SITE DESIGN - FROM LAWN TO FOOD FOREST & MORE

Once upon a time there was a little dusty, dry and barren garden in the land of the Long White Cloud (New Zealand). Until one day....

The story starts in March 2020 with the purchase of a residential property in a suburban area of Marlborough, New Zealand. The property; very much a blank canvas with lots of lawn and some sections with native trees. A place where decades of gardening and a completed permaculture design qualification could be put to good use. The project; to transform approximately 540m2 of garden with shallow topsoil into a little beautiful oasis in suburbia, using permaculture ethics & principles. The aim; to create an aesthetically pleasing, biologically diverse environment, consisting of edible, medicinal and beneficial plant systems to nurture the wellbeing of its' 2 and 4 legged inhabitants, as well as wildlife.

 

An additional aim was to provide an example of how permaculture can provide an alternative to traditional garden design in an urban setting. While permaculture and food forest design receives a great deal of attention in lifestyle block forums, its' value in urban garden design has been less acknowledged. With a large proportion of people living in urban settings, there is scope for illustrating how garden spaces can be improved for their inhabitants, local community and the environment in this context. Acknowledging that people value different things, maybe not food forests for everyone, but moving in a direction to give something back, whether it is creating a habitat for native birds, bee-care, improving public spaces or creating a part edible garden. If many contribute even in small steps to positive change, it is a leap forward.

In the interest of doing things right, (at least most things right) the first time, the planning phase was extensive.  The process included considerations of what we generally wanted from a space. The client interview; think kid-in-candy-store-list, narrowed down to what we actually wanted in terms of storage of resources and outcomes. And then importantly, consideration of what we actually needed from the property. Thoughts to budget, our skill-set and time for maintenance was part of this too.

Then to the cool part, using the permaculture designer's tool-kit to actually fully understand the space in the greater context, the limitations and the opportunities.

This included;  

• Understanding all aspects of climate 
• Property restrictions (Easements and covenants)
• Potential regional challenges that could affect the space (Natural disasters, social, economic and cultural factors)
• Sector compass (Mapping of external forces, winter and summer sun, prevailing winds, along with other immediate influencing factors) 
• Completing the analysis and mapping of the current zones of use.
• Understanding current paths of use, their benefits and limitations
• Mapping of microclimates
• Analysis of site waterflow (watershed)
• Soil and drainage testing (yes, a fun one, digging holes in the lawn)
• Investigating local plants, plants systems and fauna.    

(More detail on all this in future posts). 

Lots of maps, drawings, summary tables and lists were generated in the analysis phase. Saving the readers from around 60 pages of details, here are the main conclusions in brief.  

The bad:

The placement of existing elements has been done with limited thoughts to usability (zones of use and movement patterns).(E.g. long journey over muddy/dry lawn to the back of the garden to collect herbs; spiky yucca in the area with most traffic, etc.  Also, a shallow layer of topsoil over a sheet of clay means that water pools and development through the addition of organic matter is absolutely required e.g. through hugelkultur or trench composting. Privacy is also very limited in several places on the property.  

The limitations: 

An easement and placement of stormwater, sewage and water mains, means that some areas are undesirable for planting trees. Poor water availability (water restrictions are in place each summer, quality isn't fantastic, and water metered).

 

The good:

The climate here is AMAZING!!!! & with able opportunity to collect and store resources.  

The placement of the house and availability of the sun leaves it possible to find any kind of desired microclimate and optimise growing.

The opportunities: 

Ample opportunity to establish an efficient/ easy to access garden, which then leave space to develop the perimeters of the garden as "forage" and wildlife areas.  The space is also big enough to integrate livestock on a small scale. 

With above aspects in mind the wishlist was revisited and finalised.

Overall aim: 

To establish a little beautiful oasis in suburbia, using permaculture principles, which consists of edible, medicinal and beneficial plants systems, which nurtures and increases the wellbeing of people, pets and wildlife.

Output when fully established:

• For the property to provide us with most of our vegetables and greens year round. Ideally have a designated area for vegetables and greens. 
• To have a fairly long duration of fruit supply, including berries, with attention to variety selection to try and avoid the bulk being ready during the busiest time of year for work.
• To have available a broad range of herbs and medicinal plants. 
• To have an extended season of mushroom supply.
• To trade surpluses for other goods/services. 

Aesthetics and other wishes: 

• To have a pleasant seating area/space to enjoy the garden from.
• For the garden to have a forest and meadow feel.  
• To have an efficient but inspiring looking garden. 
• To still have a little bit of room for new plant experiments :)
• Seek to integrate livestock into the system on a small scale (Bees & Quail). 
• To support native birds (shelter and food sources).
• Seek to minimise external input (create garden system, reuse, repurpose etc.) 
• If external input is needed use organic/ natural input as far as possible.
• Design to minimise watering requirements and have water collection.
• Continue using companion planting and establish diverse plant systems. 

Special requirements:

• The garden must still be able to fit our Bunny's enclosure (3x4m). 
• Utilise the plants that we brought with us, (were growing in half puncheons and small containers).
• Also on the initial list was a frog pond, however, this gave way to other requirements, initially at least :)

The final plan for implementation;

• Removal of inhibiting structures/ plant. 
• Establish food forest in lawn area with fruit tree guilds placed on hugelkultur beds. 
• Put in a citrus garden.
• Build tiered herb planter, where different sun exposure creates different microclimates. 
• Establish new vegetable/ growing beds with no-dig/ hugelkultur build up.
• Set-up worm-bin. 
• Establish mushroom growing zone & mushroom greenhouse. 
• Seedlings & tropicals greenhouse.
• Natives added for privacy (East & West). 
• Establish a mixed berry forage zone.
• Set up water collection & storage.
• Establish flower plantings with wildflower/ pollinator mix. 
• Livestock - Quail & leafcutter bees. 
• Set up nesting boxes for wild birds and ensure adequate food supply (Plants and insects).

Follow the garden journey in future posts -

along with info and tips on how to transform your own space!!