Anyone like planning permaculture gardens
redtartan
9 years ago
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redtartan
8 years agoRelated Discussions
anyone started planning next years garden?
Comments (7)cut back on the tomatoes also! :) Not enough room and they are too close together--the groundhog got some of the best looking ones just as they were ready to pick. I hope he moves on by next year. Nes--what tomatoes did you find did the best for you? What tomatoes are you keeping for next year? I gave up on cucumbers a few years back but tried them again this year--didn't do well again!!-what is it with me and cucumber?? :) Not sure I will waste space on them again :( I did plant and have success with some long asparagus beans--I only had a few seeds and something dug up about three of the vines, but did have about six vines produce and they were nice. I am saving seeds to plant more next year. a definite keeper--pepper fish that I got at the swap-one of the two seedlings I got survived and was so pretty in the garden--they have variegated leaves, and some of the peppers are variegated also--small--about two inches and very hot. trying to cut back on trying to have a huge variety of plants--will plant just a few tomatoes of a couple of varieties--and as far as perennials go--divide what is really doing well and spread it all over. fill in the blanks with some of my favourite annuals that have done really well this year and have saved a ton of seeds from--four varieties of marigolds, tall orange cosmos, malva-zebrina (planted mauritania and it grew big but no flowers so far!), melampodium (which I FINALLY got to grow and look beautiful :))-thanks Bev! :) probably other things but you know--I will change my mind at least once of twice before next year! LOL...See MoreBlueberry/Berry Hedge Permaculture concept design
Comments (4)Like you, I wanted a berry hedge. I decided to plant them along a road shoulder, so that I could just walk along the road and pick berries without getting bitten by copperheads or rattlesnakes. Twice, copperheads have crawled over my boots or snapped at me while I was picking berries in the fields. The road shoulder was an ugly miux of rubble, rocks and clay, so I dumped leaves and brush over the rocky mess and made dirt. Then I planted currants, blueberries, raspberries and gooseberries, and I let wild blackberries stay. Turns out, the red currants LIKED the ugly rocky clay mess and did not do so well in the black humus dirt I made. All the berry plants are doing "okay", but not thriving. Also, I made three mistakes with the raspberries: I moved wild raspberries out from under a giant walnut tree because I thought they were trying to ramble their way into the sun. Later I read that raspberries LIKE being under trees, if it shades them from hot afternoon sun. I tried to weed all of the yellow coneflower (Rudbeckia lacinata) out of the raspberry patch. It turns out, they are perfect for each other. The coneflowers don't even start to grow until after the raspberries have berries. When the coneflowers bloom, honey bees go crazy, so that's a plus for them. Also, they have a marvelously strong stalk with a fork, and this FORK becomes a perfect support for the raspberry canes! Last fall, I broke the tops out of the dead weed stalks, and helped the raspberry canes into the forks. Right now, the canes are loaded, since I pruned them back in winter to force them to make berries instead of ramble. I moved some wild raspberries to part of the road that caught water draining down the mountain. Water stood in the road in winter, and it drowned the berries: They do not like wet feet. I question whether or not your servicebery will grow under the tree canopy. When I saw wild serviceberry, it was growing all alone on top of a cliff! I haven't heard about these irrigation ditch hedges before. Is this a common practise in permaculture? Areyou trying to imitate the seep on a cliff or something? (I read that sandstone cliffs hold water, and that's why water seeps out of the base of these cliffs. Blueberries grow on top of them here, even though they appear to be "dry" cliffs.) If not, why are you irrigating? Isn't that a really artificial practise? I mean, irrigation has drained the aquifers in the midwest , so why are you interested in irrigating? Are you diverting water or it there naturally? I guess you can tell I haven't read much about permaculture. [I read Holmgren's book, that's all.] But I am really, cincerely curious why you would irrigate and call it permaculture. It seems artificial to me, any irrigation. I don't water anything. If it won't grow where I plant it, I move it. Instead, I am tryiung to add humus to the soil to make it hold water better. But ifyou are trying to imitate a sandstone seep, then it makes a little sense. I do collect rainwater, but I keep it covered so the mice and bugs don't drown in it, and I only use it rarely....See Moreoriginalscooby's permaculture videos
Comments (20)there really is not a lot of easily found information about permaculture or the things we have been alluding to in this thread. Skooby's videos were great because it was a bunch of information all in one easy place. since i finished the videos, i have looked for more of the same, but there really is no good source i have yet found. i have ordered a few books through the library, but don't have them yet. much of what i found on the web is not much more informative than this thread. it is like you have to know what they are talking about to understand. i think this is because permaculture is not so much a technique so much as it is a philosophy. there are several techniques that are permaculture, but permaculture cannot be defined by them. an example would be forest gardens are permaculture but permaculture is not forest gardening per se. from what i gather permaculture is about sustainable agriculture (and living) and self sufficiency as individuals and communities. it uses systems to create easier, healthier and more efficient and sustainable food production. some people take this as going off-the-grid and becoming hunter gatherers, while for others it is just gardening a little differently and using natural systems rather than artificial means to keep aid in production. as much as i would like to go off-the-grid and live in a forest, it is not practical for me. but i do grow a large portion of my own food in a very small area. i plant plants that have edible parts before those that do not and rather than practice monoculture by planting in rows of one species i mix them up as little forest systems where companion plants help each other perform better. i want to add a few chickens, bees, solar power and a cistern to have a little more self sustainability, but i started with a forest garden. the thing that i liked the most about the videos were a few gardening techniques that filled in the gaps in application for what i already practice and believed. they are: plants work better in systems of many species. gardens can have multiple layers like a forest to maximize production per square foot. animals, insects and flowers are as important as the fruiting plants for a healthy and productive system. nothing needs to imported into a system including fertilizer. nothing should be exported from it. raised beds. mulch. less water. micro climate creation with ponds, hardscape and shade. biodiversity in species as well as varieties. last saturday i prepared a few beds for production with a technique i saw in the videos. you prepare the soil for the last time. i mixed in a bunch of compost from the dump. then you mound the beds. my bed was already part of a terrace. it takes the run-off from part of my house, garage and driveway. so i created a swell (channel) to pull that water through the bed to spread and store the moisture. i then covered the mounded areas to be planted with cardboard (this was the new technique i learned) and then mulched heavily on top with more compost (chipped wood and yard waste) from the dump. i will be planting heavily with everything from artichokes to zucchini and will research which plants work best in systems and put them together. i will mix in flowers. the result should look like a riot of texture and color like an english flower garden, but much of it will be food. i will probably produce several hundred dollars and months worth of food in just a few hundred square feet and without tilling, poisoning, fertilizing or exporting any waste and using much less water to boot. not going to change the world, but it helpsi think that is the essence of permaculture. it is a true think global act local sort of movement. i have not found any how to books or websites. most of my searches ended with come sort of commercial design service or class. i hope the books i reserved are more of the how to and hands on sort of info. if anybody has any recommendations i would welcome some advice. would also like to here more about what others have done alone these lines. wikipedia has a good article tha links to a "companion plant" spread sheet i found useful....See MoreIs anyone planning summer vegetable gardening?
Comments (11)Thank you D, and you are right I am very frugal. The tomatoes and marigolds were started from seed and everything else in the veggie garden. I have 2 new eggplants and the one that I had last season is really big, that will give me plenty. The season for fruit already started and will continue through the summer and fall. Right now I am harvesting, red guava, sweet tamarind, star fruit (for juicing), lemons, limes, some are getting ready like figs, bananas, star apple. Forming fruit on my peaches and nectarines, mulberries. Hopefully I will get some lychees, mangoes, pomegranates and for sure I will get a lot of avocados like every year and fall will bring persimmons.... Some of the fruit trees today Silvia...See Moregreenman62
8 years agoparker25mv
8 years agomkirkwag
8 years agotbenjr
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoBarbara Simoes
2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
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