The Bownesian Urban Permaculture Project

This past week-end, we set out to help Rob Sinclair & Lauren Mangion transform their urban Bowness lot into a permaculture-inspired oasis & garden. Lauren took my “Intro to Permaculture” course in January and was inspired to take some next steps….. I offered to help them out with the design and implementation.

With some basic principles in mind we wanted to create a place where conscious garden design has been melded while respecting nature’s most basic principles.




Conventional agriculture & gardens

Our conventional industrial agriculture approach is the result of the farmer asking himself: “What can I get from this Land?”. This question arises unsurprisingly from our societal-view of the environment and natural resources as something to be conquered. Once the commodity is decided upon we then use copious amounts of external inputs such as fossil fuel, fertilizers & human labour to maximize this yield.

Our conventional gardens often mimic this industrial straight-line approach. Our gardens require tilling, fertilizing, and dreadful weeding! If our typical gardener stopped weeding the garden (i.e. external input) unwanted species would likely colonize the black soil between the garden rows eventually taking over and choking out much of the garden. To keep pests away, chemicals are used and to replenish depleted nutrients, synthetic and polluting fertilizers are sprayed.

“When the needs of a system are not met from within, we pay the price in energy and pollution.”
- Bill Mollison

The permaculture-inspired garden

Permaculture design starts with a different premise: “What does this land have to give if I co-operate with it?”. This subtle wording difference actually results in a completely different world-view than the previous question of “What can I get from this Land?”.

The first step in this new approach is to consider nature’s most obvious and important teaching: interconnectedness creates robust, resilient, non-polluting and sustainable systems.

To illustrate, consider a natural forest-system. Strong & redundant connections among plants, insects, soil & other animals form a resilient & natural web. The forest system produces its own fertilizer, and the “waste” streams from one element are used up by another. In addition to not needing any external energy inputs to maintain itself (other than the sun!), take one species out and another species will fill the void & function. This balanced system is also inherently resistant to diseases and pests.

In ecological-garden design (& permaculture), the goal is to replicate, as much as possible, the forest ecology. We want to take cues from the way nature works and stop considering nature as an enemy or something to be conquered or restrained.

A few principles to consider in ecological garden design

Nature abhors a vacuum. Bare soil is perfect habitat for weed seeds. Weeds are really just pioneer species that have evolved to quickly cover bare ground, extract nutrients from the soil and repair nutrient-deficient soil. By planting cover crops, such as field pea we provide several essential functions to the garden. We outcompete the “weeds” and leave them no place to fill in, and by choosing a nitrogen-fixing species we condition the soil and fertilize using nature’s way.

Nature doesn’t usually mono-crop. Planting only one species either in large fields or in isolated garden blocks is a definite signal to pests and diseases. There’s no question that plants work in relationships with one another, particularly with other plant species. Guild planting is a technique, which has been used by centuries by indigenous peoples, where mutually beneficial plants are planted together. When Michelle & I visited the Zapatistas in Mexico, we learnt about their tradition of planting corn, beans & squash together in a field.

Nature can be the gardener’s ally. With clever design, micro-organisms can work to benefit us, minimize our labour & maximize the productivity of the landscape. For instance, why till, add fertilizers and other chemicals, when worms perform these very functions? Why not plant things that attract beneficial insects and predators that will minimize pests? The truth is that we’ve been conditioned to only see elements as performing one function and in isolation from each other. Put on your “Permaculture glasses” and think about things holistically.

Rob & Lauren’s Design

I sat down with Rob & Lauren over a month ago to give them some ideas and get them started on their design. My goal is not to design people’s garden, but to provide them with the tools to do it themselves and provide feedback and suggestions.

Rob & Lauren came up with a lovely layout including curved edges and numerous “key-hole beds”.

The good news about living in a four season region is that everyone is just itching to get their hands dirty in the spring time. A great group of friends and volunteers showed up at Rob and Lauren’s on Saturday to cut up sod, mark out paths, dig out swales, build up garden beds, and shovel mulch. We even braved hail in the afternoon and were so eager to finish that almost no one stopped working!

I’ll have to get some more photos of their yard as the summer progresses.

Rob and Lauren have designed more than a garden. This is a place for insects and habitat for animals. It will provide food to nourish them and inspiration to guide them and connect them with Mother Earth.