Native plants, polyculture, permaculture.
5 years ago
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- 5 years ago
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Need Landscape Design Help - Perma/Polycultures, Eco-Gardening
Comments (31)Happy new year everyone! GGG - excellent advice on sticking with native plants. In fact, that would work well for me. One of the reasons I wanted to order heirloom seeds was that I'm kind of tired with the same old store variety veggies. So seeds would give me a variety of things to grow that one normally doesn't see or eat. But your thought on staying with native plants in a sense does the same thing. It gives me a chance to grow and try things I don't normally get to have. I'll still go with some things that I find interesting, but I would like to stick with natives as much as possible. It just makes sense, really. If you happen across your Jerry Hightower notes, I'd be most grateful. Being able to read up on and study native plants now gives me a chance to understand and learn well before I plant. I will follow up on the other references you gave as well. Liliumskygazer, I understand what you're saying in that the author is a bit judgmental at times. Please note though that I am very new to taking gardening seriously. So for me, nearly the entire book has brand new ideas, or old ideas presented in a new light. For me being a newbie and all, I found it one of the best gardening reads in quite some time. That being said, when I find an author who appears closed minded or single minded on certain topics, it's tough look past that to see the rest. But what I got most from the book, and what I respected most about it was that: - The author emphasized looking at gardening spaces as a whole, living, symbiotic system. - It gives several realistic, real world examples of the systems he was discussing; before and after. Too often, I find this lacking in most educational books. - That each eco system has a *tremendous* amount of variety, created using a very specific strategy. It is these concepts that made me rethink everything I had in mind about gardening, for the better. Good news y'all! I moved into my new home over these last few days, AND...!!! And I bought my first rakes, gloves and a shovel. I'm going to get some soil tests done this week some time, and Duane will be by next Saturday to kick off my gardening adventure. I'm going to take lots of "before" pics and post them on a yet uncreated web site so we can all get a good laugh from the newbie gardener. ;) Once again, thank y'all for the help and advice....See MoreEvent: Oak Savanna Landscape Walk and Permaculture Discussion
Comments (1)Sorry I didn't find this sooner...how was it?...See MoreHelp planning my permaculture garden
Comments (2)Start at front and back doors, and work your way outward. One of them is likely to be warmer than the other (S or W), so put your herbs there. Most herbs are of Mediterranean origin, warm and dry. Lettuces and other salad ingredients can take some shade, so put them close to the other door. A little further out, put your vegetables. The closer your garden is to the house, the more attention it will get. Your berries don't need quite so much attention, so they can go further out. Your fruit trees need even less attention, so you could put them just beyond your berries. Borrow Bill Mollison's permaculture books from the library (if they don't have them, ask if you can get them through an interlibrary loan). They have a lot of drawings that you can adapt. (Just remember that his north is your south.) Bill Mollison's books: Introduction to Permaculture Permaculture Permaculture Two Permaculture: A Designer's Manual Also there is Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway and John Todd, which is aimed at us temperate climate gardeners. Sue...See MorePermaculture in a troubling location?
Comments (10)I could never eat bunnies! :-)I could imagine pet ones,but that doesn't really further susainability one bit.... With the tan oaks just removed from my driveway area, a lot more sun is coming through there. I want to try growing berries in the stumps. Any advice on that? I think we are going to focus on stormwater management and explore water catchement as well as improving our greywater system so that the water does not turn black anymore (We have a good book on that.) I'm going to experiment with planting guilds of natives just so that I can explore the natural relationships. We certainly can produce berries in the sunnier spots, if not on most of the property. We get our produce from a CSA anyway...and I have a community vegetable garden (small) up the street. In our remodeling, we are looking at choosing the most ecologically sensitive materials and methods we can determine. I can create a lot of good habitat in my yard. Probably, my best opportunity on this property is to concentrate on native revegetation and treat a lot of the place more like a Zone 5, which I get to learn from. In the next five years, I expect we'll move to a sunnier spot. For now, I continue to be taught by the forest. thanks for all your advice. Keep em coming!...See More- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
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dandy_line (Z3b N Cent Mn)