Move Your Vegetable Garden Closer to Home: A Zone 1 Permaculture Strategy

Why Zone 1 is the most important area of your land or yard

On your land or yard, Zone 1 is the closest to your house. It is the most important area of your land. You walk by it or through it every day. And if you are like me, it may not be used to it’s best design.

Lost opportunities in Zone 2 and 3

For the last nine years I have had an annual and perennial garden at the edge of the pasture, on the other side of the chicken house. It is is Zone 2, and I don’t go back there every day. When I worked from home I would relieve some stress and get re-centered and re-energized by watering the garden every day at lunch. Now I have only gone back there every 2 (or more) weeks.

Entering the gate, I duck beneath overgrown elderberry. The raccoons ate my tomatoes. The deer jumped over the fence and nibbled on or pulled down my corn. Everything is overgrown with weeds. Bindweed everywhere.

Earlier this year, I temporarily stuck some elderberry in the soil to sell in the Fall and forgot about it.

Because it doesn’t get the attention it needs anymore, I have slowly been turning this annual garden area into a more self-sustaining perennial garden. But even that has become overgrown.

perennial garden bed — Perennial garden bed with walking onions, plantain, greens, and herbs.

So where will I grow my veggies – the annuals like tomatoes, greens, some squash, and a little bit of corn? I have decided to move all that production to Zone 1, near my house, where I can see it or pass by it every day.

zone 1 permaculture design — My Zone 1 Design – Raised beds, in-ground garden beds, and my greenhouse

Raised beds and new in-ground garden beds between the apple trees. Plus a healthy dose of perennials like figs, blackberries, and echinacea that I got on clearance.

Turning lawn into garden beds

Using my trusty Meadow Creature broadfork, I turn over the sod.

I lay down a generous layer of compost, add a dusting of garden lime, chop and drop some comfrey, add some mycorrhizal fungi inoculant that I have left over from a cover crop, and cover the whole thing with woodchips.

Lasagna garden – What about using cardboard?

If I have the luxury of starting in the Fall, I will use the broadfork to turn over the sod, or I may just lay down some extra cardboard and then put compost, lime, inoculant, comfrey, and woodchips down in layers. I also add some powdered or liquid mixed molasses to get some bacteria action going.

Using cardboard has become controversial. I don’t worry too much about the chemicals as long as the cardboard is not coated. But the tape is another story. I try to take off as much tape as possible but I always find myself digging up pieces of plastic tape years later. So use with caution. That’s why I will usually default to using the broadfork – unless the ground is really frozen, or it has not rained in a long time.

Adding Raised Beds

I added raised beds, using the Vego Garden raised bed kit.

Vego raised beds — Vego Garden raised beds

I also use IBC totes, cut in half. I fill the raised beds and IBC totes with a mix of compost, coconut coir, and leaves, with woodchips on the top.

Greenhouse from recycled windows

I also use my greenhouse, created from recycled windows, to grow greens into the Winter, to extend my season, and to start plants early. (Click the link to see How I Built a Greenhouse from Recycled Windows).

Sometimes the greens will last all the way until January.

I also use it to grow out elderberry early so they can be sold in early Spring.

greenhouse from recycled windows — My greenhouse made from recycled windows

Using these strategies I can grow more of my own food closer to my house, allowing me to micro-harvest greens and strawberries as they become available.

Try some of these strategies and let me know how they work for you.

If you would like help designing your Zone 1 gardens, visit Thriving Food Forest Design and schedule a Discovery call with me. I will help you define your goals, and you can share some of your challenges, as well as determine how I can help you meet your goals.