starting out

We (my partner John and myself) have had an allotment now for about two and a half years. It's in south Leeds and consists of heavy, slow-to-drain clay. We've tried to garden with organic principles, although we did use glyphosate based weedkiller to clear the plot initially (it was completely overgrown).

Since then I've decided I want to do the whole organic thing in a more sustained way and to embrace the principles of permaculture. Permaculture is all about growing in a sustainable way, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and cultivating the soil in a sympathetic way.

Permaculture is heralded as the solution to the looming shortage of oil.

This oil shortage is something we should all be worried about.

Basically, at some point in the future, we may even have already passed the point, oil production is going to go into decline, there are limited reserves of hydrocarbons under the earth's surfaces and we are using them up very rapidly. This is going to spell hardship, famine and conflict unless we can find a way to free ourselves from our dependence on oil. And we are dependent. It is estimated that in 1804 the world's population was around the billion mark. By 1927 it had reached the 2 billion mark, by the millennium it was around 12 billion. Some of this growth is due to improved access to more effective medications and health care, sanitation etc. One of the major factors, however, has been due to our ability to harness the stored sunlight in oil and gas reserves. We use oil, gas and other hydrocarbons for fuel, manufacturing fertilizers and pesticides, treating and preserving and processing food, and we do this on a massive scale. Our food production techniques and industrial and oil dependent. However, when our fossil fuel supplies start to decline we will need to use an alternative source of energy if we are not to see food shortages, famine and wars over increasingly scarce resources. We simply cannot afford to continue depending on a resource that is going to become increasingly scarce.

Now, I'm a bit of a sceptic. I really want to believe that permaculture can offer a sustainable and realistic alternative to oil reliant methods, but I do have some concerns. Here's a few of them. Can permaculture offer equivalent yields to oil dependent methods from the same acreage of ground? If it can't then we will have to either take more land into cultivation - and there's not much cultivable land left on this little earth that isn't already cultivated so that doesn't seem like a good option, or we are back with the problem that food production will decline, leading to the aforementioned hardship, famine and conflict.

What crops can you grow using permaculture? I've heard that one of the main principles of permaculture is to keep the ground covered and to plant growing plants into it. OK, that's fine for cabbage and pumpkins, but some crops, such as parsnips and carrots need to be sown direct. Can I still grow these crops?

How labour intensive is permaculture? Will I need to put in lots of hours of work? Actually, I've heard it's less work than traditional cultivation. I'll have to see for myself I think.

Will I have the resources I need to hand in inner city Leeds to be able to run a permaculture allotment? I don't have a ready supply of animal manure to do lots of mulching, not having a large vehicle to be able to collect dung from the local stables. I've heard that mulching is crucial, so I'm a bit concerned how I will manage - this may be a very short and unsuccessful experiment if I can't get the materials I need.

So, the plan is to continue cultivating my allotment, while I go away and do some research. As I find out more I will start to apply the principles to my allotment. Hopefully I will find out for myself that it is a good alternative to oil dependency, at least on my little allotment. However, I'm not optimistic that it will have the answers for an antire world dependent on oil produced food, but I really hope that I'm wrong about that one.