March Permie Corner

By Lorraine Sharaf

March has arrived, and it’s time to finalize garden and crop plans. In Bucks County the average last frost date falls in mid-April, around the 19th, although many gardeners still follow the tradition of waiting until Mother’s Day to plant tender crops.

The snow that had covered the ground, trees, and picnic tables since late January has finally melted. Early perennials are beginning to emerge, and soil temperatures are slowly rising. As they do, microbial activity increases. Fungal networks extend through the soil, linking plant roots into vast underground partnerships that exchange nutrients and water. Seeds remain encased in protective coats, responding to changes in soil temperature, moisture, and light. When conditions are right, enzymes activate and the first roots begin to push downward into the soil. These hidden processes remind us that even in early spring, the landscape is more complex than it appears.

Permaculture’s Tenth Principle, described by co-founder David Holmgren, is “Use and Value Diversity.”

Not just tolerate it.
Design for it.
Depend on it.

Because diversity allows living systems to adapt and endure when conditions change.

♥ Icon: Many Figures Forming a Heart

Principle 10 is symbolized by a heart shape formed from many small human figures. Each figure is distinct, yet together they create something whole.

In permaculture, resilience emerges in the same way. Strength does not come from uniform repetition, but from interconnected differences. Multiple species, functions, and perspectives working together form systems that are far more stable than those built on a single element.

🌾 Diversity Is About Relationships

This principle can easily be misunderstood as simply “plant a lot of different things.”

But permaculture co-founder Bill Mollison emphasized that the number of elements matters far less than the number of functional connections between them. As he wrote:

“It is not the number of things, but the number of ways in which things work.”

Nature does not grow monocultures. They are human inventions designed for efficiency, but they are ecologically fragile. A single pest, disease, or heat wave can devastate an entire crop.

By contrast, diverse systems are less likely to fail. If one crop struggles, another fills its niche.

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” applies just as much to agriculture as it does to everyday life. We back up important digital files, diversify investments to spread financial risk, and apply to more than one college or job in case our first choice doesn’t work out.

In short, diversity spreads risk and builds resilience. And it makes landscapes far more interesting.

🌳 Food Forest

One way permaculture designers create diversity is through a food forest.

A food forest is a designed, multi-layered planting system that mimics the structure of a natural woodland, with edible and useful species woven throughout. Instead of isolating crops, a food forest gathers trees, shrubs, herbs, vines, and roots into cooperative layers that support one another over time.

Typical layers include:

•Canopy trees: chestnut, black walnut, pecan, and large apple varieties
• Sub-canopy fruit trees: apple, pear, plum, persimmon, and pawpaw
• Shrubs: blueberries, currants, gooseberries, elderberry, and aronia
• Herbaceous perennials: comfrey, echinacea, mint, bee balm, rhubarb, and culinary herbs
• Groundcovers: clover, creeping thyme, wild strawberry, and sweet woodruff
• Climbers: hardy kiwi, grapes, hops
• Root crops: garlic, onions, Jerusalem artichokes, and skirret

Source: Brenda Theakston

This system stacks diversity in space, with plants occupying different heights.

It also stacks diversity in time. Early blossoms appear in spring. Berries arrive in summer. Apples and pawpaws ripen in autumn.

In a small Bucks County backyard, a food forest might center around apple or pear trees, with pawpaws planted along a slightly shadier edge. Serviceberry provides early blossoms for pollinators and June fruit for birds—and us. Blueberries or currants fill the shrub layer. Comfrey, echinacea, and perennial herbs grow below, supporting soil health and beneficial insects. Clover protects the soil as living mulch while garlic and chives help deter pests. Hardy kiwi vines climb a nearby fence or pergola. Pawpaws produce rich, custard-like fruit in early fall.

🦋 Fun Fact: Pawpaws & the Zebra Swallowtail

The caterpillars of the zebra swallowtail butterfly feed exclusively on the leaves of pawpaw trees, especially the tender young foliage. In fact, pawpaws (genus Asimina) are the only plants these caterpillars can eat.

Pawpaws are also unusual. They are the only temperate members of the custard apple family (Annonaceae), whose other relatives, such as cherimoya and custard apple, grow in tropical and subtropical climates.

The zebra swallowtail butterfly has followed a similar evolutionary path. While its closest relatives live in warmer regions, this species adapted to temperate North America alongside the pawpaw. The two appear to have evolved together, forming a very specific ecological partnership.

Learn more about their unique relationship: Pawpaw Tree & Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly.

In a food forest, something is happening throughout the growing season. Blossoms appear in early spring. By June, berries ripen. Apples mature in September, and pawpaws are ready to eat in October.

Underground, an equally complex system supports this seasonal abundance. Billions of microbes, fungi, and other tiny organisms interact with plant roots, helping plants access nutrients and build resilience. Scientists are increasingly recognizing that this underground ecosystem also connects directly to human health.

In the book What Your Food Ate, authors Anne Biklé and David R. Montgomery explain how healthy soil supports nutrient-dense plants, which in turn nourish the microbial communities in our own digestive systems.

Healthy soil helps grow food that supports a healthy gut!

To explore this fascinating connection between soil health and human health, join us for an evening with Anne Bicklé and guest panelists hosted by the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance and Delaware Valley University on April 9th. Learn more and register: What Your Food Ate Event.

🌿 Plant Guilds

Within food forests, plants are often arranged into guilds, expanding the idea of companion planting. A plant guild is a community of species clustered around a central element, often a fruit tree, forming a mutual support network.

Some plants improve soil fertility. Others deter pests. Some shade roots or suppress weeds, while others create microclimates that buffer wind, frost, or heat.

Rather than simply pairing plants, guilds design relationships among many species working together. In many ways, a guild resembles a healthy human community—different strengths gathered around a shared purpose.

🐓 Including Animals

free roaming chickens

When practical, farm animals can expand diversity even further. Chickens beneath fruit trees eat fallen fruit and overwintering pests, lightly scratch the soil, and fertilize as they move, while the trees provide shade and forage. In this way, animals are not simply sources of food—they are partners in cycling nutrients and removing pests.

🦊 The Role of Wild Neighbors

When we talk about diversity in our landscapes, we often focus on plants and soil life. Yet the non-domesticated animals living around us also play important roles. Squirrels and birds disperse seeds, rabbits and deer shape plant communities through grazing, and foxes, hawks, and owls help control rodent populations. Even the much-maligned mouse serves as prey for a wide range of predators.

Each species occupies its own niche, contributing to the balance of the system. Wildlife can sometimes test a gardener’s patience, particularly the deer, but in a diverse landscape these animals are participants in a larger ecological web. Diversity includes organisms that were already here.

🌎 Diversity Beyond the Garden

This principle extends beyond plants.

Community projects thrive when diverse skills and perspectives come together. A garden group benefits from members who understand soil science, carpentry, ecology, communication, and organization. A local foodshed grows stronger when it includes vegetable growers, orchardists, livestock producers, grain farmers, and mushroom cultivators.

Diversity makes systems more creative and resilient.

🌱 Thoughtful Diversity

Of course, not everything integrates harmoniously.

Some plants compete aggressively. Some inhibit others. Animals can overgraze. Diversity without observation can become disorder.

Designing lasting systems requires careful placement, patience, and attention to long-term relationships.

Ultimately, what matters most is not how many species we include, but how many beneficial connections we cultivate.

🌿 A Steward’s Perspective

Permaculture asks us to think of ourselves as stewards of the land—not simply gardeners or beekeepers. The goal is not to control every outcome, but to care for living systems as they grow and change, recognizing that every organism has its niche and contributes to the larger whole.

When we value diversity, we begin to fall in love with the process as much as the product. We create landscapes capable of adapting and evolving long after our initial planting.

Permaculture improves our lives by strengthening the living systems around us. And the more we pay attention, the more we realize those systems are richer, more diverse, and more interconnected than they first appear.

🧭 March’s Permaculture Tip

As you plan this season:

• Add one new species to your landscape
• Plant more than one variety of a favorite crop
• Build a small guild around a fruit tree
• Invite someone with a different skill set into your garden project

🌾 Closing Reflection

Healthy landscapes rarely depend on a single species or a single solution. Instead, they rely on many organisms working together in ways that spread risk and strengthen the whole system. The more we observe these relationships, the more we see that diversity is not simply beautiful; it is how living systems endure.