By Nida Angeliadis
A while ago I started working on a landscape design for my 3-acre property. Permaculture design encourages people to really take some time to analyze their property first before jumping in and getting their hands dirty. It uses several methods to analyze a piece of land by drawing a scale map of the property.
One permaculture technique that was particularly helpful incorporates ‘zones of use.' It’s a simple concept that divides a property into circular zones on the map. Zone 0 contains the inhabited buildings, Zone 1 is the area closest to those buildings, and Zones 2-5 continue further out. As I thought about the structures—raised beds, greenhouse, paths, seating areas, rainwater basin, chicken coop—I wanted to add to my garden, the zones helped me to determine their best location. I realized that almost all of those structures would be better in Zones 1 or 2, closer to the house for easier daily access. Not only that, but the zones helped me see that the new structures could actually fit, foot by square foot, within my Zone 1-2 space. And I recognized that I don’t need to develop Zones 3-5 quite as much as I thought I did. At the time, this was a revelation for me and made the task of creating what I wanted in my yard seem that much easier and smaller. More doable!
Nida Angeliadis is a member
of GCW and a garden alchemist.
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