The Basics of Permaculture Zones and Their Importance

Permaculture Zones are essentially the areas of your yard that you will strategically pay attention to in different ways.

The most common way to describe your home and its Permaculture Zones is to break it up into 6 sections. Not all of us have acres and acres of land, but the first few zones can be for anyone with a yard. Here is an image of what the Permaculture Zone breakdown looks like, with your home being in the middle (Zone 0)

Overview

What this is showing is that the garden that you need to spend the most time observing/harvesting should be closest to the house. If you are constantly reminded as you walk in your front door that your lettuce greens are ready for harvest, a couple radishes can be used for dinner, and there are some unexpected weeds taking over, then those crops should be located in Zone 1, or just outside one of your doors. When you get to Zone 2, you will notice that they are the plants that you may need to pay a bit less attention to, but still fairly close to the home and easily accessible. Fruit trees, edible bushes, chickens, and larger compost piles should start here. As you get to the Third Zone in the system, that is where you will plant your orchard requiring less maintenance, mulched areas that most likely would need infrequent weeding and don’t take as much effort as the two interior. For many in suburban areas like the Silicon Valley, those are the three zones that are most important. The 4th and 5th zones refer to wild and unmanaged space for those that back up to nature or have acres of property at their disposal.

For a basic breakdown of each zone in detail, I’ll borrow this from Permawiki (remember this is a general chart, not specific to YOU!):

ZONE 0 — The house, or home centre. Here permaculture principles would be applied in terms of aiming to reduce energy and water needs, harnessing natural resources such as sunlight, and generally creating a harmonious, sustainable environment in which to live, work and relax.
ZONE 1 — Is the zone nearest to the house, the location for those elements in the system that require frequent attention, or that need to be visited often, e.g., salad crops, herb plants, soft fruit like strawberries or raspberries, greenhouse and cold frames, propagation area, worm compost bin for kitchen waste, etc.
ZONE 2 — This area is used for siting perennial plants that require less frequent maintenance, such as occasional weed control (preferably through natural methods such as spot-mulching) or pruning, including currant bushes and orchards. This would also be a good place for beehives, larger scale compost bins, etc.
ZONE 3 — Is the area where main crops are grown, both for domestic use and for trade purposes. After establishment, care and maintenance required is fairly minimal provided mulches, etc. are used, e.g., watering or weed control once a week or so.
ZONE 4 — Is semi-wild. This zone is mainly used for forage and collecting wild food as well as timber production. An example might be coppice managed woodland.
ZONE 5 — The wilderness. There is no human intervention in zone 5 apart from the observation of natural eco-systems and cycles. Here is where we learn the most important lessons of the first permaculture principle of working with nature, not against.

Takeaway

I believe the most important idea to grasp from this entire practice is that the closer your vegetable garden is to your house, the more you will use it, admire it, and take care of it. When you don’t ever see something, you are much less likely to take the necessary care for it to be entirely productive.

For more info on Permaculture Zoning:

http://permaculture.wikia.com/wiki/Zones_(Permaculture)

http://www.peakprosperity.com/wsidblog/84911/permaculture-zones