Growing on a Patio

Hi Everybody, here is another one to help you beat the winter blues and get you thinking and planning your growing for the coming garden season. This post includes a short video highlighting all the horticulture I had going on a patio in 2013. It shows that  PERMACULTURE IS NOT ONLY RESERVED FOR THOSE WHOM HOLD TITLE OVER A PATCH OF GROUND. I hope your planning season is going well.

Growing on a Patio

When I first started down the permaculture road, I was absolutely dogmatic about the need to have a patch of ground for gardening. After several years of bouncing from place to place, moldy farm rental accommodation to moldy farm rental accommodation I have soften a bit on my perspective. At some points my family's search for a bit of equitable land access was down right depressing. The real low was the one autumn season I had to remove a sheet mulch garden I had installed in the spring, because my landlord up stairs didn't like the look of it. Never the less we have persisted in finding a living arrangement that suits the life quality and ethical needs of a young family trying to build a livelihood directed by permaculture principles.

I currently find myself doing something I would have deemed unthinkable just a short 7 years ago, I am container gardening. Imagine that... I Jesse Lemieux, a professionally active permaculture designer and educator, moving from a rural situation, out on the land, to an urban situation living in an apartment with nothing more than a west facing patio for food production.

Often when I meet new people their first assumption is that I must have a piece of land thriving and overgrowing with food. Think again, I am a renter and always have been, the simple fact is that stability for renters is most likely found in dwellings that are designated rental structures, ie apartments. Renting a farm or a house is never as stable is it may seem, at any moment the rug maybe pulled out from under you. We know of at least two families here on Bowen that have recently be forced to seek out new living arrangements because their landlords have decided to move back into the house or sell it. I am not complaining, just stating simple facts. For Tanya and I renting has always been a conscious choice, we like the flexibility it affords and we feel that it allows a day to day quality of life that we could not have otherwise, living in the greater Vancouver housing market. We enjoy all that the west coast has to offer and carry none of the liability associated with home ownership.

All that said this little video is really meant to demonstrate what can be achieved in a small space and most importantly,

I hope you enjoy your patio, yard or whatever space you may be stewarding as much as I am enjoying 10 X 15 foot patio on Bowen Island.

Happy Spring

Jesse
May 2013, Bowen Island