Brian Hamilton

Thanks for that reference, Vanessa! I hadn't heard of biochar, and I'm intrigued.

Just wanted to say, Leigh—I read Stika's soil book last night, and it was _fantastic_. I feel like a light bulb is on now. Thanks so much for that reference.

Thanks for that book reference, Leigh! That's exactly what I needed. I just bought a copy, and I'm looking forward to reading it. And I appreciate the specific ideas about soil remediation, Dan and Vanessa. Really grateful to have some other Floridians here.

I'm backing off the tiller, reading the Stika book, looking for some good mulch cover free of herbicides, and dreaming up a plan for whole yard. Glad to have a gameplan! Thanks again.

Thanks, Dan and Leigh! Really helpful suggestions. I'll get to work sketching out the long-term vision, and I'll definitely make good on the rain barrel idea.

I'm intrigued (and pleased) to hear that I don't need to till. Your explanations makes sense. Two follow-up questions, though:

(1) Early last summer, before we moved in, someone had come through and scattered rye seed all over the yard. Very little of it took, as you can see. I've been guessing that one big part of the reason for that is that the soil is pretty compacted up next to the house, and I thought tilling would loosen it up. Is it enough just to drag a garden rake over it, do you think?

(2) Is there anything special I need to do to prep the yard for sod, if I want to lay sod down? Again, I was thinking that tilling would open the soil up to accept the roots a little better.

Grateful for your help!

Thank you, Annie! I'm really excited to have discovered this forum.

Hi, all! New to this forum, and to permaculture in general.

I'm looking for advice as I hit the reset button on my small suburban yard in central Florida. My wife and I moved into the place last summer, and the yard had been neglected or a long time prior. There's not much of anything growing here now, including grass. I'd like to have some lawn to sit and lie and play in, but I'd also like to get a decent garden started.

My plan right now is to lightly till up the whole yard, front and back, and lay grass seed (or maybe even some sod) over most of it, leaving room for beds and a garden. I have a lot of fall leaves still lying around, so I was going to till some of those into the beds and garden and reserve the rest to use as mulch.

But I recognize that's all very conventional. I don't want to get six or eight months into this—especially now that I'm reading more about permaculture—and wish I'd done something differently from the start. So do any of you have any words of wisdom for me as I get started, I'd be grateful for it.