Overview

In this section of the design process, I’ll use a questionnaire to prompt myself to answer questions I may not have considered. I’ll use the very effective functions and elements table to add values to the elements I’m considering adding to the design.

I’ll use the permaculture principles and ethics as a guide to keeping the design on track to meet the criteria for what a permaculture design should be.

What is my vision for the garden

To have a garden free of clutter, space to grow lots of food, have multiple compost systems, harvest water from the roof, enough room to have a table and chairs, a place to relax and read, and the garden needs to look amazing.

What Materials/Items do I currently have on-site.

Compost - heap ready to use, bin full of composting material, a cage full of leaf-mould
1x large compost bin plastic - 2x stackable pallet sides - 2x large plastic barrels for water storage - 1x 100L water butt, chicken wire, 2x round posts.

Are there any structures on-site?

2x Small Plant Greenhouses with 4 tier rack stands inside

The primary use of the garden?

To grow a mix of annual and perennial edible plants using permaculture growing standards.

What else do I want out of the space?

• An area to be able to sit in the sun and read.
• A table and chairs to be able to work from with a laptop and to eat from.
• To encourage more birds into the garden
• An area to work when sowing seeds and potting on.
• Composting area
• Area to collect and store rainwater
• Area to store items
• Area for the council bin to stand

What do you most like about the existing garden and design?

• South-facing slope
• Suntrap
• Sheltered from the prevailing westerly wind
• Been able to grow food next to the house
• Able to compost on-site
• The amounts of plants I can grow
• The large trees just outside the garden
• Birds coming into the garden to feed
• The look of the garden in summer with lots of plants
• The raised bed for growing salad leaves
• Lots of different microclimates

To summarise, the favourite part of the garden is the fact that the location despite being on a housing estate, due to the large trees directly outside the garden, the slope dropping away to the side of the garden, the site has a feel that it is much larger than it is. With dappled morning summer sunlight shining through the trees, followed by mid-morning to mid-afternoon summer sun, the house blocking the prevailing westerly wind all creates a tranquil garden that is a suntrap even in the middle of winter you can still sit out and enjoy the warm sun whilst listening to all the birds in the trees. In summer as the sun moves around the sky the house starts to give shade to the garden which gives a cooler place to sit and relax away from the burning heat of the day. For the size of the garden, the number of microclimates it experiences throughout the year location is perfect.   

In summary of the part of the design, I like the most would be the raised bed for growing salad picking leaves. This bed has produced the most food for me, with the continual sowing of seeds throughout the season I always have something to make a salad from. The location of the bed right next to the path has also encouraged me to use what I was growing because it was so easy to pick.    

What would you most like to change?

• The use of tarps to hide things
• All the mud
• The lawn
• The rotten sides of the raised bed
• The slope on the lower side of the garden
• No clean space to work
• No storage area
• The fact that in winter the garden looks like a junkyard
• Plants and soil wanting to be on the path to the house
• No privacy
• Poor access to composting systems  

In summary, what I would like to change the most is the fact that I lose quite a lot of space due to the slope on the lower side of the garden. I currently use most of this space with unsightly composting along with an area dedicated as a dumping ground for tat hidden away by a large tarp. As much as the garden looks lovely in summer, winter it’s a junkyard that makes me feel sad.

Is any privacy needed?

I would like to sit in the garden without people passing by or the neighbour talking to me, an area more private would be great.

Skills?

This design is going to be implemented and completed by myself. I have experience with previous permaculture designs involving gardens.

Any skills I do not have that will be needed in this design I will learn on the job with the help of internet video tutorials and other learning materials from the internet. I’m always up for having a go but I also know my limits.

Tools?

I have limited tools, garden spade, and fork - hammer - screwdrivers - hand saw.

How much money are you willing to invest into the design?

Up to £2500 would be okay, a little over would still be okay but a little less would be even better.

Water in general - outside tap? metered?

I do have an outside tap, access to this would be needed. The water is not metered.

Utilities and locations of them?

All the utilities come into the house from the front, water, gas, electricity. There is also a manhole cover for the drains on the path leading to the front door. I have no idea where any of them run underground to the house.

Other resources?

My own time and hard work.

In permaculture, each element needs to perform many functions for it to be considered useful in a permaculture system. In the table below I’ll explore the different elements against their functions to understand how they will work in this design.  

Earth Care - This is a design that is going to involve buying most of the materials needed to complete it. All materials will be used in ways to get the longest possible use out of them. The aim will be to create growing beds that will be replenished each year with on-site composting. Using a no-dig growing method will help to build the soil microbiome along with mulching to help the soil to hold moisture and cut down on watering. Additional watering will be provided with rainwater collected from the house roof.

The costs of buying materials will be offset over the years with the reduced need to rely solely upon external resources for growing my food. The garden will provide me with salads most of the year, along with many other food plants.

Creating a beautiful space to relax in the garden will also remove the need to visit other places often by car to give me that downtime from a busy working environment where I spend most of my week.  

People care - Food grown in the garden will be of high nutritional value. Using permaculture growing methods, a collection of techniques including, companion planting, mulching, no-dg, compost teas, along with the food grown literally on my doorstep, my body will be getting the highest return of nutrients from the food grown in the garden.  

The garden will also provide additional benefits to my health by providing a space to read, eat, socialize, and relax. In summer this garden gets the morning sun, as the day progress, you get the added shade from the house that is of great benefit during the hottest parts of summer.  The low winter sun can often be warm due to the sheltered position of the house enabling me to be able to sit and read outside for many hours in winter. To add I have another seating area in the back garden that provides afternoon sun and sunsets.  

Fair share - Birds have always been one of my fascinations. Since creating the first kitchen garden design the number of visiting birds to the garden keeps getting more and more diverse. Using appropriately positioned bird feeders, I have a constant flow of birds from dawn to dusk feeding and foraging through the garden. Night-time hedgehogs come into the garden to forage. Providing different habitats for wildlife is a very rewarding way of sharing my garden.

Another way I have been sharing the garden is through showing people how I’m growing and using the permaculture principles.  

OBSERVE & INTERACT

Observe, recognise patterns, and appreciate details

I’ve spent a lot of time sitting in the original design of the kitchen garden contemplating how to improve upon all that I had created. The garden lacked calmness, I had too much tat on display, nowhere to sit and relax without being surrounded by clutter and mud. I never took advantage of the aesthetic beauty of the trees on the outside of the garden.

Interact with care, creativity, and efficiency

The garden lacked both height and privacy. I grew things in the wrong places, this led to times when I couldn’t access parts of the garden until I harvested certain crops. Other times it was too much mud the prevented me from going to other parts of the garden.

The problem is the solution

Through better planting methods, the moving around of the different elements in the garden solutions can be found. The garden is a sun trap both in summer and winter, part of the design will be to look for ways to take advantage of the different microclimates.  

The importance of interaction

I have been fortunate that I have had three growing seasons working in the original design of this garden. The insights gained from living with this design provide a wealth of ideas that will help move forward this garden.

CATCH & STORE ENERGY 

There is the opportunity to tap into the house gutter to harvest water, the problem now is I have little access to the downpipe due to the slope and numerous items in the way. Providing an area for a water harvesting system will be part of this design.

Water storage in landscapes

I will be looking to store as much water in the living soil of each of the beds as possible, mulching will help to keep the moisture in the soil by slowing evaporation.

How nature catches and stores energy

Photosynthesis - I need to make more use of the sun in the garden. Creating better positioned growing beds, converting the energy from the sun into green plants, and storing it in the form of carbohydrates in food.

Seeds

I also want to increase the use of perennial crops and seed saving. Saving seed is one of the most important examples of catching and storing energy.

OBTAIN A YIELD 

Models from nature

With better-designed beds raised from the original heavy clay soil will be a way to improve yields along with growing up trellises adding more space into the garden. The height will also provide opportunities to grow a wider variety of plants adding competition to help encourage the vigour in the plants.

Hardy self-reliant species

Hardy and self-reliant species are important in any low-energy sustainable system. Choosing a mix of perennials along with highly selected annuals that grow well with each other will be a focal point when selecting what to grow to obtain the highest yield.

Timing and flexibility

Avoiding growing crops that are ready to harvest at the same time, will mean selecting crops that can be harvested throughout the year along with staggering the planting of various other crops to prolong the harvesting window.  

APPLY SELF-REGULATION & ACCEPT FEEDBACK

Self-regulation

Even a small garden like this one often got out of control. Badly planned locations of plants tended to overgrow other crops. A habit of keeping things that might come in one day became an eye saw. Permaculture gardens tend to look organic; this is great when you have a large area to work in. I find a small space garden has a fine line between looking organic or just a wild mess.

Self-audit process

Space is an important factor, growing a high destiny productive organic garden needs a lot of time put into the planning of it, selecting the best plants and locations needs much more thought than I have previously given. By taking responsibility in the planning process, I will be able to make better use of what I have.

USE & VALUE RENEWABLE RESOURCES & SERVICES

Natural sunlight, rainwater, a living soil are some of the basics of any successful garden.

For this design, I will need to buy in quite a lot of externally sourced products, processed timbers, gravel, amongst other materials. I will go with renewable where possible. The idea is to create a design that will last 20 plus years, there will be times I will compromise on a solution if it’s going to dramatically increase the life of the design.

PRODUCE NO WASTE

Waste or exchange in nature

Having multiple composting systems already set up is helping to recycle food waste and garden waste back into the system.

Container reuse

I save and reuse plastic pots as plant pots, I grow seeds in an old guinea pig home. There are so many useful items people throw away every day that can have a use in the garden. This is probably why my garden is full of useful tat.

Durability and maintenance

When buying materials for the design I will choose durability over cost. Looking after and maintaining materials is very important. I want everything I buy to last and not to have to keep rebuying.

DESIGN FROM PATTERNS TO DETAILS

Pattern thinking

With three growing seasons of experience in this garden, it’s time to think about the different patterns each of the elements have provided for the garden and use these insights to find ways to add more value to the garden. Improving the soil, adding extra beds into locations where there is the most sun. Better planning around the plant locations will be good places to start along with taking into consideration climate and microclimate when selecting what plants to grow.

INTEGRATE RATHER THAN SEGREGATE

The purpose of a functional and self-regulating design is to place elements in such a way that each serves the needs and accepts the products of other elements.

The two central teachings in permaculture are

• Each element performs many functions
• Each important function is supported by many elements

I will use these teachings when deciding where to place the different elements in this design.

Integration in a small garden of the different elements means more use out of less space. Stacking these elements is a good way to get more out of the space, positioning bird feeders over fruit bushes benefits the bushes with the nutrients from the bird poo.

Companion planting

Using the mutualistic effects of companion planting vegetables and herbs adds even more value to the garden. 

USE SMALL & SLOW SOLUTIONS 

Systems should be designed to perform functions at the smallest scale that is practical and energy-efficient for that function.

Energetic limits

This design is going to be for a small space kitchen garden, along with composting systems and an area to relax. I work full time and have limited time that I can work in the garden. Part of the design is to make sure I do not over-stretch my energetic limits. The back garden is a low-maintenance design, this will play a key role in the kitchen garden.

Cellular design

Cellular design in nature suggests that functions are best dealt with at the smallest workable scale and that replication and diversification are the mechanisms for growth to support larger-scale functions. Using several small, raised beds, small areas dedicated to composting, if we then expand out, we have food production taking place in the back garden, we can now see a larger system at work. If we again expand, we can see how the replication and diversification of all these cells support the larger-scale functions. Together they are providing food for my partner and me, we have extra food to share, we get the enjoy the beauty, and relax in the gardens. The gardens support wildlife, the wildlife supports the gardens through predator control and their waste products. Beginning with small cells we are now starting to form a closed-loop system. 

Perennial crops

Sustainable systems benefit from the slow-growing, long-lived perennial species. Having these as the backbone of a food system adds resilience. I will take advantage of selected fast-growing annual vegetables along with seed saving where possible.

USE & VALUE DIVERSITY

Diversity of Yield

Growing food in raised beds that are suited to sequential sowings of small batches of seeds or the planting out of small batches of plants, whilst at the same time taking advantage of the different micro-climate variation to grow crops that are early or climatically marginal, along with the use of varieties suited to early and late yields all add value and diversity to a small space garden. Bill Mollison suggests that it is the number of functional connections between species, rather than the number of species, which makes for stability.

Social diversity

The garden design will include a place to relax and read, a place to eat, a table and chairs that will provide a place to share conversation, food, and drinks with friends, something that was missing from the first design. 

USE EDGES & VALUE THE MARGINAL 

Hedge is the edge

At the end of the garden, a meter-wide two-meter-high beech hedge runs separating the garden from the outside world. Beyond the hedge, a public footpath runs next to a grassed area where mature sycamore trees grow. In total there are ten of these trees close enough to the house to form a closed canopy that leads down the street adding more trees as it goes bringing in a few wild cherries and ash trees.

The beech hedge adds a layer of wilderness along with the tree canopy to the garden. Here during the day birds spend many hours hunting for food, resting, or hiding from predators, of a night in the tree canopy owls can be heard whilst bats hunt.

Both the hedge and trees not only provide wildlife habitat, but they also supply leaves for composting and provide shade in summer. Most importantly the trees give the garden a feel of the wilderness, often can be heard the wind blowing through them, and of course, the trees add a layer of beauty that only trees can provide.  

I would like to bring this wilderness into the garden through the growing of a goji hedge to divide the raised beds and the seating area.

CREATIVELY USE & RESPOND TO CHANGE 

Permaculture - a top-down change

In this design of the kitchen garden, I may seem to be changing too much too quickly. After three growing seasons observing all that has been taking place in the garden this time has provided an excellent opportunity to learn to think more systemically and act in more holistic ways. After identifying where the most effective changes can be made using limited resources and power to gain the most leverage the new design will have long-term sustainability. 

Flexibility

As the instability of society increases home gardens are going to become more and more important in providing food for the home. The reliance on the mainstream food supply can no longer be taken for granted. Changes made to the garden design now could be of high value in the coming years.