Andy and Melanie Sprinkle's Permaculture/Gardening Baby Steps

Pictures of what my wife and I have done in the two years since moving into this ~1/3 acre city lot in Lexington Ky, Zone 6. When we moved all that existed was a crappy/dying turf grass lawn, mature oak, maple, and sycamore trees and some ugly evergreen bushes up front. We try to start everything from seed where we can with flourescent lights in the basements. First step was a fence to keep in our two doggies and a deck on back of house. For edibles outside annual veggies we have blackberries, blueberries, rasberries, dwarf peaches, dwarf apples, strawberries, horseradish, garlic, wild garlic and onions, rhubard (may not survive our sweltering summer) thyme, oregno, asparagas, pumpkin patch that reseeds itself, bee balm, lemon balm. Next steps to plant for fall will be more dwarf fruit and nut trees, jerusalem artichoke, comfrey and lot of other berries/wild flowers. Also need to keep getting rid of lots of the grass in the backyard...I'm going to make two Sepp height hugel beds on contour with swales. They will probably be around 10-15' in length. All of the raised annual beds have ~1/5-2 ft of firewood, leaves, horse manure buried ~1 ft deep. I have had local tree trimmers drop off ~ 50 cyds of trimmings/mulch. Also, we have a local soil/mulch place where I can get a composted leaf/soil blend for $10/yard and I have brought in ~6 yards of this to put on mounds/garden beds over last couple of years. There is a hugel-ish bed in the front yard that is exploding right now with pumpkins, carrots, corn, wildflowers, dianthus, yarrow. Another hugel bed in front yard has red clover, onions, garlic, tomatoes and horseradish. We have overseeded white dutch clover all over the yards and have raked in the clover in the dry, clayey areas where perenial grasses don't like to grow. Even with the low to mid 90's heat wave in the midwest the last couple of weeks and negligible precipitation the clover is holding strong. We still have a long long way to go and much to learn but our eyes are open and we have taken some baby steps.

Bed by house with tomatoes, peppers, basil, marigolds, jasimine on arbor by house, lilies, spinach, broccoli, kale, garlic, onions, white clover

Melanie really wanted a jasimine so we I built the trellis and put it in and it is doing great but needs to hurry up some and get above the out of control tomatoes!

More pics

Dwaft peach guilds, one with swale on contour...with lemon balm, strawberries, thyme and beans

Pic of driveway bed with grapes on trellis we got married under, bee balm, butterfly bush, ice plants, spinach, flox, clementis, thyme, day and oriental lilies, salvyia, wild flowers

Rasberries and blackberry transplants with azaleas and blueberries to right out of picture. 4-6 inch wood much over 2-3 inches pine needles. What else would be good to put with this stuff?

Wild flowers with pumpkin and gourd patch by creek...deeply mulched with horse manure in winter. Pumpkin/gourds reseeded themselves from fruit left to rot.

4 tomatoes, peppers, basil, marigolds, zucchini on 4-6" of mixed woodchips and horse manure

Strawberry babies with azaleas, heavy pine needle and christmas tree mulch...what else would go good with the berries and azaleas?

Asparagas patch with white clover cover with peppers interplanted on left...hugel-ish beds on right with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, marigolds

Zuchinni with new hugel bed to left. hugel bed got seeded with wildflowers and clover and mulch around sides...around 10' long by 6' wide by 3' high

Flower garden, bee sanctuary...bee balm, butterfly bush, blanket flower, sedums, hot peppers, begonia rose, ornamental peas

Our buff orp girls Missy and Doc Clucky who live in my winter project...the only thing I paid for to build coop was plywood and 2x4's...all else was found or donated

New small bed to put in gifts from elderly awesome neighbor...5 different heirloom tomatoes, loafas (sp? sponges), beans, forgetmenots also seeded in this tiny bed

Wow, great start! I like that trellis.

Hugel bed somewhat accidently on contour (at least part of it) in front yard. Huge pumpkin is about to invade/cross sidewalk!

Kale and volunteer tomatoes along fence by annual beds...had great radish crop before kale...seeded both at same time in March

Annual beds (dug out 6"s of topsoil, buried 1.5' of wood and woody debris, added horse poop and clover and replaced topsoil) tomatoes, peppers, beans, marigolds, basil...thriving with little watering even in heat

Front shady mound...crimson clover, tomatoes, onions, garlic, horseradish, rhubarb

Front yard mound...pumpkins, sweet corn, carrots, thyme, wild flowers, dianthesus

Back hugelkulture annual bed construction winter 2012...dug out 4-6" of topsoil, added leaves, one layer of logs, woody brush, then soil back on

I found Paul's hugelkulture article and discovered permaculture on this day. I was so in awe of what I found in the article that I immediately went out to the backyard and made this bed!

I love seeing everybodies projects and reading their ideas and being able to then venture from the computer to my backyard and go at it.

Permies, Pauls work, and the community has turned my gardening hobby into a passion and dream that is going to change the way my wife and I live. So thanks to all of you from us!

WOW. Nice example of what can be done on a smaller property. Who says you need acreage?
Your 1/3a will produce a lot for you.

You have done so much in such a short time, it is really beautiful..can't wait to see it when it all grows up.

Thanks Brenda, John and Tyler Brenda...I know you have lots of comfrey...what is the best kind the common Symphytum officinale or the Russian Bocking? Is the best way to get some to buy 1 plant off the net and then divide it to make more? I tried all the landscape/nurseries in central Kentucky and nobody carries it.

Andy, love your project thread. It will be fun to see just how much you can do with 1/3 acre - you have already done so much.

I ordered my comfrey from Horizon Herbs, both plants and seed and am very happy with both.

You'll have to make up your own mind about which type to order as we all seem to have very strong different opinions on that subject.

Thanks Jeanine...I love your pics of your place...especially all the garlic! Is the major difference the common spreads easy and the bocking is non-spreading? What are other major differences?

I couldn't tell you what type of comfrey I have..the plant is so old I'm not even sure if i bought it or if it was gifted to me. I divide the roots to get more when I want some here or there.

great thread, ill follow along:)

Any updates? Very inspirational!