Permie-paralysis – it’s deep and it’s real. It’s the state of having acquired from your permaculture design course (PDC) so much useful information, with so many applications and possibilities, that you are completely overwhelmed.

I felt that way for a long time after finishing my PDC (with Verge Permaculture) until, recently, I decided on a plan. It’s not the grand permaculture garden plan I envisaged, but it’s a plan.

What was the grand permaculture garden plan I had in mind, you ask? Well, I’d convert our entire 56 by 32 foot vegetable garden into a food forest containing all seven plant layers, from ground cover to canopy. 

The problem is, I don’t feel as though I have had enough time to observe the garden and surrounding areas. We moved to BC in September and haven’t experienced a spring yet at Big Calm. How am I supposed to confidently plant a permaculture garden/food forest?

And, despite my plans to have complete permaculture garden design ready-to-go for spring, life got in the way. We’ve simply been too busy developing Big Calm and the Shangri-loft to also plan a permaculture garden.

And so arose the revised, more reasonable plan: plant only annuals this year, saving any permanent decisions until next year, when I have observed the garden through the growing season and have had time to think about what I want to include in my permaculture garden/food forest. 

But, that doesn’t mean I can’t still incorporate permaculture design. This year will be an experiment with annual cover crops (crimson clover) and pest control species (alyssum) grown among vegetables. I highly recommend the West Coast Seeds catalog, which has all of the information one needs to decide on which cultivars to choose.

This approach does take some pressure off, because in this case, I think it’s the right one. Plus, it will give me time to work on other things for Big Calm, like (warning: shameless plug) these awesome permaculture-inspired Big Calm t-shirts available to purchase.  

Power to the permies!