The perennial orchard is the classic application of permaculture design. It features a diverse integration of canopy, sub canopy trees, nitrogen fixating trees, shrubs and under story plants - all displaying compatibility and a functional diversity.
Other dynamics can be added - by integration with other farm systems, creating swales for water capture and planting, incorporating animals, hugelkultur, and adding additional layers like mushrooms and vines. The end result is a highly productive system that provides the main food source within a permaculture design.
The following topics are covered in this module:
Other dynamics can be added - by integration with other farm systems, creating swales for water capture and planting, incorporating animals, hugelkultur, and adding additional layers like mushrooms and vines. The end result is a highly productive system that provides the main food source within a permaculture design.
The following topics are covered in this module:
- Orchard design: Companion planting of mutually beneficial species and good examples for NZ conditions.
- Incorporating animals: Successfully incorporating small fowl into an orchard.
- Propagation techniques: Methods to produce cheap trees, shrubs, herbs and other perennials at home.
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The Permaculture Orchard
Within a permaculture orchard a designer seeks to replicate some of the ecological complexity found in a forest edge ecosystem to arrive at a more biologically stable state then found in a conventional orchard and thereby reduce the dependency upon sprays and intensive management through relegation of ecosystem services to compatible plants and animals incorporated in support of productive species.
Some of the support plants that may be incorporated into a productive planting may include living green mulch plants that will suppress weeds, plants to attract beneficial insects such as predators and parasitoids or pollinators, or plants that help enrich the soil through accumulation of nutrients with deep tap roots or nitrogen through an association with mycorrhizae fungi.
Incorporating this greater diversity of plant species in a design helps replicate some of the ecological balance found in a forest edge ecosystem where plants have evolved complex associations with other plants and benefit greatly from the presence of these plants which in cohort provide different and complimentary roles for building soil fertility and in support of other plants.
Some of the support plants that may be incorporated into a productive planting may include living green mulch plants that will suppress weeds, plants to attract beneficial insects such as predators and parasitoids or pollinators, or plants that help enrich the soil through accumulation of nutrients with deep tap roots or nitrogen through an association with mycorrhizae fungi.
Incorporating this greater diversity of plant species in a design helps replicate some of the ecological balance found in a forest edge ecosystem where plants have evolved complex associations with other plants and benefit greatly from the presence of these plants which in cohort provide different and complimentary roles for building soil fertility and in support of other plants.