On one of my allotment plots today, I have been undertaking work to convert it into a perennial permaculture system, Due to the relatively small size of the plot I am combining different elements of permaculture, from the very front of the plot to the middle will basically be a very small food forest, as the trees and shrubs taper down in size to roughly the middle of the plot I have marked out a circular area that will double up as somewhere to chill out and rest, and somewhere to hold workshops during the summer months.
Perennial planting
For the wind barrier that I have been working today, I have situated a mixture of established and sturdy blackcurrant bushes, intermingled with gooseberry bushes, raspberry canes and redcurrants, in the path of the wind, this worked a little last year as I had a small number of fruit bushes on my other plot which did a good job of shielding tender young plants from the force of the wind. Other perennial plants are currently in seed trays at home growing, until they are big and strong enough to put onto the plot once the last frost of the season has gone in early June. I have some globe artichokes coming through, some Japanese Parsley, and more willow cuttings that have been planted today, which will be used as both a resource and a cash crop at the end of 2012.
African Keyhole garden
One of the most interesting and exciting pieces of work that I have been slowly plodding on with over the winter months has been the African Keyhole garden, which consists of a central composter with a circle of reclaimed bricks surrounding it that has been filled with compost from my three compost bins. The way that this particular type of keyhole garden works is that it is watered directly through the composter so that the nutrients leech out into the soil, providing food for the plants which live in the system.
For a permanent culture
This particular plot that I am working on is designed with the future in mind; basically this is a long term, low input, low carbon perennial fruit and vegetable system that will continue to provide food and other resources for the coming years, with little in the way of maintenance once this initial work is carried out. Set against a background of peak oil, and all of the associated implications and problems that will come as a result of oil being an integral part of virtually everything that we do as human beings, this permaculture allotment plot will provide a level of resilience and permanence where oil based systems will simply collapse due to their total dependency on petroleum and petroleum based derivatives. In the coming world, where oil will either be none existent or so expensive that its use it curtailed, perennial permaculture systems offer us the chance to realistically address the problems the petrol driven agriculture has given us, both in terms of addressing the issues of soil fertility, and providing sources of food and resources in a very low impact way.
More allotment tips here:
Allotment tips and diary: New season seed sowing, Feb 2012
Allotment Tips and Diary: Jan 2012
Cheers Steve