posted 9 hours ago
Hello everyone,
This is my very first post here. I’ve been quietly reading for weeks, soaking up all the kindness and real-life wisdom on this forum, and today I finally worked up the nerve to say hello. My name is Leland. The days aren’t so bad I keep busy but the evenings… they stretch out empty. I sit on the back porch with my tea and the quiet feels louder than any noise.
That’s why I’m here. I stumbled across permaculture videos on youtube one sleepless night and something clicked. I don’t want a big vegetable garden that will stress me out. I want something small, gentle, and alive that can keep me company when the sun goes down. So I came up with this silly-sounding idea I’m calling an “evening solace spiral.”
Picture a little herb-spiral bed (I’ve seen the photos here and they look so cozy), but built mostly for dusk and twilight. Low maintenance perennials whose leaves rustle softly in the breeze, flowers that open or smell strongest as the light fades, maybe a few plants that quietly draw in fireflies or moths or the neighborhood birds for that soft “someone else is here” feeling. Nothing that needs constant weeding or watering once it’s settled. I thought maybe start with a tiny hugelkultur mound (4–5 feet across max) right outside my kitchen window so I can see it from the sink.
I have almost zero experience I killed a pothos once but I’m ready to learn slowly and kindly. Has anyone ever built something like this, even if you didn’t call it a “solace spiral”? What three or four plants would you put in the very first layer for evening comfort and easy care? Any tricks for making the spiral stable but soft on an older back? And most of all… did gardening ever help any of you through the loneliest seasons?
I’d be so grateful for any thoughts. Just knowing other permies are out there reading this already feels less lonely.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
Leland.
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