Water Cooler: You don’t have to be a master gardener to try these planting alternatives

What’s the difference between a food garden and a food forest? The design. A garden is usually a grid. A forest is an ecosystem. In the Western world, a forest or the “wilderness” is conceived as an area free of the influence of human civilization. Farmland and towns are the human domain, with agriculture conceived as science to cultivate plant life outside of the wilderness in which it is found.

Prior to Western arrival in the Americas, Indigenous people used companion planting and agroforestry that were designed around or used existing ecosystems. Plants that would biologically benefit each other were planted in the same area, and the vertical space was used as a multistory system mimicking or expanding upon naturally occurring forest structure. Such practices can be found in many cultures as shown in the “Three Sisters” creation story, which tells of planting winter squash, maize and climbing beans together. Not only do these vegetables biologically benefit one another, but when eaten together they provide all nine essential amino acids. So instead of regulating land to human use and to wilderness, naturally occurring environmental relationships were cared for where they were found as well as integrated into farming.

In this fashion, instead of having an apple orchard you would plant or cultivate an existing forest with apple trees and likely other fruit trees. Bushes and shorter trees would be planted below those apple trees, and vine plants would grow in this story using the trees as support. You can then plant shorter edible plants, such as lettuces, herbs, flowers and more, and even still you could fit a root vegetable nearby. Today, this type of garden design and land cultivation is widely referred to as permaculture.

It doesn’t only apply to planting. Permaculture design principles incorporate the use of livestock, beneficial insects, birds and other organisms. They drastically alter irrigation practices as well as the overall methods and demands of manual labor for its maintenance. Permaculture is biology at work, and there are no limits on how deeply you can nerd out on it. Permaculture, however, doesn’t have to be reserved to those eager to dive into books on agroecology, Indigenous wisdom or ethnobiology. Anyone can implement basic concepts and strategies. Here are a few ways to start reworking your outdoor spaces as their own ecosystems and maximize the space, beauty and function of your home.

Fill unused spaces with raised beds. Do you have a driveway, porch, seating area or odd corner that doesn’t get used by the household? Thrown in a raised bed. They can be made of almost any material, from wood to cinder block. Even container gardening could fall in this category. Place trellises in the beds to support vining crops alongside shorter plants, herbs and flowering plants.

Maximize shade. Just because grass won’t grow in that bald patch under your tree doesn’t mean other plants won’t. The ornamental options come in plenty with grasses, ferns, moss and flowering plants like hostas, bleeding hearts and ground-cover plants like sedum. Edible options include things like mint plants, creeping thyme and rosemary, alpine strawberry, some leafy vegetables like Swiss chard and kale, and root vegetables like leeks, carrots and radishes.

Use plants for privacy. Instead of depending entirely on manufactured products for privacy, use perennials and edible plants with a lot of foliage to create natural barriers. Look to the rush family of plants and tall ornamental grasses or evergreens like arborvitae. Fruit trees like crabapple, plum, pear and apple can create an edible hedge.

Consider grass alternatives. Clover was domesticated centuries ago as a ground cover plant and for livestock grazing. Technically, clover is a legume. It was introduced to the colonies and by 1747 Benjamin Franklin is said to have noted red clover for its improvement on pastures. Lawn seed mixes up until at least the 1950s commonly included clover. It needs less water, and it introduces more nitrogen and trace minerals into the soil. Best yet, it requires little to no mowing. Ground covers like creeping herbs, Corsican mint and moss can replace grass, especially in areas that don’t receive a lot of traffic. Ground cover drastically reduces watering needs and introduces more biodiversity than grass alone.

Overall, grow things that you and your family love eating or that interest you.

A side note. If you do happen to be one of those nerds eager to dive into books on the subject, “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Immerer, “The Earth Care Manual” by Patrick Whitefield and “Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture” by Toby Hemenwayall make for great reads.