Following the happy experience with dry gardening, and thanks to the very inspiring movie “Demain” (see link here) I ended up after quite a bit of research, digesting and making mine the concepts of permaculture in order to apply them to our garden.
As all this is a rather long process of observation and planning, so I followed the practical advise of the pioneers: start with your doorstep…. So, I am very glad to introduce the kitchen garden, literally on the kitchen’s doorstep. My personal contribution to permaculture might be to show that it can also look neat…. As a friend dubbed it, “Le Nôtre” organic kitchen garden 😉
Ok, you will have to both bear with me, and keep your fingers crossed for the results later on in the spring, and mostly this summer, there will be many more pictures to come… watch that space!
Needless to say that, like the rest of the property, this is a zero chemical kitchen garden (no herbicide, insecticide nor artificial fertiliser). Fertilising will be done with on-the-spot composting and green fertilising, and pest control will be done by growing an adequate plant mix and the harbouring of auxiliaries. Watering has been planned as a back-up, but will also be kept to a minimum. It’s probably going to be a long learning curve, but I trust the seeds I have managed to source, which come from rustic varieties grown in farms, will adapt.
Here are some resources, should you like to learn more about:
Permaculture: Bill Mollison and David Holmgreen
https://www.permaculturedesignersmanual.com
http://www.permatheque.fr/PDF/Bill%20Mollison%20-%20Permaculture%201.pdf
https://www.permatheque.fr/PDF/Bill%20Mollison%20-%20Permaculture%202.pdf
https://holmgren.com.au/store/product/principles-and-pathways/
Water management by Key line design: Ken Yeomans
Farm-grown seeds and Comfrey suppliers:
http://www.semencespaysannes.org/index.php
http://www.lepotagerduncurieux.org
http://www.lepotagerdesante.com
https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/comfrey
