PERMACULTURE 101
From Theresa

Permaculture gardens are ecologically sound, 
and so provide habitat for wildlife as well as food for humans.

Our side yard has a wildlife pond (the rocks in the lower photo are the edge), many edible and medicinal plants, and a swing that lets us enjoy it all.

Bumble bees sleeping under our Bee Balm flowers, dawn, 2013. Bee balm can also be used to make tea.

This garden in our back yard has comfrey, chives, violets, and a wild strawberry patch, as well as many beautiful flowers, such as the anemones below.

I waited a long time to own a house (I was 39) and one of the main reasons I wanted to be a home owner was so that I could finally begin gardening. I had what may have seemed like some pretty lofty goals, to provide an easy-maintenance food and medicinal herb garden for us, while creating ecologically sound wildlife habitat. I expected gardening to be a gentle pastime that brought me more into harmony with Nature and Her cycles.  Instead, I discovered that conventional gardening is more about controlling Nature: making certain plants grow where and how you want them to, and killing everything else. 

I wanted to garden in a way that is more natural.

I discovered a book in a gardening display at our local library called Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway.  It caught my eye because Gaia is one name for our planet, known to some as a loving, Mother Nature like-Goddess.  The blurb on the back of the book said that it was a guide to home-scale permaculture, which is:

“…a gardening system that combines the best features of wildlife habitat, edible landscapes, and conventional flower and vegetable gardens into a self-renewing landscape that lets Nature do most of the work.”  

I was so excited when I discovered this book! It was exactly what I wanted to create in my tiny yard (our lot is under 1/8 of an acre). It led me to an entirely different kind of gardening philosophy. I'd like to share some of permaculture's great ideas with you, that I first learned from Gaia's Garden.

Permaculture 101 includes:

• 3 Principles of Natural Ecosystems:  
  Every Organism has its Niche
  Biodiversity
  Succession
• The Problem with Lawns:  
  Do they work with Nature?
  3 Ways to Get Rid of Lawns (e.g., sheet mulch)
  What if you need to keep some of your lawn?
• Permaculture Design Principles:  
  Zones, Keyhole Beds, Herb Spirals
• What & How to Plant: No tilling, no bare ground, attracting beneficial insects, food from perennials, growing multipurpose plants, creating plant guilds & food forests.

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Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, 2nd Edition