One of the best things that anyone can do to live a more ethical, sustainable and eco-friendly way of life is grow their own food. Finding somewhere to grow is often the first challenge. Whether you are gardening on your own property, or eking out a space elsewhere, in this guide you will find helpful hints to help you when creating new growing areas.

Clearing Overgrown Land Organically

Often, when people set out the ideas for new growing areas, they forget that not everyone is dealing with a manicured lawn or perfect patio. Fortunately, permaculture offers simple and earth-kind solutions for preparation of even the most overgrown and unpromising sites. Clearing overgrown land organically will take some work, but is easily achievable when you follow this simple method:

• Cut or saw any unwanted trees, shrubs or briars to ground level. (Keep the woody waste material to one side – you may well be using it later.)
• Drill holes in the tops of any stumps to encourage them to rot down in place.
• Remove as many of the invasive or problematic weeds as possible. (Burn rather than composting any weeds that can regrow from root sections.)
• Add any other weedy/green material to a compost bin or compost heap.
• Once you are mostly down to bare soil, sow a cover crop such as clover or field beans, rye, or mustard. This cover crop will help to suppress weed growth and protect and feed the soil.
• After a season, chop or mow down this cover crop and allow it to stay on the soil surface to decompose in place.
• Continue to create a productive growing area – a ‘lasagna bed’ using the steps outlined below.
• smothering the weeds is effective with either cardboard (sheet mulch) or even black or clear plastic.

This is not the fastest way to restore some order to overgrown land, but it will result in a higher quality growing area in the long run.

‘Lasagna’ Beds

One of the great things about the ‘lasagna’ bed method is that it can be used to create growing areas on a wide range of surfaces. Lasagna beds can be created on top of wild, previously overgrown land, as described above. They can be placed directly on top of a lawned area, on poor quality soil – even on hardstanding.

Lasagna beds are built in layers in much the same way that you would make a lasagna for your dinner. In this case, however, layers are not pasta, sauce etc. but the materials that you would ordinarily place in a compost heap. To make a lasagna bed:

• Mark out the new growing area.
• Cover the area with a layer of cardboard or several layers of newspaper. (This will help limit weed growth from below yet will break down over time.)
• Place a layer of green (nitrogen rich) material on top of this layer. (Green materials can include green leaves from trees and garden plants, kitchen fruit and vegetable scraps, seaweed, well-rotted manure, and/or grass clippings from when you mow your lawn.)
• Place a layer of ‘brown (carbon rich) material on top of this layer. (Brown materials include dead leaves and small twiggy cuttings, wood chips or bark, straw or dried bracken.)
• Continue to create thin (5-10cm) layers of these green and brown materials until you almost reach the desired depth for your beds. (The depth you need will depend on whether you have soil below, or a hard surface. It will also depend on what you wish to grow, though most raised beds should be at very least 20 – 30cm deep. )
• Top the lasagna bed with a 5-8cm depth of topsoil and/or good quality, peat-free organic compost.

This method can save money as it allows you to create new growing areas without having to buy in much topsoil or compost. The components of the raised bed will take time to break down, though you can if you wish plant into the bed right away. The elements will slowly compost in place, and the bed will sink. You will be able to add layers on top to continue to maintain the growing area over time.

Hügelkultur

Hugelkultur, or ‘mound culture’ is a similar method to the above, though rather than building a level raised bed, the idea is to create raised mounds by building up layers of organic material. At the heart of these mounds is wood (ideally partially rotted wood) that will hold water like a sponge and reduce the watering requirements of the growing area. If you have cleared an overgrown area, the woody material you have removed could be ideal for the centre of your mounded garden beds.

Once you have placed woody material to form the centre of your mounds, simply add green and brown layers then top with compost/ topsoil as in the method outlined above.

In addition to storing water, hügelkultur mounds also create a range of different growing conditions in a small space, creating shade on the north side, drier conditions on top and warm, bright yet moist conditions on the lower side towards the south.

Straw Bale Gardening

Another option for permaculture growing areas is straw bale gardening. Straw bales are a cheap and often readily available material – a by-product of agriculture. If you can easily source straw bales in your area, you can consider using these to create almost ready-made raised beds. To make a straw bale garden:

• Source and position your straw bales.
• Condition bales by soaking in a nitrogen rich liquid feed, which can easily be made by adding weeds or grass clippings to water and allowing them to rot down before straining the liquid and pouring it over your bales.
• Keep the bales wet for around a month.
• Detect through the bale temperature and its smell that this is working and the bale is beginning to decompose.
• Top with a thin layer of compost (5-7cm).

You can then plant into these beds as you would into any other growing area. As the straw decomposes your plants will have plenty of food and it has even been said that plants could be up to 25% more productive when planted in straw bales than they would be if planted in average quality soil.

It’s time to stop thinking and start doing! Create new growing areas in your garden and join the grow-your-own revolution! What better way to make the most of your outside space?