Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course
Lesson by Lesson
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 lesson that interest you. Register here
What are Polycultures?
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Lesson 1
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"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
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Additional Material - Video of our Polyculture Gardens - Our Polyculture Garden Design Schemes
Organizing Polycultures
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Lesson 2
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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 lesson 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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Lesson 3
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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 lessons 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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Lesson 4
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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.
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Additional Material - Nitrogen Fixing Plants - Mineral Repositors - Mycorrhizae - Indicator Plants Sheet - Nitrogen Fixing Plant Video
How to Design Polycultures - Surveying
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Lesson 5
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With a firm understanding of plants under our belts, it's time to move onto understanding our location. In lesson 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 - Water Harvesting Sheets - Soils - Site Survey Sheets - Succession on our Site Video
How to Design Polycultures - Techniques and Practices
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Lesson 6
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Overviewing 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 .
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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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Lesson 7
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Introducing 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.
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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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Lesson 8
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Discovering 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 lesson 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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Lesson 9
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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
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Additional Material - Earthworms - Pest Predators Within our Garden Video - Early Polleniser Polyculture Sheets
Working with the Wild - Creating Habitat
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Lesson 10
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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.
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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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Lesson 11
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Lesson 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.
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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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Lesson 12
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Lesson 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. |
Additional Material - Video of Polycultures - Perennial Polyculture Design Sheets and schematics
Site Design - Site Layout
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Lesson 13
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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 . Lesson 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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Lesson 14
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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 lesson 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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Lesson 15
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We get into the field work of surveying, making earthworks including ponds, and establishing access and irrigation for your polyculture landscapes.
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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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Lesson 16
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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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Lesson 17
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We continue from last lesson looking at site preparation techniques for various polyculture layouts including forest gardens, woodlands, pasture and wildflower meadows and end the lesson with a planting out guide that will help you plan and implement successful planting of your polycultures.
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Additional Material - Hot Composting - Planters Checklist - Overplanting - Mixed Species Meadow Seed Lists
Design Implementation - Management, Maintenance
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Lesson 18
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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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Lesson 19
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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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Lesson 20
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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! |