I've decided to make my property more aesthetic and saleable, if I decide to go down that route.
I have heavy clay soil and in the past I have just mounded up raised beds. My garden looked a bit like a farm and I was walking mud everywhere when it rained or was watered.
I've since bitten the bullet and bought some hardwood sleepers to make some pretty beds. It's possibly not very permaculturey but better than not growing your own food.
I'm going to post videos and photos here to document it.
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, It's not." - Dr Seuss
Looks great and I would say it's totes permie. You're creating edges and maximising the usefulness of a limited space, plus the bonus of not taking your fertile soil into your living quarters where it does less good.
I filled the bottom of the beds with a failed hot compost I guess you could call it huglecultureish. Then capped them with the weed seed laiden top soil I removed when roughly levelling the site. I will cover that with cardboard to try reduce weed pressure and a thick layer of compost for growies.
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"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, It's not." - Dr Seuss
I think it's permaculture if what you're doing increases the chances of it becoming a permanent feature of the property. The more esthetically pleasing the better. Most people can't understand the "messiness" of food foresty permaculture, so I think we can design gardens which adhere more closely to traditional garden designs while using permaculture principles.
In other words, it doesn't have to be a mess to be permaculture (in my opinion).
We went raised beds asap after moving to our current location. Our soil is red clay and gravel - so much so that I even looked into how to do primitive pottery using it, LOL. We had top import our dirt, but it was well worth it. The good part of the trade off is that moving from zone 4 to zone 8 we had a wonderful winter garden (no bugs to battle!). Now putting in wicking pots in less level areas (yep, we are hilly, too). Nice creek at the back of the property though, we like it here.
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RAISED BEDS FIRST GOING IN (CLAY SOIL)
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WINTER GARDEN - DECEMBER 2018
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our creek - not fancy, not potable, but it IS water...
The patch is starting to ramp up now. We've been eating broccoli, radishes and plenty of greens. The broad beans are just starting to to form pods and cabbages are forming heads. The Brussels sprouts are going to seed so I think they were planted a little too late. I've been direct seeding herbs, kale and chilies as things come out and transplanted my rather sad looking tomato seedlings.