Permaculture design - is anyone into it?

[Brainaddict]

Thought I'd try out the new forum I went on a weekend permaculture course last weekend, mostly just out of random interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
I enjoyed it but wondered how useful and practical it is in everyday horticultural situations - does anyone here adhere to it as an ethos?

 

[Brainaddict]

Bump

 

[boohoo]

I started a permaculture course once - I like the general idea of it. The course was in the greenhouses at Brockwell Park in their early days. They talked about where they wanted to build a pond and how the water gathered in one particular area ... and when I last went up there, this is where the pond has been put.

Unfortunately I only have a small patio with a lack of light to grow things so not quite sure how i'll be applying my permaculture principals...

 

[Brainaddict]

Do you know who organised that course and whether they're still doing it?

 

[boohoo]

It was a group called green adventure... Have you been up to the greenhouses? They are open Sunday afternoon and are worth looking around - I'm sure someone can tell you if there are any south London courses. Otherwise, naturewise in North London have been running courses for ages.

 

[Funky_monks]

Trufflepig is an accredited permaculture designer.

He has bags of info, but I'm not sure how much he posts these days.

 

[northernhord]

Thought I'd try out the new forum I went on a weekend permaculture course last weekend, mostly just out of random interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
I enjoyed it but wondered how useful and practical it is in everyday horticultural situations - does anyone here adhere to it as an ethos?

I think permaculture is a wonderfully innovative set of ideas and practices, I do a few bits of permaculture at my plot, the most noticable at the moment is the giving over of a third of the plot for fruit that reques little or no maintenance, I,m also in the process of buillding and designing a water trap.

 

[Biddlybee]

*bump*

There's a permaculture weekend being run by these guys in June: http://transitiontownbrixton.org/content/view/17/43/ (half way down the flyer on the right )

 

[Firky]

I'd love too and intend too one day but at the moment.... well, I have an allotment

There's a poster on here who's name escapes me who is well into it.

 

[Firky]

Trufflepig is an accredited permaculture designer.

That's the fella!

 

[northernhord]

I do a few bits of permaculture on my allotment plot, Ive got a mini fruit orchard at the top end, I keep the compost bin and waterbutts close to the trees so any residue from the compost bin and overflow from the water gets straight to the fruit trees.

 

[Firky]

And you piss on your veg

 

[Bernie Gunther]

I think the permaculture bunch have a lot of good ideas. You have to be a bit critical in applying them though. Concepts like forest gardens, that work well in Kerala, Northern Australia and other semi-tropical places don't necessarily work so well in in the wet and windy NW of England for example, but you can adapt.

What they're not quite so strong on is intensive production, which might turn out to be important given that we have about 0.25 ha per human globally, and that's shrinking rapidly due to soil erosion, urbanisation and other factors. So IMO it's also worth looking at stuff like the French Intensive method and other high-yield techniques that can potentially be made to work without industrial inputs, by way of a perhaps more globally useful contrast.