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My First year plan for new perma garden

 
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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Here is a list of things I plan on growing my first year, this is on .3 acres. I know it is a lot, does anyone feel it will be unmanageable?
I am super excited as I have been waiting for years to be able to do this!

Alfalfa
Almond, All in One
Aloe
Amaranth
Apple, Crab
Apple, Red Delicous
Arrugula
Asian Pear
Asparagus
Banana
Basil
Bean, Ground Cover
Beans, String
Broccoli
Carrots
Chamomile, German
Chives
Cilantro/Corriander
Coffee
Currant,black
Dill
Eastern Redbud
Echinacea
Flax
French Tarragon
Garlic
Ginger
Hazelnut
Huckleberry
Kale
Kiwi
Dogwood
Lavender
Lemon
Lemon Balm
Lemon Grass
Lettuce, Butter
Lettuce, Romaine
Lime
Lingonberry
Mustard, Giant Curled
Northern Bayberry
Oats
Onioin, Spring-red purple  bunching
Onions, Sweet-wala wala
Oregeno
Parsely
Pepper, Black Hungarian
Pepper, Chile Big Jim New Mexico
Pepper, Hungarian Sweet Wax
Pepper, Sweet Bell
Pepper, Sweet Chocolate
Pepper, Sweet Purple Beauty
Pineapple
Plum, European
Potato, Red thumb fingerling
Potato, Russett
Radish, Chinese Daikon
Rosemary
Sage
Shallots
Spinach, America
Squash, Lemon
Squash, Summer Zucinni Black Beauty
Strawberry, everbearing tristar
Strawberry, red wonder alpine
Sunflower-dwarf sunspot
Sunflower-Red
Thyme
Tomato, Green Zebra
Tomato, Pineapple
Tomato, Principe Borghese
Tomato, Red Grape
Tomato, San Marzano
Tomato, Silvery Fir Tree
Water Cress
Watermelon, Golden Midget
Wintergreen
 
pollinator
Posts: 4437
Location: North Central Michigan
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i looked over your list...it all appears doable to me..it is a lot less than what i have growing here (although i can't grow the bananas and other tropicals here).

i don't see any problem plants in your list either..

i would make an attempt to read up on the plants that you wish to put in and find their needs and make sure you plan by what their needs are so that they'll be off to a good start.

 
steward
Posts: 3701
Location: woodland, washington
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I would ditch the Red Delicious apple, but only because I don't care for the taste.  Green Zebra can be a problem child, depending on how you decide to grow it.  where are you?  you might consider posting your general location and hardiness zone on your profile.  you've got some plants on your list that aren't terribly cold-tolerant and you've got some plants on your list that won't produce without substantial chill hours.  would have to be a special .3 acres or a lot of work.  or I don't know what I'm talking about, which is very plausible.
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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Sorry I am in zone 6, and the tropicals will be grown inside. Although I am experimenting with them outside at some point.
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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OK my plan has changed slightly, since this is my first time I was wondering if you all could look at my layout and see what you think about the position of the elements, this is an overall section mostly showing the trees and then general garden placement. The back of the house gets sun most of the day. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks!

SitePlan_SQUARE-copy.jpg
[Thumbnail for SitePlan_SQUARE-copy.jpg]
 
                          
Posts: 211
Location: Northern California
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I can't see the small stuff very well in this compressed version of the jpg. I'm gonna ask a lot of questions--I'm new to permaculture too, so a lot of them will be ignorant or misinformed.

Is that aqua near the house water catchment? What's the blue near the back fence? Where is your prevailing wind coming from? Is there a utility room with a washer and dryer somewhere in your house, and are you planning anything for your washer discharge?

When those cherry trees are mature, what on earth will you do with the produce of 6 fruiting fully-mature sweet cherry trees? Sell at markets? I know some folks with one mature cherry tree who are overwhelmed with the fruit... harvesting might prove to be more of a chore than it's worth for the return, unless you prune them for ease--especially with how close they are to their neighboring trees (or am I hallucinating?).

I love hardy kiwi, but the vines are kind of voracious and greedy for sun, aren't they. Will they get enough sun there with the plum trees due E and all those fruit trees in the SE?
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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Good questions. The small stuff is mostly vegetables, herbs and flowers. I have a blown up area for that too. The water near the house is a small pond with a waterfall, I plan on growing my watercress in there and herbs around it, its more or less a relaxation area since it borders a lot of common areas. The far edge will be wetland type areas. It is farmland behind me and it slopes down into me, so the wetlands will be a natural barrier to the field and Im hoping that the run off water will come into my system, get cleaned and then I can move it down through swales through my property to water everything. Depending on the size of the water area and depth I may try to stock some fish like trout, but this needs more research.

Prevailing winds are from the northwest in winter and since the hillside that we sit on is on the southeast the wind blows more directly from the south in the warmer season, its actually quite nice because it picks up cooler air down in the valley and moves it through our house. No grey water plans currently due to regulations and my wife not being as educated on the subject…one step at a time  The cherry trees Im told are dwarf up to 8 feet, so they are more like a shrub similar to the Nanking, it will be used more for privacy and as a distraction for the birds….although this remains to be proven. Since these are not planted or totally purchased I can limit the amount of them as well. The property line right now is clear and we have a 10 foot buffer zone between us and the neighbor so you are right we have to be careful we don’t get too close to them…it’s a brand new lot as well.

As for the kiwi, I wasn’t sure how to handle it, these are hardy kiwi so based on what I was reading they can tolerate partial shade which is defined as a minimum of 3 hours. I believe that area will get that much sun since the plums are dwarf to less than 10 feet. I really wasn’t sure where else to put them to be honest, I was kinda hoping to train them along the house to use a wind buffer from the northeast. I am planning on doing grapes, and other shrubs like huckleberry, blueberry, raspberry etc next year, I was going to put those up close to the wetlands.

Thanks for your input!

 
Brenda Groth
pollinator
Posts: 4437
Location: North Central Michigan
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looks like a pretty sensible plan to me
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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I have a close up of the vegetable area too but I figured no one would want to look at that much detail Unless you want to!

I am going to start arranging everything in the next few days so its not too late to change anything. Im going out on a limb and ordering from directgardening dot com, since they had a few things on huge discount. Hopefully that won't come back to bite me!

thanks for the feedback Brenda.
 
Brenda Groth
pollinator
Posts: 4437
Location: North Central Michigan
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wishing you the best..do you already have your soil prepared for the gardens and trees, or do you still have all of that work ahead of you..

remember if your plants come and you are not ready you can heal them in in a shady area ..cause it looks like you might have a lot of things coming all at once..that can be a bit overwhelming..either that or you might suggest ship dates to the nurseries when you order if you want to spread them out some..or have them coming when you are ready.

let them know what your zone is also on your order..i write it in big letters and circle it so i don't get shipments too early
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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Im terribly sorry I didn’t respond to this Brenda. For some reason it didn’t notify me that I had a response  To answer your question, Im starting on a clean slate. I basically live on farmland that has been wild pasture for the last 5 plus years. Since it was a new house I basically am getting the backfill and the topsoil from the original lot, which is not a bad thing. I am in the process of moving rocks/dirt to set up my garden and food forest area. Those areas which wont have grass or a planned layout immediately will get buckwheat, alfalfa and legumes to build the soil. I will plant these in the next month or so. I have been collecting twigs/branches, leaves from the forest, compost from everywhere and basically any free resource I can get! I plan on laying down cardboard on the clay subsoil, then a layer of green manure(having a hard time finding right now), then a thick layer of woody and leaf material, then my layer of topsoil mixed in with whatever compost I can come up with. As for the mulch, Im not sure what I am going to do. I thought about going the straw route, but I have a ton of leaves from the last 20 years built up next to me that I can use for the top dressing.

You are right about everything coming at once, it seems that will be a challenge but they wont ship until the time is right for my zone as a policy of the company. I will be certain to heel them in as well. Im looking forward to this first year of exploration and learning!

 
Brenda Groth
pollinator
Posts: 4437
Location: North Central Michigan
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sounds like the stockpile of leaves will be a great mulch..as they probably have already begun to compost as well.

pay big attention to your tree areas first..as they will be the most important to get in..and any perennial crops....you can always have a small annual garden first year and expand on that as you have the time and the area finished up..but get the trees in as soon as you can
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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Good advice!

BTW, I Just noticed your signature tagline, it is really cool!
 
Posts: 211
Location: Missoula Montana
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I was reading an article in BackHomeMagazine on Permaculture on Ice.  It talks about planning your next garden during the winter months, clearing out what you don't need and building things during the cool months.  Pretty interesting!
 
Posts: 258
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Well it does look interesting, the trees look a little closely planted but I have never grown dwarf stock .  I just came in from planting trees but I am spacing walnut trees  40 feet apart to purposely maintain open grass areas between them.
 
                                          
Posts: 95
Location: Ferndale, MI- Zone 5b
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looks really ambitious!!!  you should have a ball with the whole thing.

from my perspective, there's no reason to not shoot high.  if you failboat that whole thing, you still have a great many options going forward.  something will be successful and you can build off of that.

is there a particular software that you used to map out the site plan?
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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I actually implemented 90% of this already and it has worked out great. A few cheap plants didn’t make it, but Im getting them replaced so no big deal. Im really glad I grew oats as well. I was able to harvest the oats, turn them into flour etc. and then use the straw/hay for mulching. Some of the heads fell to the ground and grew back for a second cutting, and since they are growing on top of my other crops they actually served as a ground cover and then I just chopped them in place for more mulch. I hope to have pictures of the process at some point when life isn’t so crazy.

As for the program, I just used Photoshop. The background is a picture of my house blueprints.

 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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Some pics of my 2nd year now.
Lime.jpg
[Thumbnail for Lime.jpg]
main-bed.jpg
[Thumbnail for main-bed.jpg]
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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And some more.... These pics are just a small portion of my 1/3 acre lot.
Peasandcukes.jpg
[Thumbnail for Peasandcukes.jpg]
strawberry.jpg
[Thumbnail for strawberry.jpg]
 
Rob Seagrist
Posts: 717
Location: NC-Zone 7
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Some tomatoes growing with buckwheat.
tomato.jpg
[Thumbnail for tomato.jpg]
 
Posts: 12
Location: Hedgesville, West Virginia (eastern panhandle)
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Looks really great Rob!  ... now THAT is what you do with a 1/3rd acre!  I envy your currant growing.  I believe the usda frowns on it here in WV because of white pine scab.  Anyone know about that?  I don't mind breaking the law, so long as I don't pose a threat to the white pine pop.
 
steward
Posts: 7926
Location: Currently in Lake Stevens, WA. Home in Spokane
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Those laws have changed in many areas.  Call your county Extension Agent for the current status in your region.
 
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