Permaculture Zone Design

Cooks pop outside to snip a fistful of fresh herbs for their immediate needs, so put the herb garden as close to the kitchen door as possible. On the other hand, a fruit tree might be visited only four or five times a year for pruning, spraying and harvesting. Permaculturists speak of having zones in the garden so that parts of the garden that demand constant attention are close to the house but crops visited less often are farther away.

The garden has been rationalised: time and energy saved.

Consider the zones to be in concentric circles spreading out from the house. Of course, this is usually not entirely sensible, as many back yards are so much larger than the front and properties are all sorts of shapes and sizes. But zones are really defined by time and distance from the back-door. In planning flowers or food crops, the principal is the same and simple. Those that need constant attention and that you visit more often need to be closer to you.

Working outwards we might have herbs first followed by the constant vegetables – these are those we pluck for food (or flowers we cut for pleasure) at a relatively constant rate. These would be lettuce, silver beet, bok choy – plucking vegetables. In this garden, there is a continuous supply of bits and pieces to pick and it will be often replanted and inter-planted. Green beans and peas may go here because their crops are extended over time and often picked in small amounts suitable for immediate use.

Possibly in the same zone or a little further away are larger crops of vegetables. The tomato patch, the cabbages the rows of beets and zucchini. These plants will need some care in watering, weeding, and general maintenance. Once established they may need visiting every couple of days, rather than daily.

Farther out again are the hardier vegetables such as sweet corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and sunflowers. These crops tend to take time to grow and are harvested all at once.

Beyond them can be vines and trellised fruit and then the fruit trees. Citrus may need checking every so often and when fruiting require a number of visits but for large periods need little attention.

Everyone will have different requirements of their garden so the rules are a design principle rather than a hard and fast law. For example, although in general, fruit trees are put further away, many people believe that there should be a lemon tree (one of the types that fruits all year round) just outside the door as the cook often wants a lemon for a dish being prepared.

Zones can have other concepts attached. If the house and garden are in a wildfire (bushfire) prone area planning can include a fire retardant zone. This will mean choosing the directions from which fire is most likely to arrive and make plantings approved in the district to slow the fire’s advance.

If cold or hot winds cause trouble or if damaging rain sweeps in from a particular direction – there will be a zone in that quarter dedicated to mitigating the effects.

The final and farthest zone may not be a directly productive one as it may form such functions as being a sound or visual barrier. There may be a deliberate planting of endemic plant species to encourage biodiversity and genetic diversity as well as providing living space for birds that will help protect the garden.

Planning in zones helps reduce labour and makes a more efficient and enjoyable garden and is an aid to making an organic garden more environmentally sympathetic.