Permaculture as crisis response…

Gardening in a time of crisis

The big picture context for taking active measures towards more resilient ways of living is the state of the world and the uncertainty surrounding the impact of potential threats to our food supply chains. Home food production has the potential to provide some level of domestic food security in a prolonged crisis that disrupts supply chains, but is it a solution for society as a whole?

THE WORLD of 20 years ago has gone. We could say that the world of ten years ago has gone thanks to geopolitical events and the weather, climate, environmental and other impacts of what appears to be an accelerating climatic warming. Some of these events might seem far away, however in a globally connected world, far-away becomes more like close-by.

Let’s think about food security as the continued availability of foods sufficient to support an active lifestyle…

I want to talk about household and community food security as a component of resilient households and communities in our rapidly changing world. Personal, family and community food security is something practical that many of us can contribute to, however the big picture context for taking active measures towards more resilient ways of living is the state of the world and the uncertainty surrounding the impact of potential threats to our food supply chains.

Let’s think about food security as the continued availability of foods sufficient to support an active lifestyle. Global, national and regional food security are nested one in the other like Russian dolls. To borrow a term from network theory, they are all closely connected—changes to one can induce changes in another, sometimes of the unexpected kind.

We can regard the worst of the changes we see happening as our threat environment. That might sound a little alarmist, however if what the science around global heating says are possibilities, well, they are alarming. Then there are the shorter term events that could threaten our food supply. Remember the food crisis of 2007–2008 when prices escalated around the world? Remember empty supermarket shelves during the pandemic of 2021? Disruption of global, national and regional food supply chains happens rapidly. It is in response to it that we engage in household and community food production and, by extension, in starting and supporting community-based food distribution initiatives like food co-ops and regional food home delivery services. Yet, it remains to be seen what contribution those things could make to household and community food security in a crisis that disrupts food supply chains.

…the big picture context for taking active measures towards more resilient ways of living is the state of the world and the uncertainty surrounding the impact of potential threats to our food supply chains

Let’s briefly explore the threat environment so we can recognise the possibilities we may have to deal with before we think about producing food for ourselves, our families and communities.

Our threat environment

As I write, the global geopolitical situation is being compounded by war in Ukraine and West Asia (Israel and Gaza), both of which have potential to spill over into larger scale conflicts that have the potential to disrupt the global supply chain not only of food but of other goods as well.

Not the least of these is the oil that fuels our agriculture, our food supply chain and our society. Sure, many permaculture and other people would like us to move away from fossil fuels, and doing that has made a tentative start with the electrification of our vehicle fleet, however there is far to travel in this direction and oil is used in so many other products for which substitutes need to be found. For Australians, a potential disruption of our oil supply chain is the larger threat and it is one that bothers defence and national security thinkers and organisations.

Is the threat environment an authentic concern for people engaging with permaculture and other approaches to sustainabilty? To answer that we have only to cast our minds back a few years to find the evidence coming from our recent global experience with how climatic and geopolitical events have the capacity to disrupt global, national and local supply chains for energy, food, pharmaceuticals and other needs:

• staff shortages and other factors during the early years of the Covid pandemic disrupted supply chains to the extent that supermarkets and shops ran low on, or completely ran out of some food and other products, resulting to the rationing of purchases of food products such as flour and pasta (and, we all remember, toilet paper) in Australia
• the non-hybrid vegetables seed supply chain from seed businesses to home growers was disrupted early on during the pandemic as demand exceeded supply; with lockdowns to stem the spread of the virus, people found time to start home gardens for food production and their own household food security and this created high demand that could not be fully catered for
• Australia’s diesel emissions fluid (Ad Blue) near-crisis of 2021 threatened to disrupt national supply chains because most of our food and other goods supply chains rely on diesel truck transportation; no diesel > no fuel for farm machinery > no trucks > no food deliveries to supermarkets and grocers
• the 2007–2008 global food crisis caused by weather-related events such as drought in grain-producing nations; increasing demand for biofuels (rather than using land for food production); rising oil prices which boosted the cost of fertilisers, food transportation and industrial agriculture; trade policies and financial speculation that forced up the price of staple foods that affected people, especially those in the least-developed countries and in poorer regions of developed nations who spent a large portion of their income on food; social unrest followed and some nations restricted the export of crops to conserve them for their own use
• Russia’s ending of the grain export agreement with Ukraine during its invasion of that country stopped Ukraine’s export of grain, including that to least-developed countries, until Ukrainians defiance succeeded in breaking the blockade.

Potential threats

Those are actual disruptions to the global and local supply chains for foods, oil and other goods. There are more hovering on the edge of possibility that could become reality thanks to a changing climate and geostrategic manoeuvring:

• a warming climate brings not only shorter-term disruption and possibly lower production and destruction of farming systems, but holds the potential, through temperature, drought and flooding, to bring longer-term damage
• a regional war between China, Taiwan and the US, were China to attempt an invasion of Taiwan (as it has indicated it could do), with the potential to disrupt Australia’s oil supply chain, the possibility has attracted the attention of Australia’s Department of Defence
• further conflict between Israel and Western Asian Islamic nation states that could see oil producing nations limit or cut oil supply to Western nations over their support of Israel; the precedent was the 1973 oil embargo introduced as retaliation against Western nations for their support of Israel during the war of 1973 by West Asian members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries; this limited the oil supply to the West and brought the introduction of petrol rationing in Australia and the USA; in 2023 the conflict saw Yemini Houthi forces attacking shipping trading with Israel or owned by Israelis a well as other shipping, disrupting maritime supply chains by forcing shipping lines to sail around Africa to gain access to the Indian Ocean, something that could boost the price of goods if it continues.

These things make up our actual and potential threat environment. Whatever their impact, we have to deal with them.

Home gardens as crisis response

Those of us living in rural areas shouldn’t feel too smug about our ability to feed ourselves during a crisis. Rural Australia and its supply chains is just as oil and diesel dependent as the cities, as is modern agriculture.

What about the do-it-yourself approach to domestic food security? What is its potential as a buffer against disruption to food supply chains both globally and within Australia? Contradicting the assumption that they are not, Australia’s backyards are productive places. This was revealed as far back as the 1991 census which asked about home garden food production.

Home gardening, spurred on by TV gardening programs, magazines, books, the popularity of organic gardening and multiple online sources, and not least by the permaculture movement, has only grown since the time of that census. It has been mainly a hobby although for many it is a serious hobby contributing much to family food security.

Home gardening has increased in popularity since the productivity of Australian home gardens was revealed in the census of 1991. The practice has the potential to provide nutrients to householders, however many people do not have the space to grow some of what they eat, and community gardens are too few and often too distant from where people live to offer a society-wide solution to crisis food production. A program like Australia’s World War two Gardens for Victory scheme would be needed to stimulate large scale domestic and public place food production.

The survey

That Australian backyards continue to be productive places was an idea reinforced with the coming of the Covid pandemic. It was in 2020 that Sustain Australia’s Pandemic Gardening Survey asked over 9000 gardeners from urban, regional and remote communities across Australia to share information on edible gardening during the public health crisis. The Survey reported that nearly 20 percent of respondents said they could not have made it through the pandemic without their garden. What they actually mean by that is not disclosed. The assumption is that they relied heavily on their garden for their food supply. In the terms of the food advocacy organisations, their home gardens made a significant contribution to their food security. Another 62 percent said the garden meant a great deal to them during the pandemic.

The survey report says that “Along with their substantial mental health benefits, edible gardens have the power to create greener cities, reduce household waste, strengthen community connectedness, enhance food security and encourage fresh produce consumption.”

The survey disclosed that:

• 54% of respondents had more than 10 years’ gardening experience
• a significant minority were new gardeners with less than a year’s experience; of that number, 341 commenced gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic
• 49% grew less than 10% of their own food; more than a third grew 10–30%; the remaining 14% grew more than 30% of their own food
• a quarter significantly increased their gardening activity during the pandemic.

The survey reveals how domestic food production moved from hobby to crisis response. In doing this it is a model for our future. For permaculture educators and others teaching home and community gardening, the survey and the surge in home gardening offers an additional validation for what they teach and a hook on which to attract people who might not otherwise join a food gardening course.

Depending on their size and the skill of the gardeners, home gardens can produce a significant quantity of fruit, vegetables and culinary herbs and a limited range of grains, making them a buffer against food supply chain disruptions due to weather, environmental or geopolitical disruption. Photo: freshly mulched home garden of author and partner in Tasmania.

Looking to history

Are there any precedents for home or community gardening during times of crisis that we can learn from? It turns out that there is and it dates from another time of geopolitical conflict — the Second World War.

During that war Australia, like other countries, faced significant challenges in food production and supply. To address these challenges and ensure a reliable food source for its population, Australia launched the Dig for Victory campaign. This initiative encouraged citizens to establish their own vegetable gardens and contribute to the war effort by increasing domestic food production.

The Australian government recognized the importance of national self-sufficiency in food. The Dig for Victory campaign was officially launched in 1942 and quickly gained traction across the country. The campaign employed various strategies to promote and support the establishment of victory gardens. The government, through public announcements, posters and advertisements urged citizens to convert any available space, including backyards and vacant lots into productive gardens. The message was clear: every individual had a role to play in supporting the war effort, and growing food at home was a tangible way to contribute.

To assist citizens in their gardening efforts, the campaign provided educational resources and guidance on techniques such as composting, crop rotation and pest control. Gardening clubs and community organisations were created to share knowledge and provide a platform for experienced gardeners to mentor beginners (see my later note on motivation for working with councils to develop policy to enable community gardening). Schools also played a vital role in the campaign by incorporating gardening into their curriculum, teaching children the importance of food self-sufficiency and fostering a sense of national unity.

The Dig for Victory campaign not only addressed immediate food shortages but also had long-lasting effects on Australian society. It fostered a sense of community spirit and resilience as families and neighborhoods worked together to cultivate their gardens. The campaign also encouraged healthy eating habits and promoted the eating of fresh, locally grown produce that contributed to improving public health. The success of the Dig for Victory campaign was evident. By 1943, an estimated nearly 9000 hectares were under cultivation and it was estimated that nearly 90 percent of Australian households were involved in some form of home gardening.

The movement gradually declined after the war as the focus shifted back to commercial agriculture. However, the campaign left a lasting legacy by promoting the idea of self-provisioning in food. It demonstrated the power of individual action in a context of collective effort in times of crisis and provided valuable lessons in food security that continue to resonate today in our presently-evolving climatic and geopolitical situation. There was a similar campaign to maintain public health and food security during World War Two in the US where the Victory Gardens campaign encouraged citizens to grow their own food to supplement the national food supply.

The main crops grown in home gardens varied depending on the region and climate, however there were several common crops that were widely cultivated. These included:

1. Vegetables: a primary focus of production due to their nutritional value and rapid growth. Common vegetables grown included tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, cabbage, beans, peas, beets, radishes, onions, spinach, and potatoes.

2. Herbs: Many gardeners grew herbs such as parsley, dill, basil, and thyme that were used for seasoning and flavouring food.

3. Fruits: not as commonly grown as vegetables because they require more space and time to mature, home gardeners grew a range of fruits if they had the space.

4. Berries: Berries such as blueberries were grown in some of the gardens.

5. Grains: Corn was frequently cultivated as it was easy to grow and was perhaps the main grain suited to home garden cultivation.

6. Legumes: Legumes such as beans and peas were popular crops due to their high protein content and ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, in doing so benefiting soil fertility and plant growth.

7. Seeds saving: Gardeners saved seed for successive planting.

Gardeners were encouraged to grow whatever crops suited their particular circumstances. The campaign was intended to encourage self-sufficiency and reduce the strain on the commercial food system during the war.

Food security: a renewed focus for urban agriculture

The evolving global threat environment and its present and potential impacts on household food and energy security has brought a renewed interest in domestic (and community garden) food production.

Food security was one of my motivations when consulting and writing policy directions for local government on starting community food gardens. Just as the Dig for Victory campaign of World War Two was a platform from which to mentor people starting and managing home food production gardens, my motivation was that, come a severe crisis that brought long term disruption to the food supply chain, local government could make additional land available for community garden food production, and experienced community gardeners could be supported to go out and teach new community gardeners the know-how of food gardening. It could be like Dig for Victory combined with both community and home gardening as a crisis response to food security, with experienced community (and home) gardeners forming an educational corps to train others.

The David Stephen Community Garden in Hobart, Tasmania, demonstrates how unused urban land can be turned to productive use. Community gardens like this one include many competent gardeners who could assist new gardeners get started as part of an urban food production response to a prolonged food security crisis.

How viable would be domestic or community food production during a prolonger crisis? Much depends upon gardener skill that is easily acquired from workshops, courses, books and online sources. The other factor is space in which to make a garden—the old quarter-acre block of Australia’s urban past has gone except for what remains in the middle-ring of big city suburbs that were developed in the 1960s–1970s.

An increased preference for medium density development and apartment living means many people would have to fall back on community gardening for DIY food production in a crisis, however the existing community garden estate is insufficient for a substantial influx of new gardeners—waiting lists to join community gardens are not uncommon now. This raises the possible solution of gardening without soils using hydroponic gardening. Some in the permaculture and organic gardening milieu do not like hydroponic gardening, however such dislikes need to be set aside during a crisis.

Bringing it all back home

I want to focus on the home garden as a food production unit in times of crisis both short and longer term. What I write would be modified by the space available for domestic food production.

How do we approach the complexities of home and community gardens as crisis response? Let’s think of the process as a planning sequence.

1. Information: The first phase of addressing food insecurity and forming a plan to increase community and family resilience is discovering what is out there in our environment. To resort to a term largely foreign to permaculture and sustainability education, this is our reconnaissance phase of planning, something akin to a site and sector analysis in garden design. It provides us with situational awareness of the threat and opportunity environment and it answers the question of how likely is a potential crisis and how would it affect how we live, including our food supply? Doing this, we look at the big picture into which we context our efforts.
   
   This phase discloses the factual information we discover when we stand back and look closely at something — what is out there with which we may be able to work?. From it we get data, which is disconnected fact. When links within a set of data are made, it becomes information. When information is connected to other information and to its environmental, economic, social and geopolitical contect it becomes intelligence because it is actionable. Action plans can be developed from it. Although ‘intelligence’ is a term commonly associated with security, military and business organisations, it is also relevant to planning for food security.
2. Clear intent: Why are we starting a home or community food garden? What do we intend to do? The answers become our goal, our intent, and whenever we come to make a decision we can refer to this and ask whether it contributes or distracts from it. For our garden, this affects crop choice. Clarity of intent is important and if an organisation intends to apply for grants, it becomes necessary.
3. Appropriate means: Do we have the garden space, skills, tools, time, planting materials (seeds, seedlings) and other resources to implement our intention of starting a home or community garden to supplement our shop purchases of food or to substantially reduce our reliance on other sources? How can what we have or can acquire contribute to increased household and community resilience against potentially damaging forces?
4. Clear plan of action: Here we develop a broad plan to acquire skills, tools, seed, plants and expertise to conduct an analysis of our site for soil type/condition, access to sunlight, shade patterns through the year, drainage, terrain, direction of potentially damaging winds and other factors that would affect our crops. That done, we develop a works plan to identify and sequence what we need to do. We work in modules, finishing one before moving to the next module, which is preferably on the edge of that just completed. In doing this we keep the project manageable and expand as resources and need determines. Remember that in permaculture thinking compact and intensively managed beats sprawling and unmanageable.
5. Maintenance strategy: What tasks are necessary to maintain the productivity of the garden? eg. soil fertility, plant propagation, irrigation, pest and plant disease management, crop rotation etc. For the mobile gardening trainer and mentor, this is the project phase negotiated with the people whose garden it is in preparation for the trainer’s withdrawal and handover.

Some decades ago, permaculture founder, Bill Mollison, would talk of ‘an army of itinerant permaculture educators’ who would travel around to assist people get started in permaculture projects. I don’t remember his actual words, but what I quote is close. If that happened it was only to a limited extent. The reason why has to do with the early permaculture educators setting up their own teaching centres. Rather than mobile educators going to where the people were, people wanting to start in permaculture came to the teachers. The notion of the mobile educator, however, is relevant to the expansion of urban food production during times of crisis.

When my partner and I lived in Sydney we enacted a version of what Bill suggested as part of our Community Gardens Australia role by taking groups setting up community gardens through a planning phase and, once at least, through a conflict resolution process. But if anyone has carried out Bill’s idea without knowing about what he said, it is David Steven. David is associated with the Hobart community garden named in his honour. His contribution to assisting other community gardens make a start, and in their ongoing operation, is legendary. His is a model for the itinerant teacher of the food crisis response.

Design

Let’s imagine the home garden as a series of zones centred on the dwelling and moving out according to how often we have to visit them for maintenance (ie. checking for pest and disease damage, irrigation, growth and fruiting) and harvest.

By way of example, we continually harvest tomatoes through the growing season, so placing them closer to the dwelling is convenient because we can keep an eye on them for pest and disease damage and they are close at hand for picking when needed. It is the same for chard and spinach, French sorrel (which goes in a garden bed set aside for perennial vegetables — those that produce for longer than a single year) and others from which we cut leaves when we are ready to cook with them. Other than the bed set aside for perennial vegetables, we cultivate these cropping beds to remove the spent crops and to add compost to the soil as the plants finish their growing season. These are beds set aside for annual plants — those that go through their lifecycle from seed to leaf or fruit within a year.

On the edge of the annual beds we grow species that require less frequent harvesting, and varieties that are less susceptible to plant pest infestation and disease or that take longer to fruit. In permaculture parlance these are our ‘broad beds’ for crops like zucchini, some varieties of bean, pumpkin, corn, melons and the like.

Culinary herbs can be grown as garden border crops where their flowering attracts bees, pollinators and insects valuable for integrated pest and disease management. If we grow berry fruit shrubs and fruit and nut trees, these can be placed beyond the broad beds.

This is a design idea many of us have picked up from the permaculture literature or educators. It is a theoretical construct, however, and access to sunlight, terrain and space availability would see us modify it. We would have identified the optimal locations when we did our site analysis before starting on construction of the garden when we considered annual sun/shade patterns, the direction of cold and damaging winds, drainage and soil condition.

Our own garden provides an example. It is a steepish, east-facing slope and in winter we have less sunlight on the garden beds closer to the dwelling. So, we have a winter bed for annual crops but it is placed where there is adequate winter sunlight at the bottom of the garden where we have planted young fruit trees. I mention this because it is terrain and access to sunlight that are the determinants of where we place our annual garden beds.

Built on a slope, garden beds are placed to receive adequate winter sun in southern latitudes.

Which crops?

When it comes to growing crops for nutrition in a subsistence or crisis situation, it is important to focus on crops that:

• are nutritious and, combined, provide a varied diet
• provide a high yield per variety and per plant
• are easy to grow.

What we grow is determined by climate. Itemising a list of suitable plants, whether they are annuals/biannuals (those taking two growing seasons to be ready for eating)/perennials, their frost susceptibility, their growing season and other information is one of those things we do as a first step in garden planning.

We are discussing a home or community garden to provide nutrition during a situation where supply chains have been disrupted and commercial seed supply is uncertain. We saw that during the pandemic when some non-hybrid seed companies in Australia limited purchases as their supply ran low. Demand exceeded supply. Rather than buy in a stock of hybrid seed, which might not reproduce the same time after time, using non-hybrid seedstock, commonly marketed as ‘heritage’ seed varieties, ensures us that collecting the seed at the end of the plant’s life and replanting it next growing season will produce the same characteristics as the parent plant.

But… how do we ensure that we have a sufficient supply of non-hybrid seed to plant in our garden? Crises that could disrupt the commercial supply of seed can happen suddenly through natural disaster due to weather and, potentially indirectly, through the reduction or cutting-off of the oil supply chain that modern agriculture and our national supply chains rely on for distributing goods, including agricultural goods like food and seed. It makes sense in our present time of geopolitical insecurity and as we move into a climatic regime of higher temperatures with their impact on agricultural systems, to be prepared. Maintaining a seed stock at home and participating in seed exchanges like Australia’s Seed Savers’ Connect provide a fallback in case of supply chain disruption limiting food availability, as well as a practice that for us is normal running.

When I worked in international development in the Southwest Pacific, the agency I worked with started a farmer seed and vegetative planting materials exchange in the Solomon Islands. The purpose was to distribute useful species across numerous village gardens so that they remained available in case of plant disease or cyclone damage and to provide a diversity of crops that would sustain a high-nutrition diet. This is something we could do in our local region as part of the infrastructure of food security and household/community resilience.

The crops

A garden designed for a potential, impending or unfolding crisis situations focuses on basic foods that can be combined in diffetent recipes to avoid monotony, and that provides:

• body-building foods — protein
• energy foods — carbohydrates and sugars
• supporting foods — vitamins and minerals.

Diversity in crop selection is our friend in doing this, a planned diversity of crops according to climate, season and growing space. What we need are plants with a high productivity-to-space-ratio.

It is convenient to discuss the vegetables we might grow according to their edible part:

• leafy greens, of which individual leaves are cut as needed
• fruiting vegetables, the fruiting body of which is harvested as needed for cooking or eating raw
• root vegetables, of which the underground tuber is eaten
• legumes
• grain.

Some of these will take a full growing season to reach maturity. Others can be planted in succession to provide a continual harvest through the season.

Here are some crops that fit these criteria.

Leafy greens
Growing leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, lettuce, silverbeet, French sorrel, mitzuna, mitsuba, rocket, cabbage and others provides vitamins and minerals, including iron and calcium. These crops are generally fast-growing and can be harvested multiple times.

Cabbage is a hardy crop that stores well and provides a good source of vitamin C and dietary fiber. It can be eaten raw or cooked, preserved and bottled and it is relatively easy to grow.

Location in garden: annual beds closer to the dwelling
Cooking: most leafy greens require cooking, other than lettuce, cabbage and other salad vegetables.

Fruiting vegetables
The fruiting body is eaten when ripe. Includes tomatoes, squash, zucchini, pumpkin, capsicum, cucumber etc.

Tomatoes are a good source of vitamins A and C, as well as antioxidants. They can be grown in both gardens and containers, and if properly cared for they provide a reliable harvest.

Varieties of squash are nutrient-dense and provide vitamins A and C as well as potassium. They are productive and can be stored for an extended period.

Cucumbers are hydrating, require no cooking and can be used in salads. They can also be preserved by pickling. Cucumbers require a trellis to spread over.

Pumpkin are available in numerous varieties, require cooking, are easy to grow, store well and require sufficient space for the vine to spread. They need less attention so can be grown on the garden periphery (in the broad beds, to adopt permaculture terminology) or as a ground cover crop below fruit trees.

Legumes
These are the numerous varieties of peas and beans that include those grown in the annual beds where individual beans and peas can be picked as needed, and other varieties grown to dry and store but that are also edible when cooked fresh, such as broad beans, kidney beans, scarlet runner beans etc.

Beans and peas are nutritious and packed with protein, fiber, and essential minerals. They are relatively easy to grow.

Location in garden: annual or broad beds depending on variety.
Cooking: yes, especially the hard varieties.
Preserving: can be dried for long-term storage.

Root crops
These are the edible tubers such as potato, sweet potato, Jerusalem artichoke, oca, carrot, daikon, parsnip, swede, carrot, beetroot (the young leaves of beetroot are edible after cooking) etc.

Potatoes are an excellent choice as they provide a good source of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. They are also relatively easy to grow and store well.

Sweet potatoes are rich in calories, vitamins and minerals. The young leaves are edible after cooking. They are also a good source of dietary fiber and can be grown in various climates.

Location in garden: broad beds.
Cooking: yes.

Grain
Corn is a grain suited to home or community garden cultivation. It is a staple crop that can be progressively planted to endure a continual supply through the growing season. It is rich in carbohydrates and can provide a good source of calories.

Location in garden: broad beds.
Cooking: yes.
Preserving: can be dried, pickled.

Herbs
Growing herbs like basil, parsley and thyme can add flavor to meals and provide additional nutrients. They are typically low-maintenance and can be grown in small spaces or containers or around the edges of annual and perennial broad beds where they also attract bees, other pollinators and beneficial insects when in flower.

Berries
If space, climate and growing conditions allow, cultivating berries like strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry in garden beds or in containers offers vitamins, antioxidants and natural sweetness as well as essential vitamins and dietary fiber. They can also be preserved through freezing or pickling.

Plant commonly eaten, space-efficient varieties

Gardening for crises is not the time to plant unusual or low-productivity specimen species that may be of botanical interest. The space they take up would be better used for higher-productivity crops.

Something worth considering for crisis gardening in a community garden is growing staples like corn, potatoes, sweet potato, pumpkin and other broad bed crops in larger, shared garden beds. Successionally planted with seedlings going in before the previous crop is harvested, and harvested when ready and divided among participating gardeners, we have a continuous supply of staple crops through the growing season. Leafy greens and fruiting vegetables could be left to individual garden allotment holders to grow according to their food preferences.

Remember, choose varieties suited for your climate, soils and growing conditions and plant a diverse range of crops to ensure a nutritionally balanced diet.

The crisis garden is something we hope never to have to make. The global environmental, economic and geopolitical situation, however, makes it something worth thinking about.

Designing a small urban garden

Small but productive: Jill’s inner-urban home garden

Neat, accessible, productive

Finished: a new garden

Community gardening the theme for Launceston tour

No garden? No problems.

Garden by the beach