https://Permaculture.Live -- Permaculture Gardening with Cloud Monk Losang Jinpa, Ph.D.

• allelopaths - Plants that secrete a toxic substance that suppresses competing plants.

• biodiversity - The variety of organisms present, considered from many levels: cultivar, species, genus, family, and on up to include all five kingdoms, as well as the diversity of habitats and ecosystems.

• buffer plants - Plants placed between guilds or between allelopathic species. They should be compatible with the trees in each guild and should have a positive effect on one or both of the guilds to be linked.

• chaperone plants - Species that protect seedlings from harm until the juveniles are ready for life on their own.

• companion planting - Placing two or more plant species in a way that at least one species benefits the other(s) by deterring pests, attracting pollinators, and so on.

• compost - The rich, humusy end product of decom-position, made by piling surplus organic matter into a mound or bin and letting it rot.

• cover crops - Crops planted specifically to build soil, reduce erosion, and smother weeds.

• drip line - The invisible boundary under a tree’s outermost leaves.

• edge effect - The increase in diversity that occurs where two systems meet, creating conditions favorable to inhabitants of both sides of the edge as well as new conditions at the edge itself that support new inhabitants (as when a river flows into the sea or a pond meets its shore).

• forest garden - A multistoried, food- and habitat-producing landscape that acts like a natural woodland.

• Gaia - Greek goddess of the Earth, and the origin of the word root geo-, as in geography and geology. Also, as in Gaia theory, James Lovelock’s idea that many of Earth’s processes are self-regulating.

• graywater - The household water from sink, shower, tub, and laundry drains.

• guild - A harmoniously interwoven group of plants and animals, often centered around one major species, that benefits humans while creating habitat.

• hardscaping - The term designers use for wood, stone, concrete, and other constructed elements such as walls, sheds, paths, fences, and the like.

• humus - A fairly stable, complex group of nutrient-storing molecules created by microbes and other forces of decomposition by the conversion of organic matter.

• interplanting - Combining plant varieties in ways that avoid competition for light, space, or nutrients and that often discourage pests.

• microclimate gardening - Arranging plants in a manner that will take advantage of variations in microclimate (such as placing a frost-tender plant against a warm, south-facing wall) or in ways that will create favorable microclimates (such as using a tree to shade a house from hot sun).

• mineralization - The process of converting organic carbon-containing compounds into inorganic plant food.

• monopodial - Forming shoots from a central axis; in this book the term refers to bamboo species that are often described as “running” (and thus potentially invasive).

• narcissistic - Plants that thrive on the leaf litter of members of their own family, such as the Solanaceae, or nightshade family.

• niche - The role or function within an ecosystem played by a particular organism. Think of a niche as a profession and habitat as the workspace for performing the job.

• nitrogen fixers - Plants that host symbiotic microorganisms in nodules among their roots that “fix” nitrogen gas from the air by combining it with carbon to make amino acids and related molecules. Includes most members of the pea or bean family (Fabaceae), plus certain other species.

• nurse plants - Species that create shelter and other favorable conditions in which more delicate plants can get a start.

• opportunistic plant - Species that, when introduced to a new environment, use resources more effectively than existing plants and reproduce more quickly. A less loaded term than “invasive.”

• parasitoids - Small wasps and flies that lay their eggs inside other insects or insect eggs.

• permaculture - A set of techniques and principles for designing sustainable human settlements.

• pioneer plants - Certain fast-growing annual grasses, herbs, and flowers that are the first florae to arrive after a disturbance.

• plant communities - Groupings of trees, shrubs, and nonwoody plants that naturally occur together and seem to be connected as a whole.

• pollinators - Beneficial insects that transport pollen for fruit and seed set.

• polycultures - Dynamic, self-organizing plant communities composed of several to many species.

• predator insects - Beneficial insects that consume pest insect species.

• primary decomposers - Invertebrates, bacteria, algae, fungi, and actinomycetes that are the first to consume organic matter.

• scaffold plants - Species whose physical presence lets young or otherwise vulnerable plants get established.

• secondary decomposers - Mold mites, springtails, certain beetles, and other organisms that feed on primary decomposers.

• sectors - Areas where outside energies such as wind, sun, fire, and so forth enter a site. These energies can be mitigated, captured, or otherwise influenced by placement of elements in the design.

• sheet mulching - Composting in place to eradicate weeds and build soil without the need for herbicides or tilling.

• standing - biomass The part of an ecosystem that is permanent, such as branches and large roots, as opposed to seasonal, such as fruit or deciduous leaves.

• succession - Change in composition of organisms in an ecosystem, often progressing from pioneer species to shrubs to trees.

• swale - A shallow trench laid out dead level along the land’s contours to allow water to enter the soil.

• sympodial - Forming main shoots from secondary ones; in this book the term refers to “clumping” bamboo species, which are usually not invasive.

• tertiary decomposers - Soil organisms that feed on the secondary (and some primary) decomposers.

• tilth - The loose, crumbly structure of microbially rich soil, created by certain soil bacteria that secrete gums, waxes, and gels that hold tiny particles of earth together.

• weeds - A highly subjective category of maligned plants that even the United States Department of Agriculture admits are simply “plants that interfere with human activities.”

• zones - A permaculture design method in which elements are placed according to how often they are used or need attention. The more an element is used, the closer to the house it is located.

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