Permaculture Principles: Zoning

Steve Thomas has already discovered permaculture on one of his various jaunts for Renovation Nation, yet the concept can be confusing for many. Last week I gave an overview of the design principles of permaculture—offering a summary of how each individual principle can be used to create healthy, productive gardens that minimize inputs of both work and resources. In the coming weeks I'd like dive into each principle in a little more detail. This week, it's time to talk zoning. Where you put stuff matters.

Zoning refers to the relative location of elements in a design, in relation to the dwelling or center of human activity. Permaculture design usually seeks to place elements that need the most attention as close to the center of activity as possible—it's common sense really. For example, rather than hiding your vegetable plot behind a hedge at the back of the garden, like the Victorians did, permaculture design would place it right under the kitchen window, where it is easily visible and can be quickly visited for a small harvest, or 5 minutes of staking and weeding.

The idea is that, contrary to the thinking behind industrial agriculture, it is human attention that is most important in making a garden productive. As an old Chinese proverb says, "the best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." And research shows this to be true - in fact a small garden can yield many times more food per acre than even the most productive industrial farm. Check out fellow TreeHugger Collin's dad's geodesic greenhouse if you don't believe me!

My own garden sits on our back lawn, where until recently I could view it every day from my home office. The impending arrival of our baby means that I won't have quite such a close eye on it from now on - but I trust my daughter will alert me to any aphid infestations...

For those of a more technical mindset, Permaculture breaks up zoning into 6 zones. For your average backyard homesteader, zones 0 through 2, as well as zone 5, will be most relevant, though it is worth understanding the role of zones 3 and 4 too: