What are your garden plans for 2023?

Hi Paul, Welcome to Permies!
Wow you've got your work cut out for you! Such fun! I wonder what you'll find under the ivy?
Feel free to pm me if you'd like a chat - I've been on Skye for about 15 years now, but was in the English Midlands before that.

Edited to add: my blog post about ten years on Skye with pictures: https://skyeent.wordpress.com/2017/09/15/10-years-on-photos/

Cristobal in Nevada foot hills. Check out Brad Lancaster, Desert Permaculture in Tucson Az. He actually converted a whole street to a food forest using all desert edibles

Paul, be careful when removing that ivy as it can cause both irritant and allergic contact dermatitis as my brother found out after attacking it without having his skin properly protected. On the benefits side, the flowers do provide nectar for bees but, I am told, the honey doesn't taste good.
I am looking forward to seeing how it all pans out for you.

Alas, my beautiful American Blue meat rabbits are now my hubby's pets...he spoils them with carrots and kisses and oats.  The oats are always there in the manure, as there is always spillage and waste; so you WILL get oats growing everywhere you use this manure.  One of my top-10 New Year's resolutions therefore is to make a poo excluder with small-mesh hardware cloth in the shape of a funnel; hopefully any oats will go through and only the little roly bits will go down the chute.  But I will have to do this for 6 cages and without diminishing access; and they are all wall-mounted, side by each.  So it may be a challenge.

Another thing I have cherished in my heart for Years, and am ready to start now:  a bottle-wall enclosure, large and high enough to create a little Eden inside: we live in an area with bad snakes, and hopefully this will keep them out; we are int he Deep South but still suffer occasional bad freezes that can really set you back with on-the-edge tropicals like Chaya; so this woud create a hotter microclimate.  There would be a lot of permanent wicking beds in there; rainwater catchment plus greywater would keep those fed; plus a little hand-pump well (we have natural springs here not too far down).  Planning on some quiet livestock (we are gonna have to renegotiate the bunnies!!!) and a tiny house/shed/greenhouse.  That is going to require some space;  but I've literally been saving bottles for years and know where to get more (did you know, many cities do not have a glass recycling center, just a "glass dump" where you can go and scrounge!!)  I guess I will start soon by buying a glass bottle cutting saw, and start making my bricks.  Does anyone on here know whether the labels need removing, or can we just cut and tape over them?

The last thing is a real challenge: we live on a steep hill; the property goes back to 1835 and in those days the road ran along the high ground, not too far from the house.  They moved it over in the early 20th C, when they gravelled it; now our driveway goes rather precipitously downhill, and constant regravelling is just throwing away our money.  So now we have potholes and the mail delivery is often a pink slip because they won't drive up the crazy obstacle course...
We have some money, but are not so sure about blacktop.  For one thing, it's hot here most of the year and that stuff gets oozy and smelly.  For another, it is petroleum-based, bleah.  I have thought of: short terraces, boxed in with railroad ties and filled with gravel; A big serpine s-curve driveway, canted at the outsides of the curves to shed water off there;  and there is probably another even better option.  All advice appreciated!  

Thanks again everyone for the tips 👍

Had a look through your blog Nancy, great stuff, Skye looks like it brings a few challanges to growing things.

I had considered Skye and the Shetlands (Island of Yell) and a couple other little islands when looking for a piece of land, was very tempted, the scenery is amazing . My solicitor thought i was mad I think.

John - Yeah I will definitely have a good look through and maybe try put up some nests/bird boxs elsewhere to try and encourage them away.

Ara - Getting a rash was a concern, I'll make sure I am well covered before getting stuck in.

I'll have to start a little blog soon, I dont want to highjack this thread

Paul Paterson wrote:
I'll have to start a little blog soon, I dont want to highjack this thread

It'd be great if you can share on the projects forum. I look forwards to hearing what your plans are.

Mostly just fill all the beds with the usual stuff.

Continue to maintain heirloom bean, potato, and garlic varieties.

Continue to select for my own fava and California poppy varieties.

Try growing sweet potatoes and ground cherry again.

Grow and pickle red onions to restock my pantry.

Plant some of the perennial seeds I have.

Use my first batch of humanure!

May have to move my madder bed, if we get a heat pump.

leigh gates wrote: Cristobal in Nevada foot hills. Check out Brad Lancaster, Desert Permaculture in Tucson Az. He actually converted a whole street to a food forest using all desert edibles

Thank you Leigh, I will check him.
I'm located in Sierra Nevada foothills in California, not in Nevada. Water is not a problem here - I just got 500 mm of rain in one month and I have 99 Gpm well with 30 Gpm pump. The challenge is that I have freezes in May and in October. It shortens the growing season - and what is left is 3 months of  scorching sun 95-100 every day and dry winds. Even Mediterranean classics like pistachios, pomegranates and figs are not too happy with late freezes and most normal vegetables can not stand the heat.
The heavy rains seem to be over and I will start building cold frames.

I try being self sufficient in 2023.  On one acre.

Happy New Year and xīnnián kuàilè!!  I am extremely excited to have garden plans for the first time!  Well...I have had small containers in the past and loads of houseplants I adore, but apartment living hasn't allowed space with close enough proximity to be sustainable for me to garden regularly.  Well, just bought my first house last month and am a woman obsessed.  I have been spending waaaay too much time on Permies (instead of going to bed at a decent hour) and am EXTREMELY excited!  So, I've got LOADS to do...and have about a billion questions (hence the time on permies...trying to find answers before I embarrass myself asking all the "dumb" questions that have been answered a dozen times).

2023 Garden plans:
1.  I am dreaming a garden into reality!  Yeehaw!  Currently I've been educating myself on what other people think grows here (Oklahoma 7a - I'm new to the area) and then also dreaming about all the things I would love to grow that people think can't grow here and plan to figure out growing with my magical permie garden (in time)!  I have a loooooong list of things I want to grow, so my biggest challenge is cutting that down and starting small(er) so I can make lots of mistakes and learn tons and do it bigger in the coming years.
2. I am learning about soil...and will be taking it to get tested next month.
3.  I have a large backyard, much of it completely overgrown by ivy and bushes (I have yet to identify as they are leafless and I can't don't know identification much yet) - ive started cutting back and clearing brush (for the hugel mound I'm building) and have unearthed a large deposit of stones (from building this house I assume) which i'm excited to start my herb spiral with

So...#gardendreamsandgoals: herb spiral, hugelkulture bed (or 2) for starters - in addition to figuring out how to compete-out the ivy growing everywhere.  That's my next research project in these forums...and I welcome any and all thoughts and ideas!

Also, I have a subpod I'm starting my nice little compost area with.  Over time may learn/transition into composting directly beneath the mulch...but have had rodent and roach infestations in the past with compost...so until I understand it more, i'm going with the safer bet.  

And, I've been working on a greywater system design with my brother and hopefully that will be installed by March...at least for 1 source of my household greywater. And installing my rainbarrels when i get them in Feb.

So many ideas and plans!  So excited.  And so grateful for each of you who so willingly and generously share your wisdom, knowledge and HUMOR!  You permies are a hoot and i adore every one of ya!  thank you!

1) buy land
2) throw seeds around

I can’t think beyond that when I’m looking for land and will need to build so many things first.

Haha, Kevin, you can even just skip the frist step - and just throw seeds around!!!  Somebody has made me very happy here in MS; my home State is MA, and Queen Anne's Lace was one of my favorite plants, for many reasons.  After we moved here 34 years ago, however, I never saw any at all.  I concluded it just wouldn't grow here.  I was wrong!!! - because Some lovely person (s) obviously threw the seed all along the rural roadsides, and especially on the median strips, where it flourishes and spreads a little more each year!!  Always a good thing to throw (Nice) seeds around!!!

Unfortunately many of my plans in 2022 didnt come to fruition as I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma in April 2022 and ended up having emergency brain surgery, followed by 2 months aggressive in patient radiotherapy, and as I write I am half way through my 6th month of chemo. Our son had to take over our pig care, the garden stuff as much as he could, as well as nursing me as I was effectively immobile for 2 months after leaving hospital; so our final sow is now in the freezer, after we managed to sell her last litter successfully in the village - depending on my health I do so want to get a weaner and a young lamb to fatten in March and send to freezer camp in October or November.

As you can see in the diagram below we had made an extensive planting plan, based on successes and failures since 2015/2016 seasons. We have extended the number of our "proper" raised beds to 21. By proper I mean at least 80cm high with strong walls, properly layered hugel style - logs, twigs, animal bedding and manure, stale compost, some bought in compost but in winter we were able to top every raised bed with home made compost .

In 2021 we made a further 17 "edged beds", mainly made Charles Dowding style with the addition of a thick mulch of stale hay and old animal bedding that was put on these beds in Autumn 2021 and then completely left alone - no planting, no chemicals, we weedwhacked anything that came up (except for bulbs or onions or garlic volunteers) until Autumn 2022 when we did plant some of them - directly through the mulch - with different types of onions and garlic.

I am hoping and praying that I will be able to do more this spring - my son does not need to nurse me so much and he has done amazing work keeping the garden going and ready for spring planting.  But my key goals if at all possible include:

Using our first 3 year old dog poop compost on our non-fruit trees and ornamental plants

Using 2 year old leaf mold - made using 300 sacks of leaves from the village park (we have managed to stop them burning leaves in the past 3 years) - to feed the soil during the year

Getting a crop of sweet potatoes

Successfully growing at least one cauliflower

Raise and fatten a meat pig from 8weeks to 11 months for the freezer

Raise a lamb for the freezer to 10 months

Just be better with my brassicas

Raise and sell more chickens and ducks this year

I wish everyone - in the forums and in this post in particular - a healthy (personal and soil and produce and livestock) and productive and successful 2023!!

I am so happy to have found this site (recommended by a friend)! We purchased a new house at the end of last summer, so I spent last year just trying to get a handle on sun patterns, soil moisture, and all of those things. In 2023, I look to have my first vegetable garden in quite a few years.
I also plan to create a rain garden/butterfly garden in the space near where my sump pump discharge comes out - we will have to see what the resident bunny family has to say about that. I know they are going to be a challenge, but at least my vegetable gardens will be in raised beds tall enough to hopefully keep the hungry rabbits out.
Last fall I was able to plant some native perennials in my front garden spaces, given to me by a nice lady nearby. Those, too, are subject to bunny attacks, of course, but I am hoping they will make it - otherwise I will look for more rabbit-resistant plants.
I look forward to learning from all of you here on the site!

Betsy Carraway wrote:Haha, Kevin, you can even just skip the frist step - and just throw seeds around!!!

I suppose I could sprinkle some things in the hedge running between the townhouses, but I think I’ll probably just stick to my square foot garden on the balcony.

Which reminds me, I forgot to mention the square foot garden and pots on the balcony:
-Sunset, painted pink lady, and scarlet runner beans
-Siberian tomatoes
-black, white, and “tommy toe” cherry tomatoes
-Bill jump’s soup pea
-lots of herbs in pots

We grew all those things last year. Tomatoes did poorly. I think I ruined the soil in SFG bed with some poor quality compost. Amending that will be the top garden task this year.