GET GROWING!
MY SALAD BOWL RUNNETH OVER
By LADYBUG
Gardening is, really, a year-round enjoyment. We garden physically in spring, summer and fall, and come winter, we dream of gardens.
The author image of Pippa Chapman in her flower-patterned shirt instantly transports me to a space bursting with colour and the scents of spring even though we are heading into winter.
Her book, Permaculture Planting Designs, is informative, packed with ideas and tips, and makes somewhat daunting projects appear very approachable.
With a lot of planning, of course. Which includes getting to know your soil. But one doesn’t need to rush out and purchase expensive testing kits or send soil samples to a lab – Chapman demonstrates how a simple jar test does the trick.
“I stand firm with my stance that you cannot apply a drag and drop approach to create a permaculture garden,” she states. And goes on to expand on the benefits of polycultures.
Plants grow as communities – monocultures, or plantings of single crops as seen in farms aren’t seen in nature. “Monocultures are more vulnerable to pests and diseases which can easily move from one plant to the next with no barriers to stop or slow them.”
Her tips for planning for year-round crops, interest and colour, include seeing beauty as a yield.
“There have been many studies now demonstrating the positive effects that green spaces and beautiful gardens can have on our mental health. By creating a visually appealing garden you are creating something to draw you into the garden. This is true even as an attractive view to gaze at through the window.”
I’ll be doing a whole lot of gazing out the window over the next few months I think, as I nod in agreement.
And I love that she encourages being less tidy, while providing a way out of the dishevelled look for those who are OCD about tidying up come fall.
Piles of dead leaves, insect features full of dead stems and wild areas provide shelter and food to countless creatures over winter and support biodiversity, she writes. But, “if you really struggle to embrace the wilder look of a permaculture garden, use evergreen shrubs to mask your dead hedge or wild corner. You can enjoy the view of the shrubs whilst wildlife enjoys the space underneath and behind them.”
As someone who had to have every plant she could get her hands on in her garden, and therefore someone who had many, many different varieties, but only one of each because a suburban plot can only accommodate that many, I moved to groupings of plants only in my second garden that I planned from scratch. However, even that “grouping” consisted of punctuating a bed with my favourite plants. So you’d see coneflowers or iris in several spots along a bed.
From Chapman, I get a whole new perspective on repetition in design – repeating groupings!
“I like to design these smaller groupings of plants, then put them together to create larger planting designs...it creates a sense of visual rhythm. This also means the design is more resilient as you have multiples of each plant; if one dies, you have a backup.”
Permaculture Planting Designs by Pippa Chapman is published by Permanent Publications, $35.95.
She also educates me on the concept of forest gardening as a method of growing a diversity of edible, mostly perennial, plants in layers which mimic a woodland.
And if you, like me, think you don’t have the space for a forest garden, Chapman shows how to achieve success in a plot measuring 3 by 3 metres. Grow things that will actually be eaten, but also experiment, she urges. That is where the best learning happens. And use the vertical, grow on walls and up arches and obelisks.
There are so many ideas I want to try. Including the one for what she calls a perennial salad garden.
“There are many alternatives to annual salad plants that can be grown in the garden which are low maintenance and can feed you year-round for very little effort.”
Well... yes and no! Because she gardens in England, and our winters are a whole different beast. But still, armed with her ideas and selection of plants, I am looking ahead to prolonging my salad days.