Permaculture advises: growing a minimalist garden (that requires the least amount of work!)

If you are those kind of people that prefer to start the garden and then do nothing, this is for you.
This is a list of plants to make a permaculture edible garden, made of perennials, that once you start, there is almost no further work required. Some vegetables are perennials, other are self-seeders.


Some plants for a minimalist garden:

Perennials for greens (spacing indicated)

• 9-star broccoli .... 100cm
• Daubenton's kale ... 60 cm
• Good king henry (bitter taste) .... 30 cm
• Sea beet (tolerates sandy soils) .... 30 cm
• Tree collards .... 100 cm
• Skirret .... 25 cm
• Sea kale .... 90 cm

Perennials for salad use

• Ḿitsuba (can grow in part shadow) .... 15 cm
• Musk mallow .... 30 cm
• Pink purslane (acid soil, and shadow) ... 15 cm
• Salad burnet (alkaline soil) .... 20 cm
• Chicory .... 20 cm
• Garlic cress ... 30 cm
• Ramsons or wild garlic (for shadow) ... 10 cm
• Sorrel ... 25 cm
• Turkish rocket ... 50 cm
• Watercress ... 15 cm
• Everlasting onions ... 15 cm
• Tree onions .... 20 cm
• Welsh onions .... 20 cm

Perennial 9-star broccoli, can give many crops if you keep cutting them.

Self-seeders for greens

• Fat hen 
• Swiss chard ... 25 cm 
• Alexanders .... 50 cm

Self-seeders for salad use 

• Chickweed (can grow in part shadow) ... grow without thinning
• Lamb's lettuce ... 10 cm
• Winter purslane (tolerates sandy soils) ... 15 cm
• Bittercress ... 10 cm
• Land cress ... 15 cm
• Nasturtium ... 15-20cm
• Rocket ... 10 cm

The following table can help you calculate how many plants do you need to get full ground cover with perennials. The recommended spacing is described later below.

Spacing, cm ---- Plants

100 ................... 1

60 ..................... 3

30 ..................... 11

25 ..................... 16

20 ..................... 25

15 ..................... 44

10 .................... 100

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Gardening and Permaculture in ICELAND

Permaculture is in fact possible in Iceland, a polar climate.

I first moved here last year, and did grow two small gardens in Reykjavík, which is by the coast, and with a ever cool and often rainy climate. One garden was successful with carrots and radish (carrots grow very well in the cool polar summer) although potatoes were very small. Another garden was cultivated with herbs and diverse vegetables. After the harsh polar winter, I was surprised to visit the area again and found out that some plants were alive and nicely growing again! These were mints, chives, rhuibarb (a almost native vegetable in Iceland), and even some celery plants!

This year, I moved to Sólheimar ecovillage, which is located in southwest Iceland, with a milder polar climate: summer are short, cool but generally fair, the winters have much snow. I am growing both indoors, a south facing conservatory, and outdoors, in a southwest facing exposed location and a northeast sheltered location.

Indoors I grow the seedlings, dwarf varieties of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, a ginger plant, swiss chard, rucula and diverse herbs (spring onions, thyme, salvia, lemon balm, hyssop, savory, oregano, marjoram and basil). I also grew some zuchinni and cucumbers but even with big pots, these did not crop good.

Outdoors, I grow several beds: one with onions, carrots and beets; another with celery, fennel, broccoli and chicory, another with turnip and other greens, and another bed with a beautiful combination (companion planting) of swiss chard, beets and kohl rabi (below).

I found very difficult to grow the brassicas, radish, lettuce, fennel and spinach, because the 24 hour daylight, often induced their bolting. Initially the peas were also not growing well. However, they are now cropping good, as the weather is warmer. What is growing perfect are the carrots, celery, beets, kohl rabi, swiss chard and onions. Below is the bed with beets, carrots and onions.

The most beautiful is two beds with wildflowers to attract wildlife such as bees and butterflies and provide plenty of color. Some examples of the flowers include cornflower, anemona, buttercups, tagetes, scabious, love in the mist, and poppies.

In the shadowy northeast location, I am growing some beds with oriental brassicas, which are faring better (but recently have started bolting too - picture below), and the naturalized Icelandic vegetables, lovage and rhubarb, which are grow easily and very well.

The potatoes there are growing better too, I think it's because the soil is better and the location more sheltered from the cool dry winds. I also made an edge with some shrubs, berries, potentilla and other flowers. Unfortunately, there were some Jerusalem artichokes but these were accidentally cut by a neighbor mowing. More picture to follow soon.

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Alternative edible vegetables, for Permaculture use!

This is a post intended to show some useful and less well-known plants in Permaculture. These are edible perennial vegetables, that can often produce huge harvests, and are easy to grow, and can be used in a permanent forest garden Permaculture project. I included the links where you can order these. Have fun.

Ordering tropical, fruits, vegetables and seeds:

http://www.tropilab.com/tropicalfruit.html
http://www.seedsofchange.com (lots of seeds, but they don't send to Europe)

Alternative edible tubers

http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/2003su_tubers.html
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/altroots.php PFAF, database on edible plants
http://www.glasshouseworks.com/trop-o.html

These are some edible tubers, grown as crops in South America, in a similar way to potatoes:

• Yacon, tasty sweet giant tubers, that can be eaten raw like a fruit. These were grown as a crop by the Incas. The plant dislikes cold but can be grown well in temperate climates with warm summers, because the tubers would survive in winter. I have grown these last year and had huge harvests. http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html
• Oca, Oxalis tuberosus, a common crop in South America, next to potatoes, the flavour is identical to spinach due to the oxalic acid, can withstand some frost, easy to grow http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html
  
• Tropaeolum tuberosum, Anu: grown for 8000 years, a close relative to nasturtium, these tubers have a spicey flavour. Dislikes wet and hot climates, and can be grown in temperate climates, but takes time for the mature tubers to form (only by September), so it requires no early frost. http://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/plants.cfm?pl_id=4607
• Pachyrhizus tuberosus, Jícama, giant tubers, white, grown only over 6 months and harvest in September. Can be grown in temperate climates. survives some frost but not freezing temperatures. The tubers can be eaten grown but the aereal part is poisonous, just like the beans, to which is a relative. http://www.sandmountainherbs.com/jicama_yam_bean.html and http://www.bountifulgardens.org/products.asp?dept=43
• Ulluco, another unusual South American crop http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html

Besides these rarities, there are other less-common vegetables, but which are worth to be grown in a vegetable garden, such as parsnips, sweet potatoes, ginger, jerusalem artichokes, swedes, scorzonera, parsley roots (Petroselinum crispum tuberosum), different kinds of radish, kohl-rabi and celeriac. We have grown most of these plants before, if you need advice just email me. You can also watch our pictures in previous posts.

Fantastic carrots!

Another interesting thing to know is that there are plenty of (natural) varieties of carrots. No, they are no hybrids, these are tradicional varieties, which are now rarities, but available through some sellers of heirloom seeds. These include white, yellow, orange, red and purple carrots.

All the cited tubers are of course perfect for vegetarians, vegans and even rawists, wishing to improve their dishes, because most can be eaten raw and fresh!

Yacon

At the PFAF website, which I recommend all of you to visit, there are other interesting suggestions for edible root vegetables:

• Apios americana, ground nut
• Camassia quamash, quamash http://www.vanmeuwen.co.uk/plant/61406
• Cyperus esculentus, tiger nuts
• Dioscorea batatas, yam http://www.china-food-wholesaler.com/buy-chinese_yam and http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/DIOSCOREA_BATATAS.htm
• Erythronium species, dog's tooth violets
• Lathyrus tuberosus, tuberous pea http://www.ediblelandscapes.ca/plantlist.html
• Lilium lancifolium, tiger lily
• Lomatium cous, biscuit roots
• Orogenia linearifolia, indian potato
• Perideridia gairdneri, yampa
• Psoralea esculenta, breadroot http://www.prairiehabitats.com/seeds.html and http://prairiemoon.com/store/template/product_detail.php?IID=496&&
• Sagittaria species, arrowhead
• Sium sisarum, skirret, i have both the tubers and seeds
• Stachys affinis, chinese artichokes: available in many suppliers
• Typha latifolia, reedmace, common cattail: this is a native species in European swamps, and I have seen selling before, but not yet online

You might wanna check also these two interesting links:

- Top20 Permaculture plants http://www.pfaf.org/user/top20plants.aspx

- Edible tubers: http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/handbooks/tubers/tubers.html

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Perennial Leeks

Perennial leeks taste like every day leeks, but they have bulbs and give side shoots, forming perennial clumps which spread and are very resistent to drought or frost. This is a must have for permaculture and perennial vegetables enthusiasts.

http://www.cornucopiaseeds.com.au/products/Perennial-Leek.html

Walking Onions and other relatives

Another "must have" for Permaculture enthusiasts are Walking Onions, also known as Egyptian Onions (Allium proliferum). These are perfectly normal onions which give flowering tips which produce bulbs which fall and give way to new onion plants, hence the reason for its name for the plant that seems to walk through the garden!

The bulbs are however small.
Perhaps even more interesting (although I don't own these yet) are Multiplier Onions (Allium cepa aggregatum), which produce bigger bulbs in clumpings. Both species are edible and taste like onions.

Welsh onions (Allium fistulosum), Ramsons (Allium ursinum) and Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are other perennial options. Chives taste wonderful in omelletes. Ramsons can grow native in shade in European forests and give many white flowers in spring; the plants look very similar to other poisonous species like the Lily-of-the-valley, but they have a strong smell of garlic.

List of our (easy to grow) perennial vegetables

Permaculture is great!
Contact if you are interested in getting these.

• Good King Henry
  
• Nettles
• Tiger Nuts
  
• Jerusalem Artichokes
• Chinese Artichokes
• Skirret
• Taro
• Yacon
• Horseradish

Our annual vegetables

• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Cucumbers
• Squash
  
• Pumpkin
• Beans
• Lentils
• Lettuce
• Rocket
• Spinach
• Endive
• Chicory
  
• Celery
• Celeriac
  
• Kohl-rabi
• Turnip
• Root parsley
• Brocculi
• Brussels sprouts
• Garlic
• Wild garlic
  
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Parsnip
• Salfisy
• Scorzonera
• Gengir
  
• Beets
• Swiss chard
  
• Eggplant
• Wheat
• Millet
• Quinoa
• Soy beans
• Chick peas
• Peas