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Want support with your food garden?
Want to grow more food with less effort? A garden design that works with nature and your lifestyle is key. In this video, I share the practical design methods and frameworks I’ve used to grow 90% of our fruit and vegetables, while working full-time. You’ll learn how to design a Functional Food Garden based on permaculture principles, suitable for a backyard garden, a homestead or a community garden.
If you found this useful, let me know in the comments, hit like, and subscribe for more videos like this.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro: How I Grow 90% of Our Food While Working Full-Time
1:12 Example Site Overview: Backyard Garden
1:58 Setting Goals for Your Functional Food Garden
2:43 Site Analysis: Work With Nature, Not Against It
3:30 How to Analyse Your Garden Site Step-by-Step
4:02 Site Observation: Key Features in the Backyard
5:29 How to Research Climate for Garden Design
6:32 Climate Summary: What It Means for the Garden
6:57 Creating a Scaled Basemap for Your Garden Design
7:32 Visualising the Sun Path
8:47 Mapping Shady and Sunny Areas of the Garden
9:53 Visualising Water Elements in Garden Planning
10:29 Mapping Prevailing Winds on the Basemap
10:36 Site Analysis Summary
11:06 Designing your Functional Food Garden
11:22 The Permaculture Design Process
12:17 Designing Your Water Strategy: Rainwater & Irrigation
13:49 Permaculture Zones: Placing Elements for Efficiency
14:38 Garden Bed Layout and Access Paths
15:43 Choosing Garden Bed Type: Raised Beds, In-ground Beds & more
16:17 Planning Structures: Compost, Propagation & More
17:15 Selecting & Arranging Diverse Plants for Food Production
18:05 Where to Place Fruit Trees, Herbs & Perennials
19:14 Warm Season Crop Layout: Annual Vegetables
20:41 Final Design Overview
Excellent work!
Ben this is epic advice, thanks a bunch! Question about your awesome garden beds, did you dig out the soil on the slope to terrace them or did you just space sleepers out down the slope and build up soil behind them? We are going to implement what you have done!
I’m brand new to your channel but have found your videos so useful and easy to navigate. I do wonder about soil and how to establish good gardens. I might find this info in another video. I’ll keep watching. Thanks!!
I’ve watched this over several sessions because it’s really packed with information. I love the structured (architectural) approach and that plant selection actually comes last, after all the environmental parameters have been assessed. Will definitely check out the workbook. Garden shed design would be an interesting video, especially since your an architect by trade!
Thank you SO much! Saving for later