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Regenerative Landscape  Design  - Online Interactive Course
Week by Week - 2021

If you do not have time to do the full course or are familiar with some of the content we cover but would like to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, you are welcome to sign up for the modules or weekly sessions that interest you.​

What are Polycultures?

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Week 1 - 3rd - 9th May 
  • What is Polyculture?
  • History of Polyculture
  • Why Polycultures?
  • What makes a polyculture a polyculture ?
  • Defining Polyculture by Qualities 
​"What exactly is polyculture?" is the question we kick off the course with. We look at the history of polyculture, why it is relevant and desirable to pursue, and present the core qualities that make a polyculture ​​
Additional Material  - Video of our Polyculture Gardens -  Our Polyculture Garden Design Schemes

Organizing Polycultures

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Week 2 - 10th - 16th May 
  • Categorising Polycultures
  • Production Polycultures
  • Support Polycultures
  • Infrastructure Polycultures
With a relatively complex matter such as polyculture, it's vital to be able to provide some clarity on what we are dealing with. In chapter 2 we lay out a category system for polyculture that breaks it down into 3 main categories; Infrastructure, Support and Productive polycultures. We go through each individually and discover the applications within each category.​
Additional Material  -  Example of Productive - Support - Infrastructure Polyculture Planting Schemes  - Polyculture Category Sheet

Understanding Plants - Plant needs

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Week 3 - 17th - 23rd May 
  • Introducing the Kingdom Plantae
  • Plant patterns of growth
  • Reproductive needs of plants
  • Nutritional needs of plants
  • The limits of plants​

​In order to make the best plant selection decisions,  you need to have a good understanding of a plant's needs and behaviour. Not only will this help you select plants for polycultures but it will also guide implementation and management practices i.e how to plant out, fertilize , irrigate, prune, propagate, protect , harvest etc. In weeks 3 and 4 we learn how to understand plants. 
Additional Material  -  Fruit and Nut Tree Pollination - Plant Hardiness/Heat Zones  - Plant light needs sheet   - Role of minerals in plant growth sheet

Understanding Plants - Plant Ecology 

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Week 4 - 24th - 30th May 
  • Plant relationship with other plants and organisms
  • Plant succession
  • Indicator Plants
  • Where to find information about plants 
​
​We continue on our quest to understand our floral friends now looking at how they relate to each other, other organisms in the ecosystem and the soils around them. We look at the power and wonder of ecological succession and how plants can give us clues to the condition of the soil. ​
Additional Material  -  Nitrogen Fixing Plants - Mineral Repositors - Mycorrhizae - Indicator Plants Sheet  - Nitrogen Fixing Plant Video 

How to Design Polycultures - Surveying

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Week 5 - 31st May- 6th June 
  • Climate Survey
  • Topographic Survey
  • Water Harvesting Survey
  • Habitat /Succession Survey
  • Access Survey
  • Soil Survey
  • Establishing Purpose/Multipurpose 
​With a firm understanding of plants under our belts, it's time to move onto understanding our location. In week 5 we present an organised and structured approach to surveying your property and location that will help us to define the parameters of our designs. We end the sessions looking at the value in Establishing Purpose/Multipurpose for our polycultures.
Additional Material  -  Scale of Permanence - Water Harvesting Sheets  - Soils - Site Survey Sheets - Succession on our Site Video

How to Design Polycultures - Techniques and Practices 

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Week 6 - 7th - 13th June 
  • Functional Biodiversity
  • Multi Layers of a Polyculture
  • Patches
  • Access Design
  • Plant Selection by Family/Genus
  • Overplanting 
In week 6 we overview a range of techniques and practices we use within polyculture design, and discover ways to choose plants that are compatible with one another as well as plant combinations that provide habitat for wildlife .
Additional Material  -  Why does biodiversity matter? - Multi layer Polyculture Scheme - Polyculture Design Sheet - Tour of Phronesis Video 

How to Design Polycultures - Scaling up Polycultures

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Week 7 - 14th - 20th June 
  • Component Based Design
  • Modular Design - Templates and Units
  • Template Examples
  • Layout Options
​In week 7 we introduce some design methods that help simplify the complexity of working with multiple plants and how you can use these methods for broad scale application of polyculture. 
Additional Material  - ​ Polyculture Example - Alley Cropping at Venets Permaculture Farm - Component Based Design Example Sheet

How to Design Polycultures - Using Support Plants

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Week 8 - 21st - 27th June 
  • Using Nitrogen Fixers
  • Using Mineral Repositors
  • Using Biomass Plants - The role of pruning
  • Successional Planning
  • Cultivar and Root Stock Selection​
​
​In week 8 we dig into how to use support plants such as Nfxers MinReps and Biomass plants in your polycultures, and how to utilise the energy and productivity of wild succession to benefit you and wildlife. We end the session looking at what you need to know to select the fruit and nut trees and shrubs you love the most. 
Additional Material  - ​ Polyculture Succession  Profile - Tethys - Biomass Plants Video -  - Mineral Repositor and Nitrogen Fixing Plant Lists

Working with the Wild - Beneficial Organisms

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Week 9 - 28th June - 4th July 
  • Beneficial Organisms (Borgs)
  • Pollination Support
  • Pest Predation
  • Fertility Providers 
Working with the wild is the key to success in providing food and other resources while enhancing biodiversity. In chapter 9 we discover our wild allies; the role they play in our productive landscapes supporting crop productivity, controlling pests and providing fertility
Additional Material  - Earthworms - Pest Predators Within our Garden Video - Early Polleniser Polyculture Sheets 

Working with the Wild - Creating Habitat

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Week 10 - 5th - 11th July 
  • How to populate your gardens with Borgs
  • Providing Habitat
  • Providing Micro habitat
  • Floral Diversity
  • Creating Healthy Soil​
 Staying with the wild wonders for another week we look closely how we can encourage beneficial organisms to live and breed in our gardens by providing habitat and micro habitat, and how we can rely on wild plants to provide support and build healthy soil.
Additional Material  - Wildlife Pond Design and Installation - Wild Flower Meadows - Micro habitat within our gardens Video - Habitat for Borgs Sheet 

 Annual Polyculture Profiles 

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Week 11 - 12th - 18th July 
  • Productive Polyculture - Zeno
  • Productive Polyculture - Epictetus
  • Support Polyculture - Aurelius 
  • Planning your Annual Garden 
In week 11 we'll look over some tried and tested annual polycultures we have been growing on our site for over 10 years, and discover how to grow vegetables and herbs in polycultures.
​
Additional Material  -  A year in the life of an annual vegetable polyculture - Sowing - Planting - Harvest Schedules - Annual Polyculture Sheets 

Perennial Polyculture Profiles

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Week 12 - 19th - 25th July 
  • Infrastructure Polyculture - Aeolus
  • Support Polyculture - Nanna
  • Support Polyculture - Utu
  • Support Polyculture - Anu
  • Productive Polyculture - Hera
  • Productive Polyculture - Plutus
  • Productive Polyculture - Dionysus
  • Productive Polyculture - Apollo

​Week 12 we look at examples of perennial polycultures including polycultures for infrastructure, support and production. Each polyculture is profiled in detail with species lists, diagrams , photos and planting plans, along with information on how the polyculture can be expected to perform. We'll also take a look a tour of the gardens and look at how these polycultures are growing here at the project.
Additional Material  - Video of Polycultures - Perennial Polyculture Design Sheets and schematics

Site Design - Site Layout

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Week 13 - 26th July - 1st August 
  • Base Mapping
  • Design Tools and Options
  • Clarifying and Defining your Design Goals
  • Experiment with basic site layout - Iterating until clarity is reached  
Time to put your thinking cap on and get your design brain in gear as we go step by step through the site design process and start to get those ideas from your mind into the ground . Week 13 we start with base mapping, cover some great design tools at our disposal, and start iterating the basic layout of our design.​​
Additional Material  -  Design Approaches ​ - Software Design Workflow - Designing for other people

Site Design - Species and Habitat Selection

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Week 14 - 2nd - 8th August
  • Species selection and Planting scheme
  • Micro habitat selection
  • Making an Irrigation Budget
  • Making a Fertility Budget
  • Making an Implementation and Management Plan 
In week 14 we cover species selection and how to make a planting scheme for your design, where exactly to integrate habitat for wildlife, and making fertility and irrigation budgets for your plant selections. We end the session with the vital step of planning for the implementation and management of the design.
​
Additional Material  - Windbreak Example - Example of Site Design - Forest Garden 5000 m2 - Irrigation Budget Sheets - Nutrient budget Calculator 

Design Implementation - Site Preparation

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Week 15 - 9th - 15th August
  • Land Surveying - Cadastral
  • Topography Surveying 
  • Earthworks/Ponds
  • Irrigation
  • Access​
​In week 15 we get into the field work of surveying, making earthworks including ponds, and establishing access and irrigation for your polyculture landscapes.  
​
Additional Material  -  Pond Installations for Irrigation and Wildlife - Surveying Techniques and our irrigation system Video  - Green Path Seed Lists 

Design Implementation - Site Preparation

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Week 16 - 16th - 22rd August
  • Preparing Planting Zones
  • Advance Planting Preparations - (APP)
  • Site Prep Strips
  • Site Prep Borders
  • Site Prep Belts 
This session we cover how to prepare the ground for planting out a variety of polyculture layouts that include hedging, swale plantings , raised beds and agroforestry systems such as alley cropping. ​​
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Additional Material  -  Planting For Wind Pollination - A word on humus and compost - Cover Crops /Green manure Sheets 

Design Implementation - Planting out

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Week 17 - 23rd - 29th August
  • Site Prep Blocks
  • Site Prep Islands
  • Sourcing Plants
  • Making a Planting Plan
  • Planting out and Immediate aftercare 
 We continue from last week looking at site preparation techniques for various polyculture layouts including forest gardens, woodlands, pasture and wildflower meadows and end the session with a planting out guide that will help you plan and implement successful planting of your polycultures. ​
Additional Material  -  Hot Composting - Planters Checklist - Overplanting -  Mixed Species Meadow Seed Lists 

Design Implementation - Management, Maintenance

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Week 18 - 3oth Aug - 5th Sept
  • Management vs Maintenance
  • Weed Control
  • Biomass Management
  • Pruning Techniques and Strategies
​With your polycultures in the ground and growing, we turn our attention onto how to manage and maintain the landscape. We'll share with you our management plans from having worked with polycultures for over 15 years including pruning and weeding, and how to do these in a way that provides fertility and health to your gardens.
​
Additional Material  - Tools and Machinery - Fast Coppicing - Pruning Biomass Plants Video

Design Implementation - Management and Growth

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Week 19 - 6th - 12th September
  • Pest Management
  • Irrigation Management
  • Habitat Management
  • Harvest
  • Observation and Record Keeping
  • Plant Propagation
Week 19 we continue with management strategies looking at how to properly irrigate your gardens,  take care of your habitat to provide a haven for biodiversity  while producing quality food and other resources, and how to deal with pest & diseases. We'll look at the importance of record keeping and observation, and end the session with how you can grow more plants to expand your gardens 
Additional Material  - Pest Observations Video - Record keeping Sheets 

Final Design Presentation and Assessment

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Week 20 - 13th - 19th September
  • Presentation Materials - What to Include
  • Methods of Design Presentation
  • Hand in Final Design for review and assessment
​​In week 20 we look at what should be included in a final design project and how to present your design in a way that communicates your vision effectively to others. Then over to you to present your design! 
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