How does permaculture work? - Page VII

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                                             This knowledge is then taken and integrated into

                                             a more intricate system of planting known as:

 

                                             Layering or Stacking.

 

                                             In permaculture and forest gardening, seven layers are identified. From the most significant to the least they are: 1 - canopy trees, 2 - secondary trees, 3 - shrubs, 4 - herbaceous layer, 5 - root crops, 6 - ground cover plants, and 7 - climbers.

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A mature ecosystem such as ancient woodland has a huge number of relationships between its component parts: trees, understory, ground cover, soil, fungi, insects and other animals. Plants grow at different heights and come into leaf, flower and fruit at different times. This allows a diverse community of life to grow in a relatively small space. For example garlic comes into leaf on the woodland floor in the time before the top canopy re-appears with the spring, thus the garlic gets sunlight. The productivity of such a forest in terms of how much new growth it produces exceeds the most productive wheat field. It is in this observation of how more productive a wood may be on far less input of fertilisers that the potential productivity of a permaculture design is modelled. The many connections in a wood contribute together to a proliferation of opportunities for amplifier feedbacks to evolve that in turn maximise energy flow through the system.

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