhaps to hold the chicken tractor or an outdoor grill.
The large tree is a well established maple with mostly bare ground and leaf litter underneath.
The zones for III and IV may seem rather rigidly defined but this does correspond to the way the yard floods. If there is runoff from down the mountain, it will pool in IV roughly along those lines. If the stream floods and cuts through the yard, III is very rarely hit, the rest washes through PB, around the trees, and exits off the SE corner of the house.
Plantings for Phase I (2010):
Under the large tree (maple) to the SW of PB, where the 4 Xs are, I want to plant blueberries along the drip line, possibly comfrey underneath as a ground cover, and a border of basil.
Along the eastern edge of the yard, in that long straight line, is for blackberries. This is to limit debris passing through the yard if the stream leaves its banks, to guide fishermen down to the stream without wandering through the yard (they like to enter on the NE corner of the property but will roam if given a chance), create additional habitat, and begin inviting more pollinators into the yard.
Finally, along the SE edge of II and out along the bottom of IV, will go some Pawpaw trees. Mostly, I’ve wanted to grow them for ages but also to reinforce the river bank. This edge is currently protected by a retaining wall, but I don’t know how long it will last. In a good heavy rain there are indications of some undercutting and several of the retaining wall logs have been shifted.
That covers everything for now.
