Visible urban permaculture: show us how gardening can take over the city

One thing I love is being very visible about my urban gardening activities. It's the best conversation opener, and it gets people curious about how cities could change. It's my little act of activism: fighting back against cars, concrete and manicured lawns, one little act of gardening at the time.

Today's activity: carrying free straw to the school garden with my trusty bike. It's actually a very efficient system because the trailer can pull exactly where I need it to. The weakest point on the system are clearly my own two puny arms. I would not want to haul twenty bales one by one like this, but for a short distance (1 km) and a few bales, it was just perfect for an end-of-day workout, and probably not longer than doing it with a car.

But best of all, lots of the school kids and parents saw me, asked questions, and I might have recruited a few new volunteers.

How are you making permaculture visible in your urban area? Show us your front yard gardens and active transportation modes.

Love the bike delivery!

This was our front yard flint corn patch at the halfway point, last year.

A few years back I would never have considered signs. I mean...I already know what's going on here. But I was out and saw a pollinator habitat sign on a planting I was parked beside. I had a long wait for someone so I just hung out. I probably saw a dozen groups talk about the signs and have lengthy conversations including things like wondering where to start, how to get seeds, etc. So, I now have some pollinator habitat signs. I do it both for spurring discussions as well as maybe getting away with some other non-lawn activities. I still get folks who hate it, but it's amazing the difference in discussions. I've even given away a mess of seeds and plants to passers by. So, if pollinators can be the bridge, so be it. Gardening already has it's draws but some people don't want to grow food. That's fine. If they start tearing up lawns to foster pollinators, great! Some folks want to do both. So, while I don't normally proselytize, maybe this is some low-key proselytizing.

I think we've taken out roughly 65-70% of the lawn to build beds, etc. Major mods are still underway. I'm not that concerned about the stuff in the back because people can't see it. But in the front, well...public sidewalks also bring public busybodies complaining about the lack of golf course lawns, colors, etc. So, I have to be careful about presentation. It can be a little wilder than what passes for normal as long as I can provide some eye candy. I give away produce and plants as well so that has resulted in a number of people trying gardening as well as some veterans expanding gardens. I collect many pounds of seeds and after I distribute to smaller growers, a lot goes to other agencies and NGOs for habitat restoration. Anything else gets um...well...set free.

That’s very interesting, to hear about the discussions started by the signs. I’m putting in a new front yard pollinator garden this year, so will have to include some signs!

Here is a quick montage of some of the community gardens in DC, most left over from WWII (our old plot from years ago marked). I know I’ve missed some and the images are not all the same scale.

This year I've started a whole lot of extra plants to give away for free on a table in my front yard on the weekends.  I've already given away about 40 strawberry plants and a whole lot of spare seed packets to beginning gardeners, listing them on my NextDoor website.   I'm hoping this encourages more people to go ahead and give raising food a try!   I've also got some small tree seedlings,  fruit bush cuttings, and flowers as well as veg. and herbs.  

I think adding white/dutch clover to a front lawn is a fine guerilla way to create pollinator habitat. Especially in busybody or covenant neighbourhoods. The bees love it. So do the rabbits.

I find that mowing high and regularly causes the clover to adapt, flowering below the cut line. We're on a hill, so we mow it as a highly necessary firebreak.

Depends on where you are I guess. Here, clover dies off in the Fall and all winter long anywhere there was clover turns into mud. We are active in the garden year-round so for that reason alone, while we have clover, we hate it come winter.

Good point. I was thinking of grass plus clover. Around here that creates a pretty stable sod layer. I would add it to our upper lawn which is in a sort of courtyard, but DW won't let me. But I have lots of other places.

Not permaculture in the strict sense but here is last year. The lawn trembles when I walk by. Hopefully, even more substantial changes are on tap for 2021.

This is a permaculture project that I was part of at a local church, back in 2012. The whole project was and still is right on the street in the old Townsite. (Am trying to find some current photos to show how it's developed... may have to take a bus down there and snap some new ones!)

Here's one clients' lawn-to-garden we designed and planted! We removed just the front corner of the lawn (via sheet mulching, the best!) but it faces a very busy street and gets a lot of attention. https://www.instagram.com/p/DBWHYSWOQMf/?img_index=4&igsh=OWV5dmQzZndreXZr

I should get a sign up for the pollinators and for my biz!

Here's another clients' garden we created and got to replace their entire front lawn! 😁
https://www.instagram.com/p/C70NmFEMoga/?img_index=5&igsh=aXBvaWV5d2JqbXoy

We, a local group called Permacultuur Meppel, do our best to be visible. We have an educational community garden in the neighbourhood park. At the entrance there's a sign 'Permacultuur Meppel' and there's an information board. Once a year we organise a plant-and-seeds-swap. We tell about that on local radio, we write articles in the local newspaper and in the four-times-yearly neighbourhood magazine. We have a Facebook page with photos.

My own gardens are visible too.  At least the front yard with herb spiral and 'miniature permaculture food forest' is. And my rented allotment garden is visible for all other renters there. I wrote an article about my way of gardening (mentioned 'permacultuur' and explained about principles and zones) for the newsletter of the allotments. When I ride my bicycle from home to the allotment I am very visible, dressed (up?) as a gardener. Sometimes with plants on the back rack, sometimes with other visible garden equipment.

Allotment garden, my bicycle at the entrance near my garden shed. This is next to the central path for all allotments there.

Well, that's doable!  Even trying to find directions on how to do it took forever.  I tried the obvious of "Search threads and posts" with all sorts of search terms and NOTHING closely related came up.  I wanted to throw something!  Thank you for such straight-forward directions!  It's very hard to describe my front garden, but it is located on a highway and lots of people do walk by using the sidewalk.
Now, to see if the pictures actually post!
(I accidentally posted most of this in the wrong thread; by following some directions, I must have inadvertently posted on a picture uploading post!)

I looked for recent photos of my front yard garden. It looks like I need to make new photos. This one was of May 2021 ...

Thank you, Inge.  It amazes me to see how quickly it's grown!  That first year, it was nothing but sticks, and I spent hours every other day watering it.  I'd lug around the hose, carry around a little bench, sit and water. Since then, I've watered only once last year.  This year, it's still too early; nothing is leafed out, although some of the bulbs are emerging.  I have a huge pile of wood chips sitting in the driveway, and I'm trying to decide if I want to put any of them out there. I mulched up and added a lot of leaves last fall, and I may just continue with that.  I like the dark brown of them.  It's snowing again, so I guess I can put off that decision for a few more days! I've got plenty of other places and paths where I can use the chips...sounds like I've decided, huh?!

Your garden is beautiful.  I recognized rhubarb in the foreground; what else is in there? Maybe some currants and a paw paw?

Barbara Simoes wrote:Thank you, Inge. ...
Your garden is beautiful.  I recognized rhubarb in the foreground; what else is in there? Maybe some currants and a paw paw?

Yes, there's a rhubarb (right now it's already starting to grow out of the ground again). No paw-paw. Maybe that's the loquat (or Japanese quince) you see, it has large leaves too (staying all winter). One of the red currants is next to it. There a serviceberry (Amelanchier) and a young apple tree at the left, a Magnolia at the right (the only tree already in the garden before we came to live here). All over are raspberries; sage and mint escaped from the herb spiral.

I'll wait for a few weeks before making a new photo. Spring has started here, but it's still early ...

Not something I'm doing personally, but you should take a look at some of the areas in Medellin, Columbia for inspiration on how gardening or permaculture can make an impact in a suburban setting.

I was just there and it's crazy how much more beautiful, and cooler (temperature wise thanks to the shade) it is than many cities in neighboring areas and countries.

Yesterday I made some photos of my front yard 'miniature permaculture food forest with herb spiral', and of the rhubarb.

as seen from the sidewalk (the street is several meters away, there's a small lawn and car parking first).

right side of the garden seen from the left side.

left side of the garden: kind of 'hugelkultur' with dry-stacked brick walls and water from the rain gutter.
(BTW that thing with a glass lid is called 'Garden Sidekick', a new product for growing, made in the Netherlands)

close-up of the rhubarb (and tulips)

When I designed our front yard food forest garden, I took esthetics into consideration, even though we don’t have a HOA. I make sure to plant lots of flowers like sunflowers each spring, and have things like sculptures and seating.
We get so many compliments for how it looks. We started 8 years ago, but we are constantly making changes. During spring and fall we have tours, where people can explore the food forest garden, and the back yard raised bed garden.