How do you grow a growing project?
Here's a technical (permacultural style) post. forgive the boringness, I feel it may be useful to a few readers who are involved in growing growing projects.
Having been working on allotments with others for about the last 8 yrs
or more, and trying to get people involved with the growing spaces
that I have designed, I have learnt a few things about how to grow
a growing project - a growing project being in this circumstance a
garden space which is used, managed and maintained by say more than
one person, typically about half a dozen or up to many people.
Heres my brainstorming of key points so far...
- delegation of responsibility -
People need to feel responsible for a plant, or a part of the growing system, It is what gives them creative drive, and fundamentally, them having responsibility allows them to make their own mistakes which is how people learn best. This means that you, authority figure, are taking non dictatorial role. This means you are getting people to think
For them selves and figure out problems for them selves. Leaving a certain amount down to people being self intuitive and making them take their own initiatives gives space for new creative things to happen which you may not have ever thought about.
- People skills - -( behaviour is everything)
Good people skills means -
- Clear communication - in that activities must be communicated and shared within the group, this way we can learn from one anothers mistakes.
- understanding boundaries - people each need their own space. this means one must cultivate a sensitivity to peoples needs and understand that most often, people bring their life stuff, and need for therapy and healing to a growing project as well. We need to cultivate and understanding of peoples needs so that we can work through peoples needs on a day to day basis, so that we can balance and bring together the rhythms of the people needs with the plant needs. If the needs of people dictate the rhythm of work rather than the needs of a plant (or a design for that matter), it may well mean that plants get neglected and have problems, yet if we enforce or dictate a rhythm on the people working the space from the plants (like a sowing time deadline needing to be met) it is likely that people will suffer and have stress problems relating to this, especially if they are not getting their own needs met. People needs have to be met first before the plant needs. The design can change to fit peoples needs, and this includes emotional needs.
. - work to the strengths of the people involved. - where communal growing is shared responsibility - poor decisions which would lead to the individual learning their own mistakes need to be placed within the context of the whole - no use in having people take initiatives if its not in line with the bigger picture of the focus of the growing project. For example, there is a need to intervene at the knowing of serious mistakes which would affect the functioning of the whole. To give an example to illustrate - on Hangingwater allotment we have a book which we write everything in that we do. Its a way of communication. We write what needs doing and whats been done. If someone was to plant something that would really not work, for example, potatoes in september, there is a need to communicate this to the individual who came up with the idea as it is clearly something that won't work.
- Understanding attachment - caring for something can bring up huge feelings of attachment, growing something can create huge feelings of ownership. When in collective space there is a need to understand this and allow people to develop these feelings. It requires sensitivity to know what this attachment may mean to an individual, and how precious a feeling it is, to feel an attachment to land or a plant. This is what we could call a sense of belonging, and creates the sense of being a "guardian" of the space or plant. It is something intrinsically human and is what gives growing its powerful therapeutic effect.. This point links in much with understanding boundaries.
-tutoring and mentoring - how much information is a sensible amount to give? technical information is so easily accessible now through internet.- Emphasis needs to be on experiential information. this means working along side. Growing a plant for the first time is an initiatory experience particularly if one completes the cycle from seed to seed, (or graft to graft) . The experience of the whole cycle of a plant "roots" the information into one.
-basic plant cycle understanding -to learn how to get other people
involved in your growing projects you need to know and assess their
current growing knowledge - which determines how much tutoring they will need, (one day a week? One day a month?)
-understanding need to design in the maintenance of project - commonly forgotten aspect of design - a growing system or project is a living organism in its self, and even with very efficient designing (say
following nutrient cycling and focus on low intencity (perennial)
growing, )there will still be a need to design in maintence - could be
kept as annual checklist - month by month. Etc - also need for
shadowing - this its self is something that needs "maintenance". This links to a point that I have experienced being the transience of people - if we wish the growing project to continue beyond our generation we need education and a new generation of growers.
- who's going to use the produce? - decisions need to be collective.
- Understanding perennial and annual cycles - (general forest garden design knowledge)-- they have different rhythms of cultivation - too much mixing leads to too much root competition -disturbance or root conflict - eg - potatos under fruit trees, you have to dig up the potatos which causes disturbance to roots. - they have differing needs of fertility - annuals need high intensity fertility - perenials need less, in some cases require low fertility - it makes nutrient cycling potentially more complicated. - different pest and disease problems - main one being slugs and snails - perennials give place for slugs and snails to hide -competition for light levels - any tall growing perennials take out light levels needed for most annuals - most need full sun given temperate climates.
- it makes it much simpler if you are working with others to keep things simple.
The few exceptions to the rule -(every rule has exceptions)
- growing a few low growing herbs or flowers along a boarder to a veg bed. - growing the odd chard or mustard plant from transplant within a
flower bed. Or allowing self sown salads like rocket or land cress to
self sow within the bed - key thing usually being that they need too
be slug tolerant annuals and quite resiliant in their own right to do
well.
- basic understanding of Horticology - the imposition - anthropocentric - of our own ideas onto plants - even down to what name we give them - for example Narcissus....
more on Horticology on a post coming up. Sorry for the over technical post. some more poetry i feel is needed....
