In part 1 of this article series I introduced the concept of permaculture and how we can use it to live a more efficient, sustainable and (most importantly) enjoyable lifestyle.

I spoke about some different techniques you can employ in your garden to allow for more productivity and less work. For example, you can choose to grow perennial plants which keep growing very year, rather than having to re-sow annual seeds each year. You can plant many different kinds of perennial species together, mimicking the layers of a forest ecosystem, and in this way create a ‘food forest’.

The benefits for keeping cool from a food forest are many. If you are growing trees then every year they will provide more shade. Not only will the shade help you to stay cool in the short term, but on a long-term basis, the taller the trees grow and the more shade they create, the cooler the ground will be all around them. This lowering of the earth temperature eventually can create what is known as a ‘micro-climate’ where the conditions are different to those in the immediate vicinity.

Creating a cool micro-climate using trees is definitely using long-term thinking. A quicker and easier way to make a cool zone outside your house would be to simply erect some shade. I use canvas shade triangles to extend the shade outside my house into my garden too.

Another really key way to stay cool is to use water efficiently. Rainwater harvesting is a great tool for this. One of the most innovative practitioners of rainwater harvesting I know is Brad Lancaster, whose book ‘Rainwater Harvesting and Drylands Techniques’ includes many tips on how to make the most of the water you have. Many people think of rainwater harvesting as collecting rain from your roof and this can save you a lot of water.

But as Lancaster points out, the vast majority of moisture is actually stored in the soil. So the key to harvesting rainwater and making it nourish your land rather than run off it is to build up the soil. Then you can create a positive cycle – the richer the soil is, the more moisture it will hold, so the richer it will become, and then the more plants will grow, the more shade and mulch they will create, and so the soil becomes even richer…

How can you start doing this, even with no land or on a small scale? Book a class with me to find out.