Design allotment garden
Posted on za 11 augustus 2018 in designs • Gewijzigd op 25 april 2020
Design strategy
We used CEAP for this design.
- Collect information
- Evaluate the information
- Apply Permaculture Ethics and Principles
- Plan for Action
Note: this design is not quite finished. We have started putting elements into action before having a complete design done.
Collect information
- Client interview / 5 W's
- Vision
- harvest food
- gain experience growing food
- relaxation, being outside
- providing food and habitat for wild life
- gain social contacts
- help organize activities
- educate members
- get physical excercise
- Resources
- plants from friends and acquaintances
- time: 2d/week Arno; depending on season
- tools: from home, small ones at garden
- Vision
- Climate/Latitude/Elevation
- Elevation: 21m
- Climate: moderate maritime climate
- Watershed: Dommel / Meuse (Maas)
- Surface area: approx. 150m²
- What's already on the land in question -- Plants, Animals,
Structures, Tools and Events (PASTE)
- See: PASTE (2018)
- Updated: PASTE (2020)
- Updated: PASTE (2021)
- Updated: PASTE (2022)
- Topography--mountain, rolling hills, plains...
- slight slope, mainly flat
- Water features--average rainfall, streams/ponds, etc.
- Avg. rain fall: 800mm/year
- Soil drainage: good
- Wind: south-west
- Legal restrictions
- Subject to bylaws of the allotment association
- Subject to restrictions because of drink water extraction by Brabant Water
- Solar orientation
- South-west orientation
- Soil conditions
- 50% sand, 49% silt, 1% clay = sandy loam
- Mineral content unknown
- Biological content low and increasing
- Site history
- previously wetlands
- allotments since 1977
- used for pumping ground water by Brabant Water (waterwingebied)
Functions and elements
Here is a list of functions and elements I thought up. Not all listed elements are possible or allowed.
- visual appeal
- focus on keeping garden front neat
- use ground cover
- use big plants
- use perenials (shrubs and trees)
- flowers or pumpkin field
- maintain good relations with neighbors and allotment association
- sitting and relaxing
- bench
- shelter
- chairs
- table
- many flowering plants
- keep out rain and cold wind
- water management
- tap with ground water from central, electrical pump
- rain water
- store in rain barrel
- store in pond (not allowed)
- store in soil
- drip irrigation
- from bottles
- from rain barrels
- toilet use
- at home
- at the outhouse next to the caravan
- pee in garden
- compost toilet on site
- seeds
- from shop
- from fellow gardeners
- harvested from fruit and vegetables
- rescued from compost pile or garbage heap
- sourced from foraging
- plants
- from shop
- donated plants
- cuttings from various sources
- rescued from compost pile or garbage heap
- growing seedlings (voorkweken)
- at home
- in greenhouse
- in cold frame (koude bak)
- self-maintaining
- automatic systems
- smart design
- use perenial plants
- ground cover
- biodiverse
- insect hotel
- bird houses
- different plants
- bee plants
- polyculture
- use edge
- healthy food
- fruits
- vegetables
- herbs
- use weeds as vegetables
- tool storage
- at home
- box or crate
- shed
- reuse garden waste
- compost bin
- hugelkultur
- salvage from communal compost terrain
- pest control
- slugs
- hedgehog
- birds
- insects
- birds
- hedgehog
- insect hotel
- mice and rabbits
- cat
- birds of prey
- fox
- humans
- present a low-value target
- confuse by scattering produce around the garden
- confuse by combining edible with poisonous plants
- diseases
- healthy soil life
- biodiversity
- slugs
Time spent / Overhead
Measurements taken February 2021
- 13:00 prepare and gather materials and tools in hand cart for transport to allotment
- 13:30 travel to garden on foot
- 13:45 arrive at garden, start work
- 15:35 gather tools to take back home
- 15:45 leave from garden on foot
- 16:00 back home
- 16:10 tools cleaned and back in storage
Total time: 3h 10m = 190 minutes
- overhead: 30 + 10 + 10 = 50 minutes
- travel time: 15 + 15 = 30 minutes
- working in garden: 110 minutes
Evaluate the information
9 ways of observing
- I wonder...
- how to reduce the number of external inputs to the garden?
- Observe energy
- sun shines mostly unimpeded in summer. In winter, slight obstruction by tall trees
- in winter: cold wind across the plot, little windbreak
- energy in keeping up with the garden falls as harvest season progresses - we get burnt out from all the harvesting and processing
- Observe flow
- flow of people on the main access path
- main traffic in the garden is over the pavement across the middle
- watering at the front of the garden is easier than at the back due to having to carry water containers by hand
- the garden is quite exposed to wind blowing across it, this leads to frostbite on plant leaves in winter
- Observe communities
- allotment association
- my direct neighbors use more traditional methods of soil cultivation
- the golf course at the back of the allotment
- a bumble bee nest in an abandoned mouse hole
- clusters of lice in some plants
- Observe patterns
- at the front is sunnier than at the back
- at the front is more public than at the back
- in 2019 we came every two days to water the garden
- we prefer to go to the garden late in the evening when there are less people around
- using 75cm beds with 45cm walkways in between is convenient and not suited to Arno's style of gardening
- Observe edge
- chicken wire along the edge of the garden: no access to rabbits
- entrance gate at the front
- no gate at the back
- access to the back by jumping across the fence with the neighbors and using the back door to their garden
- Observe limits
- watering is by hand and only at a very low volume
- limited amount of fertility can be brought in from outside
- Observe from stillness
- the garden is a joy to observe: so many different insects, bugs, beetles, bees etc. around
- by letting annuals and bi-annuals go to flower
- Observe past & future
- when we started in 2019, I observed no insect activity in the garden. The soil looked dead.
- I hope we can further enhance biodiversity in our garden
- I hope we can inspire other people to try a different approach in their gardening
Apply Permaculture Ethics and Principles
Attitudinal principles
- Multiple elements x multiple functions
- greenhouse
- for growing plants and
- for sitting in chilly weather
- for rain water harvesting from roof
- paths between beds
- for easy access to plant beds
- to put weeded plants from the beds
- covered with mulch to keep ground covered
- to provide fertility and moisture to beds
- greenhouse
- Everything gardens
- T.B.D.
- The problem is the solution
- T.B.D.
- Yield is theoretically unlimited
- T.B.D.
- Work with nature
- leave as many plants growing where they come up
- note where plants like to grow and plant correspondingly the next year
- mulch with what is naturally growing: chickweed, amaranth and knopkruid
- find out what is already growing and edible
- Minimum effort, maximum effect
- check out community compost pile for discarded plants
- use composted material under oak trees as mulch to add nutrients and mycillium
- recover seeds from donated fruits and vegetables
- put in self-seeders (annuals)
- plant trees, shrubs and perennial vegetables
- choose wild plants to attract solitary bees
Plan for Action
Implement
- use knopkruid and amaranth as mulch
- berry shrubs, fennel from Susanne
- mint, citroenmelisse, rhubarb from Leo
- asperges from Tjeerd
- apple tree from neighbor and from baby boom project
- tomatoes, chard, wolfberry, onion, pumpkin, potatoes, poppies, zinnia from previous tenant
- gooseberry cuttings from communal compost pile (failed)
- goudsbloem and mint from communal path
- figs cuttings from Francesco (failed)
- mulch small walkways with oak leaves
Planted 2019-02-23:
- Phaseolus coccineus (runner bean / pronkboon of keverboon)
- purple spotted bean
- perennial vine (usually treated as annual)
- Käferboon / Fuerbohne / Stiense pronkboon / Pronkboon paars gevlekt
- plant distance 30-50 cm in a row, 120-140 cm between rows
- vine can grow 3m or longer
- plant on site, from half May 15 till end of June
- harvest from 3rd week of August till first frost. Pods need to be harvested every week or no new pods will form
- Borlotti bonen / Borlotti Lamon / Borlotti extra dik
Maintain
T.B.D.
Evaluate
T.B.D.