My permaculture project in progress.

I'm clearing up a junked up piece on the south side of

the pole barn so I can try to put in a perennial garden/insectory.

I'm hoping to create a space that will provide resources for the honey bees,

native Mason bees and other pollinator and also attract beneficial/predatory

insects and make some habitat for lady bugs and other beetle.

So I have been chipping away at it for weeks now just trying to get to the actual soil.

I'm tracking my progress here http://plantsandsoil.blogspot.com/ just in case

I actually get it done and it looks ok. Some of the strategies in Gaia's Garden

will be my guides. I am also going to do a lot of propagation of existing plants

and try to pot them up to give them a jump start for this Spring.

Welcome any ideas and shared experience.

Thanks for sharing! It will be interesting to see how your project grows.

Thanks! It doesn't look like much right now but I'm hoping to transform that

wasted area into something nice.  If nothing else, it is a study in reality checking

a vision in your head with the aching in your back [size=20pt][/size]

PS. I posted the link to my amateurish google blog because it is better than using up bandwidth

posting a lot of pictures here but this is what I'm working with for space.

To give a sense of perspective, the distance from the fence line to the corner of the pole barn is 29 feet

so the approximate square footage of the area I have to work with is 707 sq feet... I think.

That doesn't seem right. The radius is 29 feet and it is a quarter circle. Anyway...here is one picture of the space...

bear in mind that I am not even close to being done clearing all the sh!# that has accumulated there.

(Anyone have some creative uses for fencing scraps??)





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I'm enjoying this and applaud your project!  Fencing scraps?  I would use fencing scraps (if I understand you right, you mean wire fencing?)  for plant trellising, perhaps, or, if you have a section that is about 11 feet long and around 3 feet high (if it's higher you can bend over the excess) you can make a cylinder and use it for compost or leaf mulch......  I have sometimes had to really hunt for the right fencing scraps for my compost cylinders! (the way I prefer to create a composting structure....)  Usually it seems you can't just buy it cut to length and I am not wanting 25 or 35 feet of it!

anyway, those two uses come immediately to mind.

enjoyed your blog too.  Nice to see that barn storage turned from chaos to order! 

Most of the scraps I have to decide what to do with are five to ten feet in length...bone fide  scraps....but

then you look at them and think "maybe I could make a compost sifter" or "maybe I'll need tis to patch a

hole in the fence" and you can't decide what to do...even if it is rusty after sitting outside.

But at this point I'm ready to discard most of it.

You see that 4 inch pvc pipe? It is resting on one roll and just to the right is another roll. Those

are the "keepers". The stuff you can't see in this picture are the scraps hugging the grass.

Are you unhappy with the square footage?

I was reading a blog recently from a city dweller who had a small lot and wanted to put in a garden. Anyway, I looked at those photos (it was a small yard), but the thought came to mind that if they put massive berms in, that it would have acted as a gorgeous privacy border as well as potentially doubling or even tripling their available space. So many people have been taught to think in straight lines and flat surfaces that it's hard to think in more dimensions.

A thought on your wood scraps... worm bins? Build an outside framework out of the wood, but also put untreated scraps into the bins themselves (hugelkultur style). Uh... see that you have chickens, may want to do some slats over the tops to protect the worms....
Just an idea.

Your project looks like a fun and rewarding project.

looks like my yard - I'm a hoarder too  you'll need those scraps just as soon as you chuck them out !!!

good thing is you've got grass growing, so however bad the soil seems to you, its supporting grass growth and therefore - with a heavy mulch - will support a good mix of perrenial and annual plants. I'd lean heavily towards natives and just extend the flowering season with non natives. Remember plants have more time on their hands to improve the soil than you do and they're better at it !!
keep us posted 

Roger

looks like a lovely promising spot..will keep an eye on how it comes along

I see a chicken, bees, and a bunch of tubs that could be awesome as raised beds or ponds.  I know how hard it is to clear out piles of clutter--working on that myself.  Keep up the good work.