As soon as it is warmer outside, the time of gardening begins. The permaculture garden is an increasingly popular approach. It creates self -preserving, natural cycles in the garden, which little need to be processed by human interventions. At the same time, permaculture ensures that valuable microorganisms are preserved in the ground and useful animals settle. This also promotes biodiversity.
For thousands of years, people have been using a wide variety of agricultural techniques to grow food. Permaculture is an approach with which the country is sustainably and permanently managed. It emerged from the desire to develop methods that are again more in line with nature and at the same time take into account the needs of people. Specifically, this happens, among other things, by the combination of mutual plants in mixed cultures, the absence of pesticides and artificial fertilizers as well as the absence of profound torture such as the excavation or plowing.
Over time, this basic idea has developed: Nowadays, more and more people are enthusiastic about the idea of creating a permaculture garden. Natural cycles are imitated in your own garden and the soil is used sustainably. The goal of permaculture gardens is to let nature run its course and only support them with small interventions in their natural process. In addition to productive fruit and vegetables, wildflowers are also planted, the beneficials attract, loosen the soil with their roots, bind nitrogen and supply the soil with nutrients by decomposition.
Preparation and plant selection
Careful planning is crucial for a permaculture garden, since it should be preserved in the long term instead of having to be redesigned every year. Before putting on the garden, you should get an overview of its characteristics: What is the soil quality? Where are sunny, shady or windy areas? Because that is crucial for which plants later thrive in the garden.
When choosing the plants, you should consider which vegetables, which herbs and which multi -year or hardy plants you want. In the next step, it is important to find out which plants go well together, for example because they make similar demands on their locations.
Structure of the permaculture garden
After getting an overview of the different places in the garden, the structure of the permaculture garden is determined. Herbal spirals, hill or raised beds- all of these design options can be used. When building the permaculture garden, there is no right or wrong-it is based on the individual properties of the garden: herbal spirals, for example, are particularly suitable for Mediterranean herbs because they are warm and dry places. Because the stones of the herb spiral absorb the sun’s heat and release them back to their surroundings, and the water also runs quickly.
Up beds are a good way to start planting and gardening directly. In them, soil fertility can be promoted more easily by mulch and compost, which can be an advantage in the city if there is no underbody in the garden. The raised beds also need more time and work than when you plant the vegetable plants directly in the garden floor. In the raised bed, there is no exchange with the surrounding plants and microorganisms in the soil – so they have to be regularly supplied with compost.
Building the outer areas
Permaculture gardens are mostly divided into zones: Areas that are closer to the house and more easily accessible are suitable for the most care-intensive plants. The garden is increasingly left to the outside. A buffer zone is created on the outermost edge that protects the garden from noise and dirt. It is ideal for domestic wild fruit bushes such as wild roses, grain cherries, Berberitz, elderberry or bead. These shrubs also offer wild animals with retreat and food in the form of fruits.
The hot spot zone follows further inside: With it we can promote biodiversity by specifically finding domestic wildflowers and insect-friendly plants. If there is enough space in full sun, such a whole flower meadow can be created. A smaller variant could be a bed or hill made of gravel and gravel with a little humus. Suitable plants are heat -loving herbs such as thyme, oregano and rosemary as well as wildflowers such as bell flowers, sun flower and skabos.
Fruit and vegetables: the earnings zone
The fruit and vegetable garden is created near the house in the yield zone. Here the extension is often carried out in hill beds. Your soil is enriched with nutrients from cutting waste, rice, hay or compost and thus fertilized in a natural way. When choosing fruit and vegetables, it is important to observe the crop rotation in order to prevent diseases and minimize the load on the soil. Plants should be combined that support each other. Mixed cultures with multi -year species such as asparagus, rhubarb or artichokes are particularly suitable for this.
One -year flowers are best set between the beds; Suitable accompanying plants are, for example, virgins in the green, marigolds or domestic summer flowers such as gossip pops. When decomposed, they increase soil fertility, which benefits the multi-year fruit and vegetable plants. That is why the growth of wild herbs should also be restricted, but “weeds” should not be completely removed.
Depending on the size of the garden, additional zones can be integrated or left out. It is important to optimally use the conditions of the garden and leave space for nature.