Project 2: Zone 1 Design
What you'll create
A comprehensive design for your Zone 1 kitchen garden, including a scaled layout plan on A3 paper or larger, a detailed design of a section, and supporting notes.
Why this matters
Zone 1 is the garden that wraps around your home (or centre of activity). It's your kitchen garden and your outdoor living room, the place you'll visit every day to pick herbs, gather salad greens, sit in the sun play, and tend the soil. Because you're there so often, it's where good design brings the richest rewards.
This is your warm-up design project. Your Zone 1 design becomes a key part of your final permaculture design submission for your whole site. Enjoy the process, and take the time you need to do it thoroughly.
Building on your site analysis
Your site analysis from Project 1 is your starting point. Use your base plan, sector map, and the opportunities and constraints you identified. Let your design respond to what you discovered about sun, wind, water, soil and the life already on your site, and to the needs and design brief of those using the site.
Working at your scale
Zone 1 looks different for everyone. It might be a suburban backyard, a courtyard, a balcony, a rooftop or a patch of a shared garden. The same design thinking applies at every scale, so design for the space you have.
How to approach it
- Hand-drawn plans are encouraged. Good permaculture design thinking matters most here. Your drawing skills will grow as you go.
- Draw to scale as closely as you're able. Use a bar scale, which stays accurate when a plan is enlarged, reduced or zoomed on screen.
- Work in drafts. Sketch ideas loosely first, try different arrangements, then refine.
- Keep observing. Spend time in your Zone 1 area as you design, noticing where the sun falls, where you naturally walk and where water flows.
Design tasks
1. Prepare your base plan
Enlarge the Zone 1 area of your base plan from Project 1 to fill an A3 page or larger. Keep the contours, north point and a bar scale on the plan.
2. Write your design brief
Write a short introductory statement about who your Zone 1 garden is for, and your design goals and intent.
3. Choose your elements
List or mind map the elements you'll include in Zone 1, and show which ones connect with each other.
4. Select your plants
List the plants you'll include in each area of your Zone 1 garden, and group them into guilds.
5. Create your layout plan
Draw a layout plan of your Zone 1 kitchen garden, to scale as closely as you're able. On your plan and in your notes:
- identify areas of use (edible garden, play space, outdoor eating, nursery …)
- specify garden areas (herb garden, plucking bed, salad bed, broad bed …)
- mark paths, fences and gates
- describe your watering and water harvesting systems, and mark the location of taps
- list your soil improvement strategies, and mark the location of compost and worm farm systems
- mark the location of structures
- add brief annotations describing the elements on your plan
- include a north point
- draw a bar scale (ratio scales such as 1:200 become inaccurate when a plan is resized)
- include a key, if needed
6. Show a design detail
Draw a detailed plan of one section of the kitchen garden, or one of the beds showing a possible planting arrangement.
7. Check the principles and ethics
Check your design against the permaculture ethics and principles. Briefly describe how you've applied them in your design, drawing on your Module 4 worksheet.
8. Show connections
Explain how your Zone 1 design connects with your house (or equivalent Zone 0) and with the zones beyond.
9. Choose your gardening method
Describe the types of garden beds you'll use (no-dig, raised, keyhole, mandala, rectangular …) and why you've chosen them.
10. Find a local planting guide
Find a planting guide for your area and include its name or link. It's a good starting point. Over time, observe, take notes and adapt it to your own garden.
What to submit
Bring everything together as one set of plans and notes:
- enlarged base plan (A3 or larger)
- design brief
- element list or mind map
- plant list and guilds
- Zone 1 layout plan with annotations and notes
- detail of detail of an area- could be garden area, compost area …?
- notes on principles and ethics
- explanation of connections with Zone 0 and beyond
- gardening method and reasons
- link to your local planting guide
Submit as one presentation that includes all of the above information and images.
Upload your Zone 1 Design here
What I look for
Your project is ready for approval when:
- your layout plan is clear and easy to read, with a north point, bar scale and key (if needed)
- your design responds to your site analysis, including sun, wind, water and slope
- each of the ten design tasks is addressed
- your plant choices suit your climate and are grouped thoughtfully into guilds and polycultures
- your bed detail shows polyculture and consideration of sun and shade
- you've shown how the permaculture ethics and principles shape your design
- the connections between Zone 1, your home and the zones beyond are clear
After you submit
I'll review your Zone 1 design and respond with feedback. When it's ready, I'll approve it and you can move on to [Project 3: name]. If it needs more, I'll let you know what to add or explore further, and you can resubmit. Each round of feedback strengthens the design you'll carry into your final submission.
Questions along the way? Bring them to [community space / live sessions].
