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Sarah D
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584
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 Posted: Sun Jan 09, 05 8:22 pm Post subject: |
 
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Sea kale is another true perennial vegetable, as is the runner bean in truth.; cardoon, tree tomatoes another couple.
Permaculture, as well as looking for perennial fruit and veg, is about planting in layers - from topfruit and nuts, underplanted by shrubs, then surface vegetables and roots on the bottom layer. Another feature is its great use of mulches, both on existing beds and to bring new ground into cultivation; then there is the zoning, which takes into account the number of times the plant has to be visited and its maintenance ie the fewer times you visit it eg an apple tree, the further from the house it is planted. For crops you would pick/harvest every day, they are planted in zone 1 which is the nearest to the house for frequent use. Forest gardening (vis. Robert A J de Hart) is another aspect worth looking into. |
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Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
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Sarah D
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584
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| Posted: Sun Jan 09, 05 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Treacodactyl wrote: |
Sea Kale is a great idea, it has been on the list but forgotten a little. Bugs will be pleased. How long does it need to grow before cutting and can it be eaten unbalanced? Tree toms also tempting.
I find permaculture fascinating as it's not something I've come across until recently, but it seems to match many of my ideas. I will find out some more and I'd like to know does it also encompass animals?
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Sea kale is easy to raise from seed (I've done it), but is extremely susceptible to slugs and snails (happened to mine  ). Sow in March/April time in the ground, and leave there for a couple of seasons to build up strength (it is blanched for harvesting, so needs to build up its strength before the first cut), then planted into its permanent position.
What do you mean by "eaten unbalanced"?
Permaculture does/can encompass animals; again, the ones that need daily or more than daily attention going near the house (eg hens) and those which require less attention (eg sheep, cows) go out in the zones further from the house. Zones are numbered, with 1 being closest to the house. Some permaculturists classify the human as Zone Zero. The movement was started by Bill Mollison in Australia, and books written by him tend to be especially suited to their climate, etc, but there are still a lot of useful and inspiring ideas to be had from them. One of the British permaculture gurus is a man called Graham Bell; I think he is based in the Borders somewhere. |
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Tristan
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Posts: 392
Location: North Gloucestershire
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Sarah D
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584
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Treacodactyl
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Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
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Tristan
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Posts: 392
Location: North Gloucestershire
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Sarah D
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584
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| Posted: Sun Jan 09, 05 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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It's not widely known, and most who are aware of it have come to it through organic gardening, and regard it as a further step. They tend to be "green" (for want of a better expression) thinkers and doers as well, and it is definitely not mainstream, and I don't think it ever will be in this country anyway.
I would thoroughly recommend Permaculture magazine as one of the best magazines available in this country, it's wonderfu and hugely inspiring, and is fairly cheap, but by sub only I think. They probably have a website too. They do a huge catalogue of environment/permaculture books called the Earth Repair Catalogue, run by a sister organisation called Permanent publications or similar.
There are also distance learning courses in permaculture theory and design available via Australia, and courses run all over the country here if you want to take it further. I like some of the design components, such as the keyhole beds and the mulch beds, tyre ponds, mandala gardens, etc. |
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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
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Tristan
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Posts: 392
Location: North Gloucestershire
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cab
Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429
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| Posted: Sun Jan 09, 05 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Treacodactyl wrote: |
Herbs and wild plants will be some other excellent threads. 
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The line between a herb and a vegetable, like the line between wild and cultivated plants, is rather narrow.
I grow some weeds on purpose; there are a couple of sow parsley plants on our lawn that I tend to mow around so I can always have some to pick, there's a wild sorrel plant in my herb patch that I rescued from a roadside after it had been dug up last year, and there are some dandelions in the garden that I give liquid fertiliser to at least as often as I do my other vegetables!
And a lot of the herbs I grow are used as much for salad as anything else; mint and lemon balm especially, but also oregano, basil and chervil. I'm not entirely sure where the line between leaf vegetable and herb really should lie.
I rekon that the easiest way to ensure low-maintenance permanent food plants in your garden might be to nurture those edible plants that -want- to grow there. You'd really, really struggle to find an easier one than, say, ground elder. |
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
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Location: East Midlands
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Sarah D
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584
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Do you mean unblanched rather than unbalanced? If so, then the answer is no; it is forced in the winter like Whitloof chicory, and it is the blanched stems that are eaten.
I'm not very good at that).
) but not seen much of permaculture in name. Is this just me or is it not publicised?
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