Permaculture: System Design

“The visioning phase begins with a no-holds-barred brainstorm, limited to some degree by finances and really only by ecological and ethical constraints.”
Toby Hemenway

Designing a Permaculture System That Works Effectively

Permaculture is largely a “design science”. We have to develop a designer’s mind and an architect’s vision when planning our landscape. Take all levels into consideration from the tallest of trees, to the lowest ground covers. Think in terms of layers. I believe that with permaculture, it’s important to start small and not become overwhelmed. It’s a marathon rather than a sprint. It’s also a project that will likely never be complete! The best mental mind frame going into this endeavor is to surrender to the process and recognition that your living space is going to evolve each year and making deliberate and slow changes is actually a good thing and a critical part of the permaculture framework!

Start small and focus on what you already have available before building new structures. Look first to your landscaped beds that are already established and imagine how you can redesign them to host native plants and food for yourself and other organisms. For example, trade non-native bushes with blueberries or mulberry trees. Plant edible plants in your landscaped beds such as echinacea, anise hyssop, bee balm, garlic chives, oregano or thyme. If not edible for you, replace with plants that are at minimum beneficial to pollinators such as milkweed, spicebush or tickseed variations (or that do both). Then, slowly expand to your fences or trellises and space around already established trees. Write a plan for each year, up through at least 5 years. Organize plant lists and finite projects to complete each new spring and fall season. Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed and instead set goals that you know are going to be doable. In summary, make your plans specific, achievable, time bound, ecological and rewarding. Again, always think in layers and what is useful.

Organizing by Zones

It’s very helpful to organize your permaculture plans by zones. You could label your zones 0 – 5 or A – E etc. Regardless of how you use an ascending labeling system, the numbers or letters that occur first are going to be the heart of your space and where you’ll be located for most of your time outside. Although the zones are labeled for planning purposes, they also blend together quite readily and as mentioned before are interconnected. An example layout plan is as follows.

Zone 0 – 1 : The main living space in your project. For myself this is a table set in between my herb garden and vegetable garden. It’s the space that I visit most frequently.

Zone 1 – 2 : Vegetable and herb gardens which is the next space that I visit most often to tend my vegetables as well as harvest plants and herbs. The footpaths in these locations are very important to be well established.

Zone 2 – 3 : Activity is decreased here and is visited to make harvests but not quite as often. The plants in those spaces might also require very little maintenance.

Zone 3 – 4 : This is going to be the space with edible plants that requires the least maintenance. Plants here are likely only seasonal and might only require cutting once a year.

Zone 4 – 5: These are the very edges of your property and the wild unmanaged parts that may still host edible or native plants but require very few visits.

Organization Suggestions

I would suggest organizing projects and cultivating plant spaces in the following order and over many years based around your finances, physical capabilities and goals:

Cultivate plants in established landscaped beds.
Begin a composting system.
Use fences, trellises or other vertical structures to grow plants. Some quick suggestions are native flowering vines like coral honeysuckle or pipevine, grapes, vertical wall growing fruit trees and passionflower.
Cultivate new plants and beds around established trees. Some quick suggestions are native flowering plants and perennial vegetables like good king henry, sorrel and raddichio.
Cultivate a perennial/annual herb garden. They require very little maintenance once established and attract lots of pollinators. Spiral herb gardens are a great option.
Begin to expand your garden beds into larger spaces based around companion fruit or nut trees and bushes. Think in terms of layers from your tree, to what could go underneath it and around it based on height, sun and water needs. Companion plant things that will grow well together. Establish pathways both for walking and for irrigation to each section of your space so that food as well as the microbiome in your soil is disturbed as least as possible. Use natural mulch from wood chips as often as possible. Printing out an aerial map of your house could really help you plan and organize at this stage as well as getting more exact measurements of your landscape using a measuring tape or measuring roller. Use earthworks and hardscaping to control the flow of water through your yard.
Consider natural water collection tubs or structures near plants that have increased water needs. Many people use goldfish to keep down on mosquito larvae in their water tubs.
Consider maintaining chickens, goats or rabbits to create your own fertilizer.
Consider vermicomposting.
Consider an aquaponics system.

Design Your Space

Design each space, zone and sector with the following in mind:

Use nature’s local patterns for inspiration. In nature things are often flowing in circles, are rarely linear or uniform, nothing goes to waste and there is typically a large diversity of species.
Plant what you think you’d want to eat but also experiment and try new things.
Plant according to sectors and the microclimate of your various yard spaces as well as the needs of the plant. What are the plant’s soil, water, sun requirements? Pay close attention to the spaces in your yard that are hot verses cool or have good air flow verses being wet. For example, my raised garden beds are in the hottest location in my yard that also gets the most sunlight so that I can start my annual vegetables as early as possible in a cold frame. Plant shrubs and trees strategically to break up heavy wind flow that may damage smaller and more tender plants, especially on the edges of your landscape.
Plant according to height. Naturally, the tallest plants go in the back, the smallest in front and ground covers in between and on the edges or in between zones. This is in essence what becomes known as a “food forest”.
Consider what is useful to other species. Plants that have value for other species should be given priority.
Reduce input costs as much as possible. Produce your own compost and grow your own plants from seed if possible. You may not have a choice with many niche perennial permaculture plants as they’re rarely cultivated by garden centers.
Plant and build with the natural ecology and environment in mind but also for permanence. In other words, what is going to last the longest and also be the most environmentally friendly? For example, many people build their fences, trellises or other structures out of natural fallen trees, branches or other natural materials when possible.

Detailed notes and a journal are going to be your best friends throughout this entire process! Write all of your ideas down because it’s all a lot to take in, changes are going to have to be made slowly over time and this will really help your design and implementation as well as staying to your plan of action. Make a list of things you would like to include in your permaculture landscape. Research every plant’s sunlight, soil and water needs and design accordingly. Always think, how can they connect? How can I use one plant to help another? As a very basic regular gardening example, you might use the Native American method of planting beans at the base of your corn to use the corn as natural poles as well as plant squash next to those to keep weeds at bay. Continue to develop and work your dreams into a reality zone by zone, connecting and integrating at every new juncture!

Design guide from Permaculture Principles

“. . . every society that grows extensive lawns could produce all its food on the same area, using the same resources, and . . . world famine could be totally relieved if we devoted the same resources of lawn culture to food culture in poor areas. These facts are before us. Thus, we can look at lawns, like double garages and large guard dogs, [and Humvees and SUVs] as a badge of willful waste, conspicuous consumption, and lack of care for the earth or its people. Most lawns are purely cosmetic in function. Thus, affluent societies have, all unnoticed, developed an agriculture which produces a polluted waste product, in the presence of famine and erosion elsewhere, and the threat of water shortages at home. The lawn has become the curse of modern town landscapes as sugar cane is the curse of the lowland coastal tropics, and cattle the curse of the semi-arid and arid rangelands. It is past time to tax lawns (or any wasteful consumption), and to devote that tax to third world relief. I would suggest a tax of $5 per square metre for both public and private lawns, updated annually, until all but useful lawns are eliminated.”

Bill Mollison