Learning to think in zones is going to be a big help in planning what I do in the future. Putting the tank under the downspout to catch rainwater to use for the garden and the animals was a big help when it got hot and dry this summer - too bad that the tank is on one side of the house and the garden is on the other! Bullying my family into saving their bath water and using it on the perennial bed; and mulching the perennials with wood chips was another good plan.

Refining what goes into each zone has helped a good deal. Arthritis has cut into my energy and ability to do lots of walking and I have moved things into closer zones so they get the care they need. Drip water for the orchard and hedgerow has helped too.

Lee AKA Fireraven9
Great woods, you frighten me like cathedrals;
You howl like an organ; and our hearts of misery,
Rooms of eternal mourning where quiver ancient rattles,
Answer the echoes of your from the depths I've come to Thee.
- Charles Baudelaire, Obsession

hey guys! this is my first visit to this site and i find it to be a real "page-turner"!! one question, though, this talk of defferent zones within your yards, what's that all about???

".....The next best was to get another hose so I could reach farther! Nonetheless, the first one-hose area has remained my zone 1, but now i don't have to carry water to zone 2. ........"

it sounds like some sort of efficiency developing plan, but i haven't been able to glean any specifics from the little bit i've read. any sites or advice you could relay to help me understand a bit more would be dynamite!!!! thanks guys.
john

Hi John! The concept of zones was new to me when I started reading this forum - not so long ago! I picked up a copy of Gaia's Garden, by Toby Hemenway; it has a pretty good explanation of what is in each zone. Have you read the threads on this page and page two that have "Zone" in the title? That will get you a little farther. Think of the zones as a series of concentric circles around your home.

Zone 0 - Inside the house - herbs on the windowsill, aloe plant in the kitchen, grey water reclaimation system, recycling, collection of kitchen compost materials, perhaps a worm bin.

Zone 1 - "Yard Zone" - the area closely surrounding the house. I've read that this should include an area about 20-40 feet from the house. This should include your most visited areas; the ones that require the most care, and the ones you use the most. Herbs, small garden beds of crops that are eaten daily like greens, places you like to spend time - a deck, greenhouse, hammock. Flower gardens, the lawn (if you have one) bird feeders and bird baths, rain barrels.

Zone 2 - "Garden Zone" - fruit trees, larger garden beds, gardens for preserving the harvest, berries and other fruits, chickens and rabbits, the compost pile, perhaps a barn.

Zone 3 - "Farm Zone" Larger animals, pastures, seasonal crops for sale, woodland areas for forage (nuts, mushrooms, forewood), larger ponds for fishing or irrigation, windbreaks, seasonal animal shelters.

Zone 4 - "Semi-wild Zone" Timber, ponds, more extensive grazing, hunting, plant gathering.

Zone 5 - "Wild Zone" Unmanaged land, used for observing nature, walking, foraging of wild plants.

Not all home sites will have all the zones; and smaller properties will have smaller zones. My zone 1 is quite a bit larger than recommended by the literature I have read; but I live on 30 acres. My food/herb gardens are about 60' from my house; and I use them for both daily use crops and crops for preserving. Most of my daily use crops will remain in this garden; but I will move my preserving crops to an area on the far side of the current garden. At this point in my life (and with a portable phone) this is not a problem for me - though I am seriously considering adding a bucket outhouse to the combo chicken house/greenhouse/garden shed that I have planned for the edge of zone 1 and zone 2! I really don't have an area any closer to the house that is suitable for even small garden crops - black walnut trees to the east, a large spruce and driveway to the west, too much shade to the north, and the "game" area to the south (croquet, volleyball and badmiton, lawn darts, etc...) so as to be nearby the picnic area under the walnut trees. I do plan to plant some vining crops on my porch posts, and the posts at the front of canopy on my shed - most likely grapes, as my Hubs is an amature winemaker; and I may try to sneak an edging of lettuce along the flower bed, though I don't know how much of that the guys will let me...

thanks alot for that follow-up, polly- it was really helpful. as it turns out i just bought hemenway's book (as well as "The Self-Sufficient Suburban Gardener" by Jeff Ball) yesterday after i got off this site.
i thought i had a decent sized lot (3/4's acre- 2, maybe 3 zones worth?), but i don't think i'll quite be able to implement as much as you with your 30 acres ( believe me, i'm green with envy). i find the subject fascinating anyway and i can't wait for those books to arrive!!! i'll definitely be staying tuned to this site!!!

Gaia's Garden shows all 5 zones on a 1/4 acre surburban lot! I was thinking more of a city lot or apartment even when I said not all will have all the zones. Sometimes, I wish everything was closer in my set up; but I live on the homeplace where I was brought up. Our personal "landscaping" impact or whatever you want to call it has been evolving over the last 45 years. I remember planting the redbud trees, and climbing the walnuts and how much Mama loved her lilacs; so some plants stay put that I would otherwise remove or move if I didn't have an emotional attachment to them. I love having the land, but it is a big responsability - sometimes I don't feel that I have the time to utilize it or care for it all properly. That makes me feel guilty, especially when I know that others would love to have what I sort of take for granted.

Be sure and let us know what you are doing on your site!

We have 5 acres, but I do not think there is a proper zone 5 here since we do work all over the property and have paths all around. A mile away we have a National Forest and that would be the zone 5.

Lee AKA Fireraven9
"Constant Vigilance!" Mad Eye Moody