Permaculture - Design Diversity

SUBHEAD: Part 5 of a 6 part series on Permaculture Design Guidelines.  

By Birgit Bradtke in Tropical Permaculture in 2010 - 

 Image above: The area behind our house was mostly bananas. They exhausted the soil. We located bananas to another area and now have taro, cassava, yacon, papaya trees and a young avocado. In the distance is a starfruit tree. Photo by Juan Wilson 


To mix and match as many different plants as possible has many advantages:
  • Pests and diseases are often very specific in what they like. Having all the same plants growing together makes it easy for the bugs to find them (you're basically putting on a big feast for them), and it makes it easy for diseases to spread.
  • Some bugs identify the plants they like by their look. If you mix say your cabbages with taller herbs and flowers and spread them around the garden they are much harder for cabbage moths to find. Moths can not recognize the cabbage as easily if it hides amongst dill and carrots and marigolds.
  • Any strong smelling herbs will confuse insects that find their food by scent.
  • If you keep the bugs searching for their favourite plants a lizard or bird can get the bugs before the bugs get your best broccoli.
  • Beneficial insects have different food requirements altogether. Obviously they don't live off your vegetables or they wouldn't be beneficial insects but bad bugs, right? So you need other plants as well.
And that are just some of the benefits of diversity in your garden. The more variety a design has, the more successful and stable the system will be.



Forget all that. It doesn't make sense!
Permaculture design is not about making a vegetable garden. It's about integrating food plants into your garden while creating a healthy and balanced ecological system. Because it's the much smarter and easier way to grow fruit and vegetables.


Sure, all my most used herbs and vegetables grow in that kitchen garden area, saves me running around more than necessary.


It wouldn't make sense to separate the food plants from the others. It works a lot better like this, for the vegetables, the birds and for me.

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