Permaculture

Use the ethics to make decisions

The three ethics help you decide what the garden should protect and provide:

• Earth care. What already lives here, and what should stay? Mark existing trees and habitat. Match crops to the conditions before changing the site.
• People care. Can everyone using the garden reach its paths, tools, and harvests? Choose a regular caretaker and someone to cover absences.
• Fair share. What water, money, and materials can you reasonably use? Set a spending limit. In a shared garden, agree how to distribute the harvest.

Turn an answer into a rule for the plan: "Keep the existing tree," "leave the entrance accessible," or "use the tools we already own." Use that rule when deciding where the bed belongs.

Make a simple site sketch

Take paper and a tape measure outside. Add what you can observe now; leave unknowns marked for a later visit.

1. Draw the boundary, buildings, existing plants, paths, and water point. Trace the route you actually walk.
2. Mark sun and shade in the morning, around midday, and later in the day. Repeat in another season before deciding where to put long-lived plants.
3. Check whether a hose or watering can reaches the proposed bed. After rain, mark puddles and runoff. Size the planting for the water supply you can sustain in dry periods.
4. Note compacted soil and previous land use. Before adding fertiliser, get a soil test for pH and nutrient needs. Ask a local testing service about suspected contamination.
5. List the tools and materials you already have. Note your spending limit and the care time you can reliably provide.

Two permaculture terms describe parts of this sketch. Zones group areas by how often you visit them: put regularly picked herbs on a frequent route. Sectors describe influences coming into the site, such as wind or strong afternoon sun. Draw arrows for those influences. David Holmgren's Essence of Permaculture (PDF) explains zone and sector planning.

This follows the principle of observation. You can try an annual crop while learning how the site changes.

Record your elevation and exposure. Coastal, inland, and mountain gardens have different weather conditions, as the Cyprus Department of Meteorology explains. Use local observations and forecasts to choose a planting window.

Choose one useful change

Choose a result you can check, such as "Pick salad ingredients twice a week during the local growing season." Consider the smallest change that would help:

• Make a small bed if the soil and light suit your crops and water is close.
• Use containers if space or suitable ground is limited. Include drainage and a watering arrangement you can sustain.
• Improve an existing bed if a shorter watering route or easier access would solve the problem.

Price the essentials locally: seed or plants, soil preparation or growing medium, watering equipment, and any protection needed. Leave optional structures for later. The principle of small, slow solutions supports starting with something you can maintain and adjust.

A small food bed near a tap

This example uses a 6 × 4 metre Cyprus garden with suitable soil, a sunny area near a tap, and a locally suitable cool growing period. The household eats radishes and lettuce. Existing trees and the path stay. The dimensions illustrate the plan; adapt them to the users' reach and access needs.

1. Mark a possible 1 × 2 metre bed. Check that its centre is reachable from the surrounding path.
2. Walk the watering route with a full watering can. Move the proposed bed if the route is difficult to use.
3. Prepare and plant the bed using local crop guidance. The example has separate strips for radishes and lettuce; follow each variety's sowing dates and spacing instructions.
4. Put tools by the route to the bed. Keep a container for trimmings beside the existing compost area. Use finished compost according to the soil's needs.
5. Choose a caretaker and backup. This household reserves two short weekly visits for weeding, checking, and harvesting, plus whatever watering visits the soil and weather require.

For a suitable cool-season radish trial, sow directly, remove crowded seedlings, and harvest at the variety's recommended size. The RHS crop guide explains those tasks. Use Cyprus conditions to choose the dates; the guide's calendar is for the UK.

Check moisture even in the cooler season. Seedlings and gaps between rain can still require watering. The University of California's cool-season guide (PDF) explains this in a Mediterranean climate. Use its care principles with local Cyprus conditions.

Check whether the change helped

Start with the route and possible bed marked on your sketch. Verify its light and water access on your next visit. Once conditions and the sowing season suit your crop, sow one short row and label it with the date.

Keep a weekly note of harvests used, watering visits, care minutes, and problems. At the end of the crop, use those observations to choose one adjustment:

• If produce goes unused, grow less or choose a crop you will eat.
• If watering is missed, improve the route or care arrangement before adding beds.
• If the bed is manageable and meets your goal, consider the next small project.

Buy plants after checking their needs and the available care. For a planting project, follow a syntropic garden trial or a plan for trees in permaculture.