The 10 step analysis you need before you design
I’ve found that the more I understand my place, my home, the more I love it.
It was the end of October. I had been working in my basement all morning and I had the day to myself since my family was out. It was such a beautiful day and I just needed to be outside. So for lunch, I made a lovely sandwich along with a good cup of coffee and went to my backyard patio to savour the peacefulness. It was such a restful time and I was so re-energized to go back to work for the afternoon.
Our yard hasn’t always been like this. Our patio used to be a pile of gravel. Instead of wonderful apple trees, our yard was dominated by an old weeping willow that, while beautiful, was causing all sorts of problems and taking over the landscape. So much has changed since then.
We’ve always desired that our home would be a restful place and also produce lots of good food for our family to enjoy. We started working on this as soon as we moved in, but in 2020, when I was first introduced to permaculture, a straightforward process emerged to help us understand the place we call home. This also gave us ideas about how to help our landscape thrive as we continued to pursue our goals of creating a restful and productive space.
A key analysis framework that I use in my permaculture design work is the Scale of Permanence. This process was first presented by P.A. Yeomans in his 1958 book, The Challenge of Landscape and it has been studied and developed ever since. It is essentially a step-by-step process to help you understand the constraints of your landscape starting from what is most constraining and moving towards what is least constraining.
“Organizing site information according to the Scale of Permanence helps you figure out where you can make the biggest change for the least effort.”
CLIMATE
Climate is the place to start because it is the most constraining. The rain falls, the sun shines, the wind blows, and the snow falls when it will.
Here in Guelph, according to the Government of Canada, we live in the 5b hardiness zone. Why is this helpful? Well, it informs us which plants will grow well in our climate and which ones we should avoid. For example, from this, we know that we are just a little too far north to be able to enjoy consistently fruiting peach trees (though our neighbour keeps trying). Apple trees, on the other hand, do quite well.
In terms of temperature, it is quite temperate. On average, we reach highs of 25 ℃ in July, our warmest month, and lows of -10 ℃ in January, our coldest month. Our last spring frost is often around May 7 and our first spring frost is often around October 2. This gives us approximately 147 growing days for most crops.
We also live in a fairly wet climate, especially compared to the dry Saskatchewan prairies where I grew up. We can expect on average about 777 mm of rain a year in addition to 160 cm of snow. I’m so grateful for all of this precipitation as it enables us to grow a wide range of plants!
In terms of wind, we can expect it to generally come from the west at an average speed of 15 kph. These gentle wind speeds are further buffered by plenty of trees in our neighbourhood leading to calm conditions around our house.
GEOLOGY AND WATER
Geology refers to the landforms around and below us: rock formations, hills, rivers, over-land water flow. These factors are the base that we build from. We don’t have a lot of influence over the geology of a site, but we can learn to work with it to maximize its benefits.
Here is how geology and water flow combine in my context.
My neighbourhood slowly slopes towards the Speed River that flows through the centre of Guelph. My yard, which is connected to this overall slope, is at the bottom of a steep hill. Our backyard neighbours live halfway up the hill, our backyard is almost flat, and then our front yard slopes gently toward the street. This means that a lot of water runs down into my backyard from my neighbour’s yard and then pools there before eventually draining out to the street. For many years, spring was a challenging time because we couldn’t access large parts of our backyard due to the standing water which sometimes stayed till the end of May. Spring gardening was impossible.
While we get a decent amount of rainfall at home, the geology is working against retaining that water in useful ways. Over the past couple of years, we have worked to improve the soil quality, thereby increasing water infiltration. We have planted trees which soak up and use plenty of water, and we have installed rain barrels to harvest water runoff from the roof for use in the drier months.
LEGAL
It may be surprising to people that the laws and bylaws that govern the area are included in the Scale of Permanence analysis. But in reality they do reflect a significant constraint. Legal constraints dictate what can and cannot be done where you live and it is important to abide by them.
A few examples for me in Guelph are that backyard chickens are allowed but outdoor recreational fires are not. That means that we have had to shelve any dreams we had about sitting around an evening campfire in our backyard with our children or friends. But we have spent time considering if it would be wise for us to set up a chicken coop.
Similarly, legal constrictions can impact size and location of sheds or greenhouses and whether or not you can keep bees or livestock.
BUILDINGS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Buildings and infrastructure includes structures such as houses, sheds and greenhouses as well as utilities, septic systems, and paved areas. It is critical to map existing structures as many of these are relatively permanent and other elements will need to work around them. Furthermore, there are usually few options of where to place new buildings or infrastructure once other factors are considered.
In our suburban context, the driveway and house occupy a large portion of the property. City utility lines affect where we can plant trees. And we only have one reasonable location for a shed, but could adjust its size and orientation.
ACCESS
Access refers to any roads, paths, trails or points of entry and departure to your property as well as access to various parts of your property. At this stage of the Scale of Permanence analysis, we are starting to see areas where we have some more influence. For example, while it is difficult to change where road access to your property is, building a path through a yard or garden is quite straightforward.
For us, our front driveway is the main access point into our yard. We have no laneway or rear access. However, we have chosen to remove our fencing or have minimal fencing with some of our backyard neighbours to increase access to each other’s yards. Last summer, when the neighbour kids wanted to come and play frequently, it was a simple task to move a few plants and put some stepping stones through our back garden so they could get through to the yard without trampling flowers.
VEGETATION AND WILDLIFE
I really enjoy learning about the vegetation and wildlife that I share my home with. As with friends or neighbours, there is always opportunity to grow in deeper knowledge and relationship. Since these plants and animals also live in relationship with each other, adding or removing something will have an impact on the rest of the ecosystem too. In terms of our Scale of Permanence analysis, changing the vegetation can greatly influence the site and gives opportunity to achieve specific goals such as aesthetics, microclimate, or biodiversity.
Our yard is a typical suburban 1/8 of an acre yet in that relatively small space we have a huge range of trees, flowers, insects, and wildlife. Over time we have grown in relationship with these plants and have seen how the inhabitants of our yard live in relationship with each other. As we observe, we adjust - adding or removing plants in order to create a peaceful aesthetic, grow more food, and promote healthy soil as well as bird and insect habitat.
Every summer we identify more insects in our yard than the previous year and our family finds it fascinating to research their biology and habits. We recently watched a webinar series about pollinators and native plants and are eager to implement some of what we learned there, too - matching host plants to insect species to promote greater biodiversity.
I’m convinced that as we spend time with the plants and animals around us, get to know their names, learn what they like and need, our love for our place will only increase! And as we love it, we can also learn how to influence it in order to create a space where we can all thrive.
MICROCLIMATE
A microclimate refers to specific locations where the conditions are different than conditions nearby. Microclimates include sunny and shady areas, wet and dry spots, or areas that are more prone to frost than others. They can be influenced by slope, buildings, trees, and soil conditions. For example, the shady area north of a house has a different microclimate than the sunny south facing yard. A large rock might make a warm space immediately beside it while a large tree might shelter the area underneath from rain. Spending time assessing various microclimates present on your property will give great insight into what you can do in which locations. By taking advantage of existing microclimates - or creating the microclimates you want - you can promote the optimal conditions for various landscape features.
In our yard, we have a particularly wet back corner where we have planted shrubs and trees that love the moisture. We have small pockets of sunny spaces where we can fit the perennials that need more sun, leaving the rest of our partially shaded yard for the shade-loving plants. And we have woodland-like spaces under our maple tree where we are attempting to grow wild leeks. True to the average suburban context there is also a heat pocket under the dryer vent we could take advantage of and radiant heat off the south-facing wall of the house which affects our front yard garden.
Whenever we think about adding or removing features in our yard, we think about the microclimates those features will create and what effect that will have on the overall landscape. Right now we are deciding between a play house or a large fruit tree in one corner and need to consider the change in water flow as well as the shade either of those will create.
Zones of Use
I just love helping people reflect on their zones of use on their property. Zones of use provides a framework for understanding how frequently various locations on the property are accessed. Usually, these zones are diagramed on a map and zones are numbered 1 - 5 with zone 1 being areas visited multiple times a day and zone 5 being areas left essentially wild. This system provides helpful information about where to place various landscape elements in order to minimize effort and make for more enjoyable use.
For example, it makes sense to plant frequently used herbs for a kitchen garden close to the house if possible so you can step just outside the door to snip some while cooking dinner. In contrast, potatoes or cabbage, which only get harvested once a year can easily occupy a less-accessible location. This principle is true, not just for gardens, but for other features too - is the patio table better placed close to the house or in a far corner of the yard? How often do I want to dump my veggie scraps in the compost bin and is it better to have the compost pile close to the kitchen door or close to the garden?
In our yard we are limited by shade, buildings, and infrastructure that cannot be easily changed so we haven’t been able to put all of our herbs as accessible as we would like, but we do keep a planter of them on our front step and put the rest as close to the edge of the garden as possible. Similarly, we put our compost bin next to our garbage cans so that we can take out the household garbage and kitchen scraps at the same time.
Soil
“Let’s stop treating our soil like dirt.”
Soil is a critical element to a thriving property but is so often ignored or misunderstood. Here in Guelph, we are surrounded by highly productive farms that utilize some of the best soil in Canada. But sadly, as in most urban contexts, when our neighbourhood was built, this topsoil was mostly taken away and the clay soil that was left was severely compacted by construction equipment and then planted to grass. Because of this compaction and lack of soil health, when it rains or the snow melts, water pools on the surface (flooding our yard in the spring) or flows away down the storm drain. Furthermore, other plants struggle to grow deep roots and microorganisms and insects lack appropriate habitat to survive.
In 2021, we started taking major steps to solve this problem by creating a large perennial garden in the back half of our yard. In order to improve the soil we first established the garden area by cardboard mulching and layering lots of compost and mulch. This adds nutrients and improves water retention. We then planted daikon radishes throughout the area to naturally aerate the ground. And finally, we planted carefully planned perennials that can accumulate nutrients, fix nitrogen, and promote beneficial insects. In just one year, we have already seen more water infiltrating into the soil rather than running off and our apple tree health has dramatically improved.
Soil can take a long time to really build well and over the long term we know that we will continue to see greater improvement. But even short term, we are so encouraged by the results.
Aesthetics
As my wife would tell you, it is just as important for a place to be beautiful as it is productive. I am so grateful for her eye for beauty. We want to enjoy our space and therefore aesthetics matter. This last stage of the Scale of Permanence analysis looks at what elements are adding to or detracting from the enjoyment of the property.
My wife is working at arranging our gardens to serve a number of ecological functions but also to look good. We designed our compost bin to be functional and also aesthetically pleasing since it’s visible to us and our neighbours. And sometimes we make compromises: I needed a place to store a large pile of wood mulch but since the most accessible place wouldn’t have been very neighbourly for appearance, I put it in a slightly less accessible but more hidden location.
Conclusion
In our consultations with clients, we regularly work through this Scale of Permanence analysis together. On any particular property some elements of this analysis will be more important than others and we adjust to the needs of the site and the client. But we love to work collaboratively with you on this process. Coaching you how to assess your own needs and use will allow you to enjoy your space for the long term.
If you would like to talk more about this, please contact us today.