beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Sepp Holzer's Permaculture was the very first book I read on permaculture. I had been an organic gardener all of my adult life, so I was dedicated to compost, mulch, no chemicals, neat beds with an occasional companion plant, and no weeds because weeds were said to compete for water and nutrients. So when I examined the photos of Sepp's garden, all I saw was disorder and chaos. I confess it puzzled me, but on the other hand, everything he said was revolutionary to me. I have to say that this was the beginning of my permaculture journey. It wasn't just me, personally, that was revolutionized, my garden was too! Now, I'm guessing passersby look at it and think, 'what a mess,' but I can identify everything I see and it's all good!

garden beds

Garden beds: cherry tomatoes, watermelon, mangels, horseradish, celery, lambs quarter, sweet potatoes, red raspberries, cowpeas, landrace brassicas, morning glory, a couple of carrots, and a potato plant or two.

hoophouse

hoophouse

and hoophouse

Hoophouse: hopniss, cherry tomatoes, winter squash, cultivated grape, Chinese yams, Malabar spinach, violets, lambs quarter, dandelion, strawberries, burdock, and morning glories (because I can't get rid of them!)

hugelkultur

Hugelkultur: winter squash, turtle beans, cherry tomatoes, chicory, clover, morning glories, lambs quarter, & sunchokes

As my fundamental concept about gardening changed, so did how I see my garden. I'm living proof that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Thanks for posting this Leigh. I love your hoophouse - I bet that's nice underneath when it's hot outside. I think you can be proud of your healthy looking plants. I wouldn't count that messy at all!

Some people see weeds where we see diversity.
I've shared previously pictures of my exuberant polytunnel (Forest Garden thread). It's a bit sad this year since I still haven't put the new cover on, but it's been interesting to see which plants are thriving despite not having the extra heat.

Below is a picture of my drive bank: The lavender is looking a bit lop sided because I left some of the flowers for the bees after taking the rest for scenting the house and making some lavender wands. The wild strawberries are running rampant. Unfortunately these are not the best fruiting (although I got them from some one who said they were good....) There's a couple of daylillies and a Trachycarpa palm, some sage and thyme and sedums, all useful and/or edible.

Below that and more messy is my pallet garden - this picture was taken this summer after "chop and dropping" some of the docken, which of course has since grown back. The yellow flowers are kale going to seed. This is now my experimental perennial garden, much of the interesting plants are hidden in the undergrowth, but I've got lots of very productive berry bushes, Good King Henry, sweet cicely, skirret, jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, more strawberries, silverweed and too many more to mention. Someday I'll get a good balance between the docks and the rest of the plants, but in the meantime it gives me a lot of pleasure.

Love those pictures! It looks great! So lush and natural. The dream for when I move out of an apartment

Here's another picture from this year of the pallet garden looking a bit more lush in  early June. In the foreground is skirret and scorzonera, with a young blackcurrant bush in between them, behind is the taller perennial kale, I can see strawberry leaves amongst the buttercups, some alfalfa and mallow towards the left and some of that grass should be perennial rye, further back there are raspberries and the tall white flowers are sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata)

Yes I have had friends in the landscaping  / commercial horticulture trade say they've never heard of gardening like I do but are amazed at how plants will survive and yield bounty in a drought. I have had a friend house sitting who is happily amazed there is no watering required. I try to keep things tidy, but I plant non noxious weeds over new composting hills to hold the soil and bulk up green manure.
This year I got a small group of beans out of a cut barrel I was given. It wasn't traditionally pretty but I sure found a few handfuls of fresh beans beautiful when arriving back from up north.