When opportunity arises - make a permaculture garden!

The perfect opportunity arose and I waited about three weeks until the perfect timing followed then I jumped. Now I have a chance to turn a former market garden plot into my own little permaculture project site.

Why is it perfect? It's directly in front of my front door!
It also gets almost full sun! I'll have to measure the size, but it's probably about 30x30 meters. Maybe a little more. (edit: nope, my estimation skills are way off - it's considerably less than that, but still a good sized plot) Combined with my backyard garden it's enough to vastly expand my vegetable production.

It's been mostly under a vinyl greenhouse for the last decade or two, but that broke in recent snow, and the owners are going to lend me the land after they finish cleaning it up. It's been tilled regularly and fertilized with mostly chicken manure during most of its life.

I'll probably do a soil test to see what I'm working with. Also need to watch the sun and shade of neighboring houses for the rest of the winter.

Now I need to quickly finish my permaculture Udemy course and the Wheaton labs garden master recordings before they finish cleaning it up!

I expect it will be a while before I can build the soil life up to thrive without tilling, but I have lots of organic material I can use to get started - my garden is a veritable jungle.

I'll have to talk to the owners about bushes, trees and vines... But even with no trees it's a great plot for annuals and herbaceous perennials

Congratulations! I am so so happy for you! This is very exciting. You're going to be able to grow more nutritious food, of course, but also--grow your Permaculture bank of knowledge and skills, grow your family's appreciation for nature's daily workings, grow your neighborhood's appreciation of how humans and ecosystems can thrive together, and perhaps even grow your income to some degree, if you are able to sell some of your harvests.

I am so glad that this has happened. May goodness abound and rebound for all of you!

The collapsed greenhouse started coming down today. I'm in a rush to figure out what I'm going to do with it and how I'm going to introduce permaculture within socially acceptable norms.

Probably lots and lots of mulch, compost, and living mulch. I'm thinking of seeding clover first, and possibly introducing some vetch later. My land produces a lot of vetch naturally, so seeds are easy to get. I'd like to have a rotation of living mulch that flowers throughout the year.

Edit: Pictures!

L. Johnson wrote:The collapsed greenhouse started coming down today. I'm in a rush to figure out what I'm going to do with it and how I'm going to introduce permaculture within socially acceptable norms.

Using many flowers, particularly morning glories, as "screens" perhaps? Where you might want to disguise some things that haven't been fully embraced by the neighborhood...yet!

Finally started sowing this plot today. I will post my observations.

This soil has been worked hard. It is crusty and hard and there is a hint of salt crust forming on top. I've heard this happens in greenhouses over time.

There is a little bit of life in the soil, I noticed ants and some pill bugs, probably feeding on the last bits of detritus left from the previous harvest. There were a few tiny weeds sprouting, but not much. The weed bank has been managed for a long time... and to me the soil feels like it is scabbed over from the pain. I intend to heal it while I grow vegetables.

The local vetch is starting to grow in in my home garden. I will not cull any this year until the seed heads are mature. Then I'll chop and drop the full plants in the aisles of this new plot. This should perform several nice functions simultaneously. Mulch, organic material deposit, and seeding with a beneficial local nitrogen fixer that is also popular with pollinators.

This plot is MUCH larger than what I'm used to working with. The rows are already established, so I will do succession planting down the rows, mixing species mid-row to avoid full on monocrop risks. I'm using split cedar chips written with the date and variety of seed sown or planted. This should make it a bit easier to keep track of what I'm doing.

Hopefully I can get rid of all the old seeds this season and start restoring this new plot, and maybe get a yield while I'm at it.