Talk:Beginners permaculture garden

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Some ideas, plus the very idea of video:

nice start, but doesn't look like permaculture yet[edit source]

Hello, someone at the Urban Renewal Think Tank mentioned this page here.

This sounds like a fine start to a beginner's garden, but I don't see anything that makes it permaculture. What happened to the permaculture principles, from Bill Mollison's Permaculture: A Designer's Manual, or Introduction to Permaculture? Start by waiting one year, and observing the site. Determine the values and goals of the people involved. Sector analysis (where does wind, rain, sun, etc. come from?); zone placement (is the garden near the doorstep?); permaculture is highly dependent on context, the people involved and the local climate and microclimates.

I think I'd recommend not mowing for a season. One can learn a lot from the weeds that grow up. They can indicate soil conditions, they replenish organic matter, they bring trace nutrients up from the subsoil, they help break up hardpan, and many weeds themselves are edible, nutritious, and medicinal.

Permaculture also draws in all the other elements on a site--it's not merely a gardening technique. Where is the house, and what is it made of? Can downspouts be routed into the garden for watering? Do the people compost their kitchen waste? Is there a tree nearby whose leaves could be used for mulch?

Could we change this page to Beginner's Garden, and start a new one for beginner's permaculture garden? But still, a beginner's permaculture garden page, IMHO, would start with a list of things to consider when assessing your site, not a list of things to do immediately on the site. There can be no "cookie cutter" permaculture approach.

I'm glad to see this page being created, though. I <3 permaculture!!

"You Can Fix All the World's Problems In a Garden. You can solve them all in a garden. You can solve all your pollution problems and all your supply line needs in a garden." --Geoff Lawton

3/28/2009. I agree. I added a flag comment at the top of the article. I'll do it when I have time. If anyone wants to help, that would be great. --user:bmorrisett