Grow More Food With Less Work Using Permaculture Tips

Spring is here and it's time to get that garden ready to grow, but do you really want to spend so much time tilling and planting all new plants each year when you could grow more food with less work using permaculture tips?

Do you want to be reliant on chemical fertilizers, chemical insecticides, and chemical herbicides to get a decent harvest? Would you rather work with nature than trying to fight it all the time?

Permaculture is a system of gardening (and living) that tries to mimic nature by learning from it and applying those lessons. It seeks to minimize waste and the use of external resources (water, chemicals, fuel, etc.) in the most efficient way possible to create a natural abundance. What's all that really mean? Check out these tips for a better idea...

5 Permaculture Tips For Better Gardening

1. Grow more perennials and fewer annuals to avoid the extra work of planting everything again each year. Consider the following perennials that come back each year: raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, gooseberries, fruit trees, strawberries, nut trees, rhubarb, asparagus, horseradish, hardy greens, perennial onions, Jerusalem artichokes, herbs, flowers. That's just a short list.
   
2. Grow a variety of different vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. They work together to attract beneficial insects and wildlife, while confusing and limiting harmful insects. A monoculture of one plant is like paradise to a bug with a hearty appetite.
3. Turn your garden waste into compost or mulch to feed the nutrients back into your soil and grow healthier plants. Healthy soil grows healthy plants. A good mulch provides nutrients as it breaks down and conserves moisture in the soil so less watering is needed.
   
4. Avoid all the digging and tilling by sheet mulching instead. Add alternating layers of greens (fresh grass or leaves), browns (old leaves) and good compost or soil. Cardboard or newspapers can be used under the pile to suppress weeds and will break down with the other layers. Dig a spot in the soil and plant it up.
   
5. Avoid chemical sprays of fertilizer, insecticides, or herbicides. If something is chewing on your plants, think of what would naturally eat it (a bigger bug, a bird, a toad, etc.) and try to attract it to your garden with houses or favorite plants to let them eliminate the pest for you. Chemical sprays kill beneficial insects and important fungi and microbes in the soil that help break down waste and provide nutrients to plants. Chemical sprays are a short term solution causing long term problems.
   
   For more permaculture tips and tricks you can use, simply look up "permaculture" or check out the video "The Permaculutre Orchard: Beyond Organic" (available to borrow from our clinic).