Richard Gorny

Josie Bartlett wrote:I have an apple orchard under planted pretty heavily with comfrey. It worked well for the first couple years, but this past year I had too much calcium in my soil report. I plan to move a lot of the comfrey this year and I stopped mulching the orchard with it last year. Once this years soil test comes back I can see if I was relying too heavily on the comfrey.

Welcome to the forums! :)

It is very interesting, can you share how soil samples have been collected? The reason I ask is that usually what we observe with comfrey is that calcium levels can get higher in the upper few (2-6) inches of soil, but they stay pretty much constant deeper.

Just a note - by placing beds in line with uphill-downhill you are putting them at risk of increased soil erosion and drying out faster, since water will more readily flow downhill after each rain.
Aligning beds on contour is usually a better choice, unless you are in a very wet climate and you can actually benefit from less water.

Hello Veronica, welcome to Permies!

Where to start? There are many options.

Firstly, I would suggest to ask a local permaculture folks for assistance, San Francisco has some big names, perhaps someone will agree to help on-site.

If that turns out not to be an option, then one of the biggest permaculture wisdoms is "Start Small" - perhaps you can start with garden in pots? There is a great book on that topic, by Juliet Kemp. And since you mentioned that you do not have gardening experience, I strongly recommend to read Gaia Garden by late Toby Hemenway.

Last, but not least, perhaps in your community are people who would like to be involved, and luckily some of them might have a green thumb? Ask around, and if there are any similar projects in your vicinity, try to make friends with them.

This is my first tomato sowing of 2026, finished just now. Seeds broadcast onto a damp paper towel, placed inside a closed container. This round is meant to select for fast germinators. They have 7 days to sprout; those that don’t make it go to the compost. All seeds come from fruits harvested in 2025, grown in my own garden.

I will be starting to germinate first tomato seeds today and over the period of the next two days. That's what moon planting calendar says, and even if it doesn't help, it will certainly doesn't hurt :)

My seeds are divided into a couple of categories. Firstly, by tomato bush and fruit size. So, I will start with micro-dwarf that usually can go outside early, since I grow them in containers on the terrace, then dwarfs, and finally indeterminate cherry varieties followed by the indeterminate large fruit ones. I will be planting them all outside in the same order.

Then, there are common seeds, that I have plenty of them, collected from my own tomatoes, those I will just mix and toss on a wet paper towel, place the towel in a try with lid and I will be checking them daily. Each seed that shows a root will be planted into a tray filled with potting mix.

Last, but not least, there are "precious" seeds that I have a few - from seed exchange with other growers for instance. Those will be placed in a small container (like pizza / hot sauce), separated by variety, 2-5 seeds each, nothing inside just seeds and moisture. They will be checked daily and sprinkled with water if needed. They mustn't dry out, it kills them, but they mustn't stay submerged in water as well.

I will place all trays and containers in the warmest room in the house, which is bathroom. If temperature goes below 24 degrees Celsius consistently, I might consider using either heat mat or just heat the room more. I will give the seeds up to 7 days to germinate, no more. Usually it takes 3 to 5 days from the start to the moment when gernminating seed with a tiny root is being planted.

Aesthetics is a framework—a set of criteria or cultural rules about what is considered pleasing. It is shaped by trends, traditions, and social expectations. A trimmed lawn, a gravel path, an ornamental garden—these are aesthetic choices.

Beauty, on the other hand, is more fundamental and harder to define. It is often experienced rather than constructed. It can arise unexpectedly, even outside accepted aesthetic norms.

Permaculture tends to challenge dominant aesthetics while still producing beauty. A classic example is a food forest, potager garden, wildflower strip full of pollinators.

what unifying design principles it would have?

Coherence with natural patterns, visible functions, soft boundaries and meaningful edges, layers of richness, to name a few...

I know it "from the other side". Someone calls me that his printer/PC/phone doesn't work. It starts working as soon as I enter the room.

Only one thing beats that in terms of frequency - someone calls me that his printer/PC/phone doesn't work. As soon as I enter the room I see that the device is not plugged in.

I would say that whatever is absent in your neighborhood will sell nicely. And the bigger diversity you offer, the better.
What about strawberries? Chives? Garlic? Broccoli? Zuccchinis? Radishes? Chillies? Berries?
Anything that is in season at the particular time.
You might observe what people put into their carts in grocery store, I'm sure they choose wide selection of produce. You can offer the same, but better tasting :)

If I had to pick just one, that would be stinging nettle. When snow melts a tiny seedlings are pure vitamin bomb, so much needed after winter. I simmer them for 10 minutes usually and drink "nettle tea". Later, when nettles are a bit bigger, they are staple in my breakfasts, chopped and fried with eggs. They grow a bit bigger, and they are steamed as spinach. In the same time they go into buckets to turn into compost tea for a garden. I plant them in forest garden, to use as "chop & drop" mulch. They are the only food for some butterflies' caterpilars. Later in the season they go to seed, and the seeds have high nutritional profile as well. You can use nettles to make a strong cord, dye fabric or cure arthritis with their stings too if you are brave enough :)

Haha, the very first thing I thought about was felling a tree, too. Normally I would do that alone but this particular tree was difficult, so I have hired an experienced person to do that.
What supposed to be a quick half an hour job turned out to be four hours struggle, with a few near miss situations. We have managed to finish it in the end, but despite of frosty day we had sweat in out boots lol