The 'Beginning' progress for first year applying permaculture techniques

These are pics from today (April2012). There a several other planted areas but these are the most concentrated. Of course all the plants are just a couple of inches tall but I am expecting it to look like a jungle soon.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.292522040820090.67008.100001868904943&type=3&l=2363985e56
garden progress 2012

Interested in what edible pond plants you might be growing!

If you click on each picture there is a short list of the plants that are in each - except the little pond - that is a water lily of course. But I am thinking of putting some cattails in there becuase I have heard they are edible and they supposedly will help keep the water clean.

Other than what is listed in the pictures we also have sunchokes (our first year) plum, pear and pecan trees, a couple of mints, blueberries, prickly pear cactus, lavender, and I think that is all. I'm helping my dandelions to spread and just found a stinging nettle today that I will try to save seed from. Oh, and there is a sweet potato out there somewhere and a meyer lemon in the greenhouse that actually has little lemons on it for the first time this year.

very nice pictures and the gardens look like they are going to be coming along graet. You know what they say about perennials, the first year they sleep, the second year they creep the third year they leap..

I'm hoping for a LEAP year this year for a lot of my babies.

I was wondering what is the purple foliage plant in photo one..it looks like it might be a plum? Very pretty. I'm a sucker for colored or variegated foliage here, I can't resist it. I have purple leaves in plum, cherry, barberry, smoke, heuchera and others, they make the view so much more fun. I also like gold leaf and white variegated leaf plants and plug them in wherever I can.

Glad to see you have lots of daylily, the greens are so good this time of year.

I'd suggest digging up a stinging nettle root cutting, as the seeds can be very slow to get going. The roots will start sprouting and growing immediately, with edible greens in probably 1 week.

Looks great!

peace

Sweet. Do you have a rabbit problem? I noticed the fences around the garden.

The purple shrub is loropetalum, I put that in during the first couple of years that we lived here while I was still doing ornamentals. While I am not putting any new ones in I am leaving the original plants. Now I am concentrating on edible or medicinal plants.

The fences, and more just went up, are to help keep out rabbits and also the poultry. I know I have read everywhere that chickens and ducks are so great in the garden but I have yet to see a garden with poultry in it that hasn’t been stripped of all its produce. Maybe that works for people who have acres and acres to work with but I only have one (acre) so the birds need to stay on the outside of the garden fence. We have 29 more birds due to arrive the first week of May so I just put up more fence so that they can access the majority of the yard but cannot get in the food growing areas.

Osker – thanks for the tip on the nettle and – daylily greens? Are you saying the greens are edible too? I have always read that the tubers were edible and I have a bunch that needs dividing so I was going to try it this year.

Yes, the greens are edible and quite good. We usually saute them in butter with a mix of other things (violet greens, mulberry leaves, sassafras, etc.).

Here's a couple blog posts from Juliet Blankenspoor about them (she's an herbalist from the Asheville area)
http://blog.chestnutherbs.com/2012/daylily-greens-garlic-butter-saute/
http://blog.chestnutherbs.com/2011/delectable-daylily/

enjoy!