Could we have an urban/suburban permie picture thread?

Inspired by this thread ( https://permies.com/t/106579/Converting-spouse ), and my own nascent project, it’d be great if we got a bunch of pictures of permaculture projects that visually fit into traditional landscaping. Foundation plantings, front yardh islands, vines trailing up porches (without wrecking them).... let’s see how beautiful they can be!

Here’s my project.... nothing planted yet, but the infiltration swale (tied into a downspout) and double berm are nearly completed.

Hi Daniel, thanks for posting these pictures! Looks like you are near where half of me comes from, my grandmother (who adopted me) was from Ringtown, PA, and my grandfather's mother was also from the same area. I haven't been there since the 1970s, but keep dreaming of going back and seeing if any of my old relatives are still there.

My messy backyard is in the SF Bay Area, it was just clay and weed lawn and I've been experimenting over the past year to have fun and see what works. I have zero gardening experience until 2017. Let's see if I can get these pictures to show...

Thought I would add, my husband wont let me get rid of the grass, but I stealthily try to make it smaller and smaller...

Not looking like much yet, the front yard garden I made at my dad's house in the city is designed to retain rainwater, need low-to-no irrigation, be a pollinator habitat, and contains several edible plants.  



https://permies.com/t/128295/permaculture-projects/Urban-permaculture-project-San-Antonio

I moved from 8 acres to "the city" a year and a half ago.   It's a 9,500 sqft lot,  with most of it in a large flat backyard.  It was pretty much a grass blank slate with a shed when I moved in.   18 mos later I've put in a LOT,   buffer/ planting zones around fence,  an island with trees etc.,  reseeded the grass lawn with cloves and encouraged the purslane...  and put in a reclaimed brick herb spiral.   The planting zone varies from 6-12 feet wide and is covered with cardboard,  8" of woodchips,  grass clippings, chopped leaves and pine needles.  

The trees, shrubs, perennials, etc. list that I've got in already is pretty long.    I just laid out a new island bed for overwinter that next year will hopefully become a small (secret) quail hutch, surrounded by shrubs, herbs, and flowers.  

These are some great pics! Love that herb spiral

Here’s what my garden looked like on July 1st. It’s a bit, well, asleep now.

D

 This is the first island.   It started with some birch trees,  an ornamental jap.maple,   and some hostas.      A (very popular) birdbath has been added,  and now I've filled it with strawberry plants and spring flower bulbs as well.    I may have to rethink the strawberries/ bird bath together if I expect to get any, but it is my 2nd strawberry patch.    It may very well expand a few feet and have understory shrubs tucked in as the trees grow up.  

One more...  I'd love to see this thread pick up with more folks sharing pictures!!    I put in two annual veggie areas this year,  one with rabbit fencing where my 9 strawberry plants went nuts and provided me with hundreds of new plans, and this one with an arch for mini pumpkins and tomatoes.  Both areas will change a lot next year but because of where I am, and because you never know when life changes, I try to keep it attractive and in "sellable" condition most of the time...  

 

Love the squash arch!

Heather Staas wrote:
because you never know when life changes, I try to keep it attractive and in "sellable" condition most of the time...  

That's important for my dad's place also.  Though it looks like he's trying to live forever we know that's not really possible and at some point in the not too distant future his house will need to be sold.  I originally didn't plan to make many changes, but since I'm spending so much time there, I decided I needed a garden.  Also, I want to put action to my words.  I'm always going on here about how important permaculture is in the city, so decided I will try to make a permaculture garden which fits into the neighborhood.  There's a lot of potential at his place, which has a biggish back yard adjoining a seasonal creek "drainage easement".  I'm thinking of trying to re-establish native vegetation there and blend it into some food forestry.  The main challenge with the property is that it is dominated by huge oak trees that cast a great deal of shade, though in South Texas shade isn't such a bad thing.

The neighbor to the South has talked about wanting something similar to the xeriscape portion of the garden, so I'll just do a variation on what I recently completed, with the same assortment of plants.  This will solve the problem of a little corner of lawn that always dies out in Summer because it gets too much sun.  

The backside of my property is lined with 6 silver maples.    You can see some of the afternoon shade cast by them in the pictures.   The neighbors have been telling me they plan to have them cut down (they get all of the leaf mess and none of the shade from them).     I'm having mixed feelings.   I partly purchased the property for the afternoon shade,  I am NOT a sun lover.    On the other hand, they are terrible water hogs and growing in front of that back fenceline will be much more versatile if they are gone.    I'm hoping it takes them a couple more years to save up for it,  and I've put in some young trees like the birch, and a mulberry to start working towards replacing it with my own shade.   They are not gardeners,  more typical urban.    Wide open grass only with a swimming pool right in the middle.  

I really miss SOME aspects of my 8 acre farm, and I'm actively looking for some sort of community garden opportunity to either start or get involved in.   Besides, year one and I'm already producing more plants, divisions, seedlings, etc. than I can use myself on this property.   Still seeking out like minded folks to grow and share with!  

This must be divine intervention! I just found this site TODAY. Looking for info on my URBAN Ohio zone 6a yard. I love all the post and think this will be the place to get helpful information. I am in a "higher" class suburban neighborhood where all the neighbors have the typical beautiful landscaped yards. We have the ugliest yard as we stopped spraying chemicals in our yard years ago. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to push mow our yard. My husband and I are very busy professionals-(me, by force-I am a tree hugger by heart..lol). I want to cut down on mowing by making a potager garden right outside the back door and a natural native island "meadow" in the back of the property. I have limited composing materials -basically the neighbors 8 pine trees dropping needles in my yard. I have a blank canvas-help!...Where do I start?

These are so beautiful!  Thank you for sharing!    I feel inspired.

Great thread!

I’d just make my yard into a suburban food forest like James Prigioni’s (see his YouTube channel if you don’t know of him, he’s done an inspiring thing).

It’s quite easy in concept: cover the entire yard in free arborist chips in a Back To Eden method and keep adding to it over time. Plant some fruit trees and some plants.

I can’t do any of that because it won’t look ‘neat’ for the future owner or tenant, spouse wants the lawn and paving as they are, it’s expensive to buy large attractive containers to grow trees in (as well as sourcing potting mix), and neighbour buildings are on the fence line so large trees aren’t possible. Because small trees are densely planted I can’t really plant vines on the fence because of root competition.

If anyone has solutions let me know!

Following this tread with great interest. Just FYI there's an app called "chipdrop". It's a free service that you sign up for to have arborists drop their chips in your yard. From their website; "We help gardeners find free wood chip mulch near them. We also help arborists locate cheap, local drop sites for their wood chips and logs." and here's the link: https://getchipdrop.com/ there are also videos on them on youtube. I haven't used them yet but hope to in near future. One thing to know is that you can't specify the quantity of chips you want. You may get more than what you want or need. On the other hand, you could share with your neighbors .

And be sure you have the space for them to access and dump the chips. Many people want chips but don’t have the space for the large trucks; many arborists will refuse. I had only a small arborist  truck dump chips from up the road and the pile was HUGE. You don’t realise how high and heavy it is until it’s sitting on your driveway. It was on the driveway but spilled over onto the sidewalk and neighbour’s driveway and I freaked out as I had to move it all somehow. A wheelbarrow will make it a lot faster and easier to spread around; I only had a garden bag and shovel (don’t have space for a wheelbarrow) and it was hell trying to move it all.

I had GREAT success with chipdrop, and had them delivered to my work parking lot.   But I got 2x what I needed, lol.    I've been trying to give them away on craigslist, FB marketplace,  local Nextdoor site,  no luck.   Blows my mind,  I looked for free chips for months;  am I really the only person in my part of the state looking for free clean wood chips?!  LOL.    Now I've got to pay someone to move them before snow plowing starts.   I'm not complaining though,  they are fabulous mixed chips and they've already reduced/ started composting by half.    Chipdrop did take about 8 weeks after my request before the delivery but it was a good haul!  

Bren I love your property and all the mature trees there!    So much potential.   Where to start?   That's so personal.   It sounds like you've already spent time observing and mapping out the plot.    I would suggest starting with what is most important to you.  Sounds like reducing mowing and getting that kitchen garden in?   One idea for reducing mowing is to put a wide mulch ring in around under your trees.    Depending on how much you want to do,   maybe even connect them into large "islands."   You could easily reduce your mowing by half just with that step.   Do you WANT all of the trees?   any plans to get remove certain ones?   That might be a first step too,  if possible,  get that done and out of the way before you start building gardens.    If it were me I'd be stockpiling cardboard and finding some free wood chips ;)  

Tim Kivi wrote:

Because small trees are densely planted I can’t really plant vines on the fence because of root competition.

I don't think root competition is that big of an issue if you can irrigate and feed the soil adequately.  Plants in a natural habitat often grow right next to each other with no problem.  The main concern is to make sure the vine doesn't overgrow the tree and crush it or block too much light.

Half of my front yard.

Bren Doyle wrote:I want to cut down on mowing by making a potager garden right outside the back door and a natural native island "meadow" in the back of the property. I have limited composing materials -basically the neighbors 8 pine trees dropping needles in my yard. I have a blank canvas-help!...Where do I start?

If trucks can have access, you can have an arborist dump a mountain of wood chips on your future garden spot. Doesn’t matter how big it is because it shrinks as it decomposes and the air gaps collapse, you can use the excess to mulch the trees and anything else, and you can use the soon-fully-composted parts for pots and seedling trays. That’ll solve your lack of compost materials, kill the grass underneath (preferably layer with cardboard first), create good soil for plants, and reduce watering needs.

If you have a spare spot you can have a second wood chip pile for future compost. It’s like having a hundred compost bins.

Or if that’s too unsightly, just layer with cardboard and have a bulk delivery of compost delivered to your future garden spot. It’ll cost money and won’t be anywhere near as much as an arborist’s though.

Tim Kivi wrote:
Or if that’s too unsightly, just layer with cardboard and have a bulk delivery of compost delivered to your future garden spot.

Personally I would avoid that because so much compost these days contains persistent herbicides. The worst persistent herbicides are in hay and consequently in compost made with hay or manure.  It's really horrible.

Wow! I just want to say thank you everyone for your input. Heather-yes I want to keep my trees. Are you in Ohio? I could use some of your mulch LOL. Tyler-you are right-I do not want any pesticides in my yard. I would use the mulch at first to map out curved walking paths to keyhole garden plots right between the brick patio and large pine tree. I am OBSESSED with permaculture and this garden design which is really stupid cause it is winter now (5 inches of snow and 20 degrees last week.) I am late to the party so I want to thank all of you for your input- much appreciated!

Heather Staas wrote:I had GREAT success with chipdrop, and had them delivered to my work parking lot.   But I got 2x what I needed, lol.  

Wow, I always get jealous when US/Canadian people show off their permaculture gardens with pathways and everything mulched in woodchips.

Here in Germany, woodchips are VERY pricey. Around 30 USD for a cubic meter if it's a good deal and that might be a very coarse quality (and which does not get you very far).

As gardens tend to be small here and people like to work their garden themselves (we don't have cheap immigrant gardeners), there are few gardening/landscaping companies.
If trees or branches are put down, the company will use the wood to either make own compost, sell to a biogas plant (very common here - many corn fields are planted merely for the crop to be used in biogas facilities) or made into woodchips for house heating systems.

I have not entirely given up on the nice beds with mulched paths, so I will talk things through with my husband and look into the possibility to source some chips from the local company (I once asked them and they said they could offer me something for around 20 USD or so).

I would love to have this option as humus building on my clay soil is slow when I can't add much organic material.

My folks have a thornless blackberry on the southerly side of their house, and over the years, I have propagated it again and again.  It was getting a little burly, so this past year for mother's day, I set up a series of arches for her and the new bushes.

There are also a few blueberry bushes against the house, protected by bird netting, and fed by free mulch from a local tree service.

Moved into a new house about 6 months ago. Midlands England.
So far I have laid a groundsheet of weed suppression fabric for where raised beds are going, with a wood chip pathway around them, and a small fence. The plan is to have 4x 10ft by 4ft beds with polytunnel roofs.
I have also built a herb spiral from reclaimed bricks that were in the back yard of my old job. I've also put up a small greenhouse for seedlings and I have a few pots growing.
Also ripped up the wooden decking next to the house to make space for a slabbed seating area and a small lawn. Refurbished cleared out and fitted the outdoor shed with electricity and a light.
Cut down an old scabby apple tree that fell over and a few laurel bushes that were choking the front of the shed and stuffed them between some conifers at the back of the garden to create a dense dead wood habitat.
Built a compost bin from pallets and old metal brackets, which I've been filling with vegetable scraps from the restaurant where I work (one rucksack full at a time ) and dead leaves. Added a second bay but that's storing stuff to be taken to the tip left by the last tenant right now.  
Really looking forward to next year when it warms up again so I can make more progress. Plans for next year are to build and fill the beds, knock down the small wall and turf one side and slab the other, get rid of the rusty chiminea and build a bonfire/BBQ pit from reclaimed brick, chop down the apple tree and the pear tree on the right hand side near the compost bins (they didn't produce well and are scabby and old, I'm keeping the damson tree and cherry tree), etc etc etc... Big plans. Gonna make it a productive and relaxing space to be in

Edit- forgot to mention plans for chickens too, my parents have an old wooden coop they are refurbishing and the plan is to situate them on the left hand side of the veg beds in that little alleyway of grass- with the coop at the end of the beds closest to the house and a run going all the way down to the shed

Tim Kivi wrote:Great thread!
If anyone has solutions let me know!

Hi Tim, I do!

Looking at all your concrete, I'd put in a series of self watering horse troughs if I were you. I went to a big organic farm up in Idaho, and the owner had a greenhouse full of them sitting on concrete, and I have never seen such beautiful plants. She said she grows in there year round and uses very little water. I am thinking of installing a couple on my concrete patio, as I hate watering things in pots/beds and wasting so much water.

I have her book (her name is Mary Jane of Mary Jane's Farm in Moscow Idaho) and can try to scan in her article if you want, but I've found some similar instructions on the internet

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/349662358564203299
https://valoriesgarden.weebly.com/blog/making-a-self-watering-horse-trough-planter

I wish I would have thought of this when I bought my horse troughs, although I did but the bottoms out of mine and put them on dirt, but I'm constantly struggling to get the water right for the things I have on concrete.

Good luck with your project!

Samuel Mcloughlin wrote:
Cut down an old scabby apple tree that fell over and a few laurel bushes that were choking the front of the shed and stuffed them between some conifers at the back of the garden to create a dense dead wood habitat.
Built a compost bin from pallets and old metal brackets, which I've been filling with vegetable scraps from the restaurant where I work (one rucksack full at a time ) and dead leaves. Added a second bay but that's storing stuff to be taken to the tip left by the last tenant right now.  
Really looking forward to next year when it warms up again so I can make more progress. Plans for next year are to build and fill the beds, knock down the small wall and turf one side and slab the other, get rid of the rusty chiminea and build a bonfire/BBQ pit from reclaimed brick, chop down the apple tree and the pear tree on the right hand side near the compost bins (they didn't produce well and are scabby and old, I'm keeping the damson tree and cherry tree), etc etc etc... Big plans.

Hi Samuel,

reading all of what you accomplished already is very inspiring and instills enthusiasm! With all that done in only 6 months I get the feeling I should have accomplished much more in the many years I am gardening...

Anyway, I wanted to ask about the laurels. In Germany, the Prunus laurocerasus is considered an invasive neophyt. Birds spread the seeds and thus the bushes pop up in natural habitats, endangering local species. The local fauna is not adapted to this bush and the only thing it offers is a bit of shelter and some pollen, but some native bush/tree would be far more attractive for the wildlife. Something similar goes for the conifers.
Both became popular in the 70ies and 80ies and are still a plague around here.
Do you know how the situation is in the UK?

On the other hand, an old fruit tree (even if it is not productive anymore) is a valuable habitat for animals like dormouse or some birds. Of course it would be a luxury to keep an old tree in a small garden if you could plant something which gives you nice fruit instead!

Have fun with more planning over the winter, and love your frog!

Welcome in my garden! It is in the town of Meppel, eastern part of the Netherlands. Here you enter the front yard.

the green gate
This is the situation as it is now (November)

the 'Hugelkultur' with rhubarb and the small pond with water-mint
It looked like this last summer, but now I changed it. New photos will follow next year if I don't forget

The blue bench, the miniature food forest and herb spiral and the green gate from the inside

Great post.  Very nice transformations going on here!  Question for George Y: how did you make the arches for mom's berry bushes?  They are so tall.  Would have to be sturdy.  What metal/wire was used?  I need some sort of arch for my clematis vine.  It was trailing all over the ground and I tied it up temporarily onto a metal railing that's about to topple over.  Want a simple yet sturdy idea that doesn't require too much skill (as have to put it up myself) and that looks "natural" in a woodsy setting.  

Kali Hermitage wrote:Hi Tim, I do!

Looking at all your concrete, I'd put in a series of self watering horse troughs if I were you. I went to a big organic farm up in Idaho, and the owner had a greenhouse full of them sitting on concrete, and I have never seen such beautiful plants.

Thanks Kali, I hadn’t thought of horse troughs for wicking beds/Self-Irrigation Planters. I see lots of iron raised beds being sold that look identical to those but with the bottom missing.

There’s a much easier way than those you showed. The Australian man who started the wicking bed system decades ago (at least in Australia) says that his original system is unnecessarily complicated. He now doesn’t even use a divider between the soil and water: just fill the whole container with a potting mix and let the water run through a pipe and wick through the whole soil. The irony is that everyone follows his original design whilst he’s moved on to a new system. I used to have a PDF where he talks about this but it’s now hard to find on google.

They’re all quite expensive at the moment, but if I can find a free one I’ll definitely give it a go. I’ve even considered making one out of a full size plastic bathtub because they’re so light that even a child can carry one.. I don’t have a trailer and just drive a normal car so I can’t transport much.

This summer I’m focusing on just a few varieties of vegetables because I want to gain confident in knowing I can become self-sufficient in some things. In winter I have so much spinach growing without help that I can’t possibly eat even half of it. This summer I’m focusing on tomatoes, chillies, and potted fig trees. I’d rather have 20 tomato plants growing so that I don’t need to buy them, rather than just a few tomato plants that I’m too reluctant to pick because of fear of running out.

Hi Anita. Personally I don't know about the laurels and conifers, but they both seem very popular around here and I don't know why... The way that conifers kill the soil underneath them has defeated my original plan for succulent beds at the bottom of the garden, but it's okay cause the problem is the solution and I decided to leave it as a far zone wild habitat sort of area, and that solved the issue of where to pile up dead wood so...
Wanting to preserve as much of this garden but for those trees I'm taking out, they will be replaced with something valuable to the garden and a longer term asset I'm thinking a dwarf pomegranate or persimmon and perhaps some blackberry's in large pots (biodynamic heirloom seedlings started already for the blackberry).

Samuel Mcloughlin wrote:Hi Anita. Personally I don't know about the laurels and conifers, but they both seem very popular around here and I don't know why... The way that conifers kill the soil underneath them has defeated my original plan for succulent beds at the bottom of the garden, but it's okay cause the problem is the solution and I decided to leave it as a far zone wild habitat sort of area, and that solved the issue of where to pile up dead wood so...
Wanting to preserve as much of this garden but for those trees I'm taking out, they will be replaced with something valuable to the garden and a longer term asset I'm thinking a dwarf pomegranate or persimmon and perhaps some blackberry's in large pots (biodynamic heirloom seedlings started already for the blackberry).

Hi Samuel, thanks for specifying. I was just wondering if there is a similar discussion in the UK. I had already read about your dead tree habitat, which sounds like a very good idea! I have also started to pile up dead/cut trees between several stakes driven into the soil vertically. Ideally, this should have been done on the border of the garden (according to the concept of the three zones: production - hot spots - borders).
But as long as the (teen) kids insist on having both a swing and a trampoline (both of which they use maybe once a season...) a redesign of the garden has to wait...

Good luck with pomegranates, they would not survive in our climate.

Inge,  I love those photos!    That mullein on the corner of the bed is just perfect too.  

OK, after posting some comments without actually contributing photos, here are some from my garden.
This is the veggie patch which basically runs on the southern facing side between house wall and fence to the neighbours (only 3-4 meters in width).

First pic is the veggie patch in almost all length, second pic is from the house looking in direction of the fence (in September). In the background you can see the new raised bed and the greenhouse behind the apple tree (which is very old and produced a big amount of super tasty apples this year).
ETA: On the left (in the first pic) you can see the row of tomato plants that are protected by a transparent shield which my husband built for the tomatoes to keep them free of blight. They are usually better than the tomatoes grown in the greenhouse - much more taste!

The beds do not look as neat right now. In the pics, they were newly laid out two summers ago after some serious earthworks (to insulate the basement), so almost no weeds and everything tidy!

OH Anita!  those are inspiring photos!

Anita that's an impressive garden and so beautiful

My main garden along the front porch has finally flooped over, although the asparagus and hardscaping still provide some visual structure. I’m thinking about popping in some of those purple ornamental cabbages at intervals. Might be a little late to put them in here, as it’s below freezing at night sometimes, but that means they should be cheap at the greenhouses, right?

I’ll post a picture of it happens.


Inge, that looks amazing. I wonder, could you provide a closeup of your mini pond? I’ve been trying to figure out some small water features.

Still loving this thread!

D

I added a patch for vegetables to the side of my dad's front yard.  I plan to plant a combination of annual and perennial edibles.

Daniel Ackerman wrote:My main garden along the front porch has finally flooped over, although the asparagus and hardscaping still provide some visual structure. I’m thinking about popping in some of those purple ornamental cabbages at intervals. Might be a little late to put them in here, as it’s below freezing at night sometimes, but that means they should be cheap at the greenhouses, right?

Daniel, that would not be my choice, such plants cultivated in a greenhouse, often with use of chemicals ...

Daniel Ackerman wrote:
Inge, that looks amazing. I wonder, could you provide a closeup of your mini pond? I’ve been trying to figure out some small water features.
Still loving this thread!
D

Daniel, I do have some close-up photos, but no recently made ones. I am in the progress of changing this part of my front-yard. I'll make new photos next spring to show here (I have to keep that in mind).
I can tell you: this small pond is not 'all natural'. I dug a hole and put a blue plastic children's play pool/sand box in it. That was a few years ago. Now you hardly see anything of that blue plastic anymore, it's all overgrown with marsh plants. Mostly Mentha aquatica and Veronica beccabunga (I give Latin names, I know the Dutch names, but not how you would call them).

Heather Staas wrote:Inge,  I love those photos!    That mullein on the corner of the bed is just perfect too.  

Heather, I pampered that mullein. Verbascums are native, but fairly rare plants in my region. I got seeds from someone and threw them out in the garden. The seed that sprouted was that one plant between the pavement ... So I removed a part of the pavement to give that plant some living space. This summer it was blooming, like you saw on the photo. I collected the seedstalks afterwards, and put them in another part of the garden. Hopefully they will start growing there ...

Samuel Mcloughlin wrote:Moved into a new house about 6 months ago. Midlands England.

I miss the Midlands.  Was in Leiecestershire for 12 years and had developed a couple of beautiful gardens and a several allotments.   This is a great little film to help you on your way...