Design - Pattern Design

From the quote above the following five qualities can be defined for a permaculture system:

1. Edible

2. Multifunctional

3. Create an ecosystem (made up of various biotopes)

4. Sustainable

5. Socially acceptable (reconcilable with a welfare state)

Not every system/biotope needs to fulfill all of these qualities.

Furthermore, I want to apply the guidelines and techniques of the Natural Garden Movement and the Hortus Insectorum Network, both of which are best known in german-speaking regions.

Both concepts can be perfectly linked to the permaculture ethics and qualities.

The Natural Garden Movement focuses on naturally designed gardens with many (micro-)biotopes using mostly native plants. So actually every well-designed permaculture garden is nearly automatically a natural garden.

The Hortus Insectorum Network focuses on native insects and how to best provide biotopes for them, especially for endangered species. Founder Markus Gastl created a gardening concept using three zones called Intensive, Hot Spot and Buffer.

The Intensive zone is the area where vegetables and other plants with intensive care are cultivated. In the Hot Spot zone, various biotopes for insects and other animals are consciously designed.

The Buffer zone separates and protects the garden from the surroundings (e.g. pesticides).

It is easy to see that he also used the Zoning method and developed his own system.

In summary, I am designing the land with the help of permaculture and with inspiration from the Natural Garden Movement and the Hortus Insectorum network.

This zoning map is a planning map for where to place the zones in the future. The zonation map that I created with the current zones was the basis to create this planning map for the future.

Here is the legend that defines the different zones:

Zone 0 + desire lines*: House, kitchen for processing, cellar, garage, Tiny House

(* Aranya defines desire lines as paths that are constantly walked and where changes nearby are perceived.)

Zone 1: Plastered terrace, intensive vegetable garden, greenhouses, area for children

Zone 2: Herb and flower field, chicken, less intensive vegetable garden, berries

Zone 3: Cereals, forest garden, meadow (for medical and honey plants), fruit/nut trees

Zone 4: Wild hedges, firewood and timber (harvesting only in the easily accessible forest)

Zone 5: Protected forest (slope assurance) or forest that is hard to access → interventions only for security reasons or for ecological revaluation
→ observation of nature
→ relaxation
→ ecological services
→ windbreak
→ regulation of microclimate

As soon as we designed our zones we were limited where systems and elements could be placed. On little sticky notes, I wrote the different systems and elements, laid an overlay over our zonation map and started to experiment with the placement of systems, elements, contour lines, and paths. To visualize and play around with the contour lines and paths I used a red (paths) and a blue (contour lines) thread. In the end, I fixed everything with glue. The map below shows the final placement map.

Contour Line Design

Water is the basis for life. Therefore water is the top planning priority. One of the most important things is to catch and store water on a site, especially on a slope. The aim is to be as independent as possible from the external water supply. Luckily our area usually gets enough rain for average gardening and agriculture. But this first year we already observed quite a few hot and dry weeks that made irrigation indispensable. So even in our area, it is necessary to design for more drought in the future.

We read about different systems, e.g. Keyline Design (P. A. Yeomans), Earthworks (Geoff Lawton, Sepp Holzer), Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond (Brad Lancaster) and thought about what would be realistic and necessary to implement on our property and slopes. Our initial design includes planted swales on contour lines.

At first, we are going to measure and mark contour lines at every five meters of difference in altitude.
On the steep slopes, we will place swales on the contour lines. The swales will overflow into various water retention basins. We create the basins naturally through compacting the earth. The water is temporarily stored and slowly infiltrates the soil. This way, the basins are wet and dry biotopes for animals and plants with special needs (dwarf rushes society, Isoeto-Nanojuncetea).
On the gentle slopes, we already started to create the herb field. It is partly terraced and we will continue terracing it as required. We will try to plant perennials if there is a gentle slope and terracing is too much effort.

Fruit and nut trees will be planted on the swales. Their root system holds the swales together and prevents erosion. Also, the needs of the trees are satisfied because the slowly infiltrating water is available to them. Additionally, the accumulation of organic matter behind the swales improves soil fertility for the trees.

If there is enough sunlight it is possible to plant rows of berry bushes between the rows of trees. The rest of the slopes is used to establish (wild) herbs, flowers, and extensive vegetables.

Preposition for the Trees on the contour lines:

- Upper Slope: Low-stem fruit trees (need more care, bear fruit earlier), berry bushes

- Middle Slope: Middle-stem fruit trees

- Lowest contour line: High-stem (walnut and sweet chestnut)

Yeomans Keyline Design works differently and we will have it in mind and decide in our detailed planning phase how exactly we will implement everything.

Catching and Storing Water on the Property

Right now there is a pond on the property between the house and the herb field. Unfortunately, it leaks and never fills up more than 25%. In the future, we want to transform this pond into a biological treatment plant for greywater from the house. The purified water can be used to water the herb field below.

Another pond is planned between the two greenhouses (to the west of the house). The runoff from the greenhouse roofs will fill this pond. Another reason for placing the pond there is that the area is easily accessible for an excavator without causing too much damage in the surroundings. This pond shall be designed as a natural swimming pond and biotope. It is only used for watering if need be.

To water the vegetable garden we decided to install a cistern next to the house. The cistern collects the water from the roof of the house. We plan for a water purification system that can produce drinkable water from the water in the cistern. The rest can be used to water the gardens nearby.

Earthworks

The main earthworks will include digging a pond and creating swales on some contour lines.

The area where the greenhouses are planned is quite flat already, but it needs to be leveled for the stability of the greenhouses.

Furthermore, we planned a terrace below our main terrace. This allows us to use the slope more effectively to grow plants and as an additional relaxing area with a nice view. Ideally, this terrace and the processing kitchen in the cellar of the house are connected by an earth cellar (under the existing terrace). This would allow for the best storage of fruit and vegetables and would increase our independence from external food and energy input.

Area for Insects and Rare Plants

The western meadow (to the south of the house) is very dry and steep. It is not suitable for intensive cultivation. So we will dedicate this meadow to insects and rare animals that need dry, stony or sandy areas and we will try to provide the necessary forage plants. We will design this meadow with many different elements that contribute to the survival of rare species. A relaxing and observation place should be included as well, inspired by the “sit spot” of Jon Young (8 Shields).

Area for Children

To the east side of the house, there is a light forest. It can be transformed into a children's area close to nature without much effort. Some trees need to be taken out, the ground will be partly covered with wood chips and a few playground elements mainly made from natural materials will be added.
Children can play and discover nature. I also want to design this area for small groups of children (kindergarten groups, birthdays).

On the edge of the area, the main chicken house is placed. Children love animals and will be invited to care for them. During the summer the chicken will live in a mobile chicken coop. This way we can place them on garden beds that need to be cleared and fertilized.

Herb field

The herb field is placed southeastern of the water treatment pond. That is the place where we already started terracing and cultivating herbs. We approximately planned a total area of 800 m2 for growing herbs. Additionally, we will collect wild herbs all around the property (stinging nettles, blackberry/strawberry/raspberry leaves, ...). The herb field must be terraced mostly by hand because it is hardly accessible for machinery. The design of the herb field is part of another design process.

Paths

We realized that we want to integrate the protection of our privacy into the design. This is mainly about keeping Zone 0 (house and terrace to the south, Tiny House) private.

The aim of visitors will mostly be the herb field. The best path from the main entrance to the herb field would lead through the light forest to the north-east of the house. That was another reason to place the children's area there. It naturally attracts visitors and shortens the way through the forest.

To improve the access to the slopes we will create three paths on contour lines connecting the eastern and the western stairs. The lowest path connects the two ends of the stairs and leads through the deciduous forest.

Additionally, there is a path that leads vertically from the Relaxing Area on the herb field down to the deciduous forest at the bottom of the property.