Before beginning the design, I spent a lot of time just stud in the garden thinking about how I wanted it to look, now when I stand in the garden those thoughts have come to life. I’m happy with what has been achieved yet I still stand in the garden thinking about how it’s going to look in future years. I’m inspired. 

What’s going well?

With still following the design plan, through observation I’m learning better ways to improve what I originally set out to achieve. Working on the design has also gave me a greater understanding of how to use the permaculture ethics, earth care, people care and fair share along with the permaculture principles, observe & interact - catch & store energy - obtain a yield - apply self-regulation & accept feedback - use & value renewable resources & services - produce no waste - design from patterns to details - integrate rather than segregate - use small & slow solutions - use & value diversity - use edges & value the marginal - creatively use & respond to change.           

Creating a small productive kitchen garden from what was once a lawn using very little money has been a great achievement. From the outset, money was always going to be very tight, even with this knowledge I never let it get in the way of moving the design forward. Following a permaculture design process, starting with the base map, a site survey and the questionnaire gave me a good foundation to work from. With this information heading into the next phase of the design process, the evaluation and the design proposals, deciding how the needs and wants of the design were to be met flowed together through the layout of the different elements in the design.  

The re-evaluation phase of the design has been of great benefit. Using the SWOC analysis tool, (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges) I’ve been able to reflect on all my experiences both good and bad for this design allowing me to ask the question does this design still meet my current needs and wants. Starting the process again of doing a site survey and another evaluation of where the design currently is has helped to highlight any changes which may help the original design proposals for the coming years. It’s also made me look at other opportunities inside this design where it will be helpful to take an element that needs improving and creating a new permaculture design for it.

What has been challenging?

In the first year, the amount of time I needed to spend tending to the garden could have been planned much better. Alongside this design, I was also working on the back-garden design, after the planting up of both gardens watering became a very time-consuming task. In 2018 we had a very dry and hot start to summer, after returning home from work each evening I was working in the gardens until I went to bed. Weekends were also mostly spent working in the gardens. By the end of summer my motivation for theses designs was at its lowest point. This affected both gardens in 2019, the inspiration I had at the beginning of the design was lacking. Looking back now I should have done a SWOC analysis at the start of 2019 where I would have picked up on some of the previous year’s problems. I didn’t do this and as a result both gardens suffered through a lack of inspiration and drive.

What are my long-term vision and goals for this design?

To grow many more varieties of plants that will be of value in the kitchen is the long-term vision for this design. The different goals to get to this vision will be focused each year on the findings from a SWOC analysis at the end of each growing season.

What are the next achievable steps?

Rather than having one large design, look at which elements would benefit from having their own permaculture designs. With the creation of additional designs inside the original design more focus can be given on specifics. This has helped me to understand the permaculture principle of “design from patterns to details”. By physically creating the design it has highlighted patterns where spending additional time looking at the detail’s I can see where improvements can be made to the design that had been missed in the original design plan. 

The new designs

• Composting and soil fertility
• Water harvesting
• Greenhouse

The plan is to have these three designs put together over the winter months ready for the 2020 growing season. The winter months will also provide me with time to plan out what I’m going to be growing next season.