permies plant geek network

Hello Permies!

I would like to start an online community of permie plant geeks. It would be a place for all to discuss the world of plants according to the permaculture world. There may even be a marketplace for the buying and selling of crazy hard to find plants. Is there such a thing? Would anyone on this forum be interested?

Thanks,
Jonathan

I have a related idea, and might want to participate/contribute later, but can't commit to anything more at the moment.

I'll watch this space, in case someone finds something related!

Sometimes threads (like this one) don't take-off right away.... but hold on, they do eventually.

I am not a gifted 'plant' person, I struggle in this area.  A big part of the reason I'm so lame in this area is my lack of patience and attention-span.  I have this survive or perish mentality when it comes to plants - if they don't grow, I'm not going to spoon feed them    When it comes to gardening guides I want the CliffsNotes.  I guess I'm more of a rancher than farmer   


Spring is a com'en..... I would think a plant-network would start growing around then.  Maybe you could list the plants you are into growing, and others you are looking for, to get others thinking along these lines.... just an idea.

A thread like this has the potential to make a very informed zone specific sowing guide for fruit,veg,herbs, and medicinial plants - a possible wickie-
if all postings state exactly where and what grows well, whats not worth bothering about ect i see very good, usefull things for this, as most gardening books are very generic where this could be very specific

Bird wrote:
A thread like this has the potential to make a very informed zone specific sowing guide for fruit,veg,herbs, and medicinial plants - a possible wickie-
if all postings state exactly where and what grows well, whats not worth bothering about ect i see very good, usefull things for this, as most gardening books are very generic where this could be very specific

That's a great suggestion for uses this thread could be put to, Bird. After discussion has rolled on a while and feedback has filled out
information on some of the more prominent topics then the distilled essence of such a mini knowledgebase could be written to a collection of wiki pages. There is a wiki devoted to the subject of permaculture that already exists, has been for several years. A number of us are in the process of revitalizing it and making substantial contributions to it as a permanent project for long term use. It uses MediaWiki, same as the Wikipedia. I am also planning on installing one, on market farming and related topics, so input from this thread would be welcome there as well.

The permaculture wiki is here:

http://permaculture.info

LFLondon
Venaura Farm
Permaculture Mailing List
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
http://venaurafarm.blogspot.com

Thanks Lawrence



we will just have to wait and see if other forum members think likewise

We "Permies" are in the process of setting up a wiki, well I set it up and Paul tweaked it and Joel, me and some others are starting to add some content to it.

It's just a baby, but should be sprouting up quickly this coming new year.

It's still a work in process, and not open to the public as yet, but you can view it here:

https://permies.com/wiki/

I caught this on another permaculture forum and think it's not a bad idea. Some of the things I've developed on my farm and have yet been able to post pictures of yet would fit in here.
   
Things like growing jujubes on windy sites it might be a good idea to encourage a bushier form as they get top heavy on a single stem and can/often do require staking. I've done both on my own farm and am going to the bushy form on all of mine.

Or someone seeking Russian varieties of sea berry or any number of uncommon colder tolerant fruits and nuts.

Like finding that cold tolerant almonds can do well in central NM and sharing that knowledge.

I do grow many native or naturalized plants here, but am also striving to gather other types from like dry areas from around the world.

Jami McBride wrote:
We "Permies" are in the process of setting up a wiki, well I set it up and Paul tweaked it and Joel, me and some others are starting to add some content to it.
It's just a baby, but should be sprouting up quickly this coming new year.
It's still a work in process, and not open to the public as yet, but you can view it here:
https://permies.com/wiki/

Hello Jamie:
That's a good start and it has a lot of potential and is a must-have for permies.com as a companion to this forum. At least that's how I see it.
You might enjoy reading this thread at the pc list at ibiblio:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture/2009-December/035307.html
and there are a few others about wikis.
Several things of note brought out by that thread:
1) doesn't matter how many websites, blogs, lists or forums are "out there" because they can all be  linked together effectively using wikis, not just one or two but as many as want to join a wiki-enabled networked "plant geek network" and commonly shared and contributed to permaculture knowledgebase.
2) conventional html wikis are OK but the future is The Semantic Web and enhanced wiki software such as Semantic Mediawiki.
If you read all the posts from Christophe in those archives and a few responses from me in reply you'll see what that is all about.
I hope we all can move in the direction of the Semantic Web because it will network us all much better and do so transparently.

Paul specified a flat-file wiki so I went with pmWiki, it had a good following and support documentation. 

I agree linking up information can really help us all.  Semantic.... interesting.

Many changes are in the works for the coming year, so it's hard to say now what software may end up serving this collective group, and in what ways.

Jami McBride wrote:
Paul specified a flat-file wiki so I went with pmWiki, it had a good following and support documentation. 
I agree linking up information can really help us all.  Semantic.... interesting.
Many changes are in the works for the coming year, so it's hard to say now what software may end up serving this collective group, and in what ways.

I looked at PMWiki to replace PhPWiki which I had been running but never got around to it because MediaWiki got installed at permaculture.info and I decided to do my work there helping to build a permaculture plant/animal relationships "database" with guilds information.  Now it has changed focus to serve a more general purpose.
Wiki software includes MediaWiki, PhPWiki and TikiWiki and many more but these three are top choices.

LL

I wouldn't mind such a resource.  I get very frustrated that much of the information out there doesn't help me much.  Either the plants being recommended won't grow where I am, or if they will grow here, I can't find a place to get seeds or they are illegal here.  Of the seeds I have gotten, none have germinated even after going through elaborate scarifying efforts.

Hello all,
Thanks for all the great discussion. I hope it continues. I wanted to let folks know of another wiki in process:

The Apios Institute, Edible Forest Garden Wiki. Which will be launching soon, and will go into a non-public Beta Test starting in January 2010.

http://www.apiosinstitute.org/wiki-home

The Apios wiki will be a great resource for folks who are experimenting with many of the plants we work with in our permaculture gardens. The wiki is specifically set up for temperate climate edible forest garden information sharing.

The web site that I would like to create would connect up with Apios, and other great resources, but be more broad, and include a permaculture plant and seed sharing site and marketplace, global in scope (which I don't think exists at the moment).

Let's keep talking! Thanks!