So what is permablitz?

Whatever it is, or was, it was FUN!

These are the ethics behind permaculture design: Care of the earth. Care for people. Fair share. They are ethics that reach way beyond growing things.

A bunch of us came together early last Sunday (well, 10am) to help extend our low maintenance, productive and nature-friendly forest garden.

By three o-clock it was hard to believe the transformation.

Encouraged by mentors Susannah and Sue, we dug out and removed bindweed and brambles and cut down the grass, leaving it in place to provide a nitrogen layer for the “lasagne mulch” to come. (As with cooking: it’s good to know the science.)

We added a thick layer of rich rotted manure, then compost from the compost bins, then woodchip to retain water and deter weeds.

Once all the rotted manure was down, Sue explained how the mulch turns, slowly, slowly, into beautiful soil.

Shrubs and trees were planted, and GroChar charcoal was added, brilliant stuff, its porous nature encouraging fungi, enlarging root systems and increasing resistance to disease. Essentially, GroChar does everything organic matter does to the soil, but better, and permanently.

Somehow we fitted in LUNCH!

Everyone brought something healthy and scrumptious and Budding Youth gathered salad, including nasturtium flowers.

Not a lot was left. Washing-up blitz followed.

And the kids came too – the youngest, Amani 🙂