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getting started with permaculture | (Read 284 times) |
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boyarsky
Posts: 11
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May 09, 2008, 03:05:40 PM |
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If you could give only one piece of advice to someone looking to get started with permaculture, what would you tell them?
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Toby Hemenway
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Posts: 18
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May 09, 2008, 06:34:07 PM |
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Okay, that's a tough one, since I love to give advice and it's hard to stop at just one piece.
I'd say, start at your doorstep. That means start small and close in, get successful in a small space where you can really focus your efforts, and then repeat those successes at larger scale and with variations. That would include (see, I can't stop) building up the soil with compost and mulch until it's so rich that plants explode out of it; stacking lots of plants into a small space, and putting the things you love, whether veggies, fruits, flowers, herbs, medicinal plants, or whatever, into that small space. That way you'll reward yourself for your efforts. Put your garden where you'll see it and where it's easy to take care of.
The next thing to do would be to find other people doing permaculture and learn from them. Permaculture is about relationships and connections, and that very much includes connections with other people. Permaculture is as much a point of view as it is a set of principles and techniques, and in a culture that focuses mostly on things instead of processes and relationships, it can sometimes be hard to wrap your mind around the interconnections that permaculture makes. Being with others who get it really helps.
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boyarsky
Posts: 11
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May 09, 2008, 07:50:35 PM |
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That sounds like two pieces of advice  , but thank you for the reply.
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Stacey
Posts: 3
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May 10, 2008, 06:08:12 PM |
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"That would include (see, I can't stop) building up the soil with compost and mulch until it's so rich that plants explode out of it; stacking lots of plants into a small space, and putting the things you love, whether veggies, fruits, flowers, herbs, medicinal plants, or whatever, into that small space. "
So would that theory exclude the making of raised beds? I am working at improving the soil here in suburban STL, but it's pretty miserable. So where I've had the best luck is in making raised beds and enriching the heck out of them.
I'm awaiting the arrival of a recycled black (to help warm) plastic raised bed from gardeners.com, but feel it may arrive at this rate sometime in the summer, which is not so great for my little garden which is, at the moment, in containers.
Any suggestions specifically for the new self-sustaining gardener of a raised bed?
Best,
Stacey
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« Last Edit: May 11, 2008, 08:46:35 AM by paul wheaton »
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Toby Hemenway
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Posts: 18
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May 10, 2008, 09:21:28 PM |
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Stacey: I'm a big fan of raised beds. They are a great way to keep track of a lot of plants in a small space; things have a tendency to get lost if I don't define the edges of my beds somehow (sometimes that's fine; they just go to seed and surprise me the next year, or I discover something great underneath another plant). And as you say, you can really focus on enriching the soil.
I'm wondering if, while you are waiting for the raised bed material to arrive, you could create a smaller bed in the spot you have selected for it, with just soil for the border, and then build the raised bed around it, and add more soil to fill it out to the edges. Maybe that's impractical, but it would be a way to use the space and get things growing.
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