Permaculture Design/Zone design

Zones in permaculture design help organize a landscape by how often you visit or interact with different areas. The goal is to place elements that need the most attention closest to your home, or Zone 0, and those that need the least attention further away. This saves you time, energy, and resources.

• Zone 0 The Living Space
• Zone 1 Food Garden
• Zone 2 Food Forest
• Zone 3 Main Crops
• Zone 4 Semi-Wild

This is the most frequently visited area of your design, focusing on your home and its immediate surroundings. It includes elements you use multiple times a day, like the kitchen, bathroom, and a small herb garden right outside the door. This zone prioritizes efficiency and comfort.

Located just outside the living space, Zone 1 is for elements that require daily attention. This includes your vegetable garden, a greenhouse, or a propagation area. The plants here need frequent watering, weeding, and harvesting, so their proximity to your home is crucial.

This area requires less frequent visits, perhaps once a week. Zone 2 is ideal for a food forest, which consists of a diverse mix of fruit trees, nut trees, berries, and perennial vegetables. This zone is designed to be a self-sustaining ecosystem that requires minimal intervention once established.

Zone 3 is dedicated to larger-scale crops that require seasonal visits for tasks like planting, weeding, and harvesting. This could include staple crops like potatoes, corn, or wheat, and also orchards or pasture for animals. This zone is primarily for producing food, fodder, and other materials on a larger scale.

This is the least-visited area, often a semi-managed or wild space. Zone 4 is used for foraging, timber, or a wild harvest. While you may not tend to it daily, it provides a buffer zone, habitats for wildlife, and a source of natural materials with little human input.