Forum:

permaculture

What are your garden plans for 2023?

Jane Mulberry

master pollinator

Posts: 1027

Location: East of England/ Northeast Bulgaria

389

I like...

posted 2 years ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Beckie Gaskill wrote:I am so happy to have found this site (recommended by a friend)!
I look forward to learning from all of you here on the site!

Welcome to Permies, Beckie!

Maybe some sort of temporary fencing around the newly planted areas till the plants are big enough to survive hungry bunnies?
I'm not sure about this working, but also, it you know where the bunnies enter your property (or where they live, if they actually are resident) plants a huge patch of something they adore like dandelions, to hopefully keep them occupied somewhere else?

I'm only 64! That's not to old to learn to be a permie, right?

C Lundquist

pollinator

Posts: 111

Location: Seattle, WA

I like...

posted 2 years ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Beckie Gaskill wrote: resident bunny family

I have had lots of wild rabbits (eastern cottontails) in recent years. They mainly like legumes year round, and to a lesser extent greens and carrots in the winter. I have no fencing and my beds are in the ground. But they are easily deterred by floating row cover. When I sow legumes, I cover the beds. This helps the seeds sprout faster too. I don't use hoops or anything, just have a sheet larger than the bed size, and gather it at the sides to allow for some plant growth. When the plants are big enough they can handle the rabbits. I don't have major damage to other crops.

In the past when I had raised beds, rats got into them and ate my brassicas. Rabbits are larger and can hop, so I doubt raised beds would deter them much.

Little house with a big garden in the city!
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." ~ J. Krishnamurti

PEP - BB10 Badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by gir bot

Beckie Gaskill

Posts: 4

posted 2 years ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

C Lundquist wrote:

Beckie Gaskill wrote: resident bunny family

In the past when I had raised beds, rats got into them and ate my brassicas. Rabbits are larger and can hop, so I doubt raised beds would deter them much.

I'm looking at beds at 32". That's what I meant by raised beds. The rest will have to be caged for a couple of years, I suppose.

Beckie Gaskill

Posts: 4

posted 2 years ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Jane Mulberry wrote:

Beckie Gaskill wrote:I am so happy to have found this site (recommended by a friend)!
I look forward to learning from all of you here on the site!

Maybe some sort of temporary fencing around the newly planted areas till the plants are big enough to survive hungry bunnies?

I am definitely going to fence until they are big enough to survive the hungry bunnies. I am planning a couple of oak shrubs, as well, that I know will need some protection for a few years. Unfortunately, because I live in town, I don't really have a place far enough away from the gardens where I could attract them away, but I had that thought also! It will be a challenge, but I think we will find a way to co-exist. Thanks for the ideas!

Leslie Russell

Posts: 95

Location: Hot, humid, sometimes hurricane drenched west central Florida

posted 2 years ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Paul Paterson wrote:Good luck everyone!

Im just starting on the self sufficiency road so only time will tell what this year will bring.

I bought an old dilapidated croft house with 2 acres in the Scottish Highlands a few months ago and have been tidying up all the rubbish etc to get ready for this year....

I certainly do wish you luck! When I moved where I'm living now there were huge junk piles in the back field that had car seats, baby car seats, batteries carpeting beer bottles shotgun shells you name it. Took me forever to clean it out. I built a giant raised bed right away but container gardening has worked out well for me, too. Some things are just better suited for containers. Maybe if you can't find good soil you could go that route until you get a good garden sorted.

Jules Silverlock

steward

Posts: 4679

Location: Queensland, Australia

1034

I like...

posted 1 year ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I'm so loving this thread!

I'm in the subtropics of Australia so right now we're in the midst of a hot and humid summer so I look forward to fall (spring for the north) as it's a better time to grow lots of the food I like to grow, and am used to (I'm from the UK). Although i'm having some good success with bananas right now which is fascinating to see the 'fingers' develop!!

I've been watching the Garden Master Course with Helen Atthowe and am SO excited to implement some of the things mentioned there, especially cover crops.

We are also getting bees very soon, which i'm also super excited about and thinking of throwing around wildflower seed packets as soon as I can. Maybe to a musical soundtrack as I do so

(I'm thinking Kate Bush)

Explore the Permies Digital Market - ebooks, movies, building plans, courses, and more. Oh my!

natural medicine - air badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Mike Haasl

nest - air badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Mike Haasl

James Everett

pollinator

Posts: 162

Location: Gaines County, Texas South of Seminole, Tx zone 7b/8a

I like...

posted 1 year ago

10
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Hopefully this year I can start converting this area into some garden beds. Been a few years of change to build up soil and now I still need to make a lot of wind protection and some sort of shade for the West Texas heat in summer I think the water soaking from rain on the swales and some automatic watering will help get me started.

Plus I need to make another area as attractive as this for the rabbits to set there eyes on for feasting.

IMAG0620.jpg

20220920_085638.jpg

leigh gates

pollinator

Posts: 136

posted 1 year ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

That’s some impressive swales with shovel and wheel barrow.

Still slingin’ Avacado pits

Anne Miller

steward

Posts: 16098

Location: USDA Zone 8a

4279

I like...

posted 1 year ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

James, it is great to see you back on the forum.

Thanks for sharing those pictures.

It is apparent that the property looks very different in 2022 from 2015.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Cristo Balete

Posts: 1010

Location: In the woods, West Coast USA

206

posted 1 year ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Nicole,

Revive old garden beds using the Keyhole Bed method by sinking a circle of chicken wire every 5-6 feet, then dumping kitchen scraps, etc., into it, cover with some mowed grass, hay, manure...layer it up. Or sink a 1 or 2 gallon nursery pot, some holes drilled in the sides for worms, dump scraps and layer it in the same way, put a clay saucer lid or wood, etc. Make sure the mixtures stay damp, worms will come and go. There are also Keyhole raised beds that work on this same principle. The nice thing is you don't have to wait for compost, or turn it, or fuss with it. It starts working right away.
---------------
CristobalCristo....have you seen food forest plans for planting fruit trees? Highly recommend not planting the trees in traditional rows, but use the seven layers of plants that help each other in a food forest, especially planting nitrogen -fixing shrubs between trees. I have been trying to switch my traditional rows over, and it's a real pain, but worth the effort.
--------------

Nick, what great looking brick raised beds, did you do that? A lot of work, impressive! Wishing you all the best with your health issues!

---------------------
This year I am incorporating more natives into the landscape, and trying to grow heirloom beans. I don't know why I have so much trouble growing beans. The greenhouse is hot, but the nights are cool. More summer spinach, grow more onions on as steady a basis as I can manage, experiment with Asian greens.

An important distinction: Permaculture is not the same kind of gardening as organic gardening.
Mediterranean climate hugel trenches, fabuluous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.

Leslie Russell

Posts: 95

Location: Hot, humid, sometimes hurricane drenched west central Florida

posted 1 year ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

John F Dean wrote:Hi Paul,

Be sure to explore all the potential hiding spots. When I bought my land, I listened to a well meaning tip and asked local law enforcement to search my property. They came up with a meth lab.

🤣 You must live in Florida. We're loaded with em.

Cristobal Cristo

Posts: 579

Location: Sierra Nevada foothills, 350 m, USDA 8b, sunset zone 7

102

posted 1 year ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

....have you seen food forest plans for planting fruit trees? Highly recommend not planting the trees in traditional rows, but use the seven layers of plants that help each other in a food forest, especially planting nitrogen -fixing shrubs between trees. I have been trying to switch my traditional rows over, and it's a real pain, but worth the effort.

I will not change the layout, because I already have trees - some few years old, but I would love to have food forest. Right now the trees are too small and I lose one for every three tree that I plant, no matter how I protect them it turns out to be not enough. Extreme aridity in summer crates a terrific pressure for the wildlife that will do anything to get anything juicy. Keeping any bushes alive in this setup would be very difficult. I'm trying to create food forest in my garden area - I'm going to plant native blue elderberry that supposedly grow very fast and will give fruits and shade. I said "supposedly", because out of ten that I planted only three survived and they grow not too fast and they are native to my area. Other natives grow even slower and they would not stand watering and fertilization of the garden. I'm trying hard.

leigh gates

pollinator

Posts: 136

posted 1 year ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Would a greywater system be feasible? Use water twice, once to shower then to water plants. Or direct greywater into a Keyhole Garden. It looks like you have enough slope to have a gravity system. Keyholes developed in arid lands

Still slingin’ Avacado pits

james cox

Posts: 100

Location: north okanagan

I like...

posted 1 year ago

8
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

we moved here, to our new property, enderby, bc in april '22. got the garden started by rototilling the compacted dirt n weeds and topping with purchased compost to create 4 50' beds. these bed had peas, snap peas, lettuce, beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, spinach and kale that died and tomatoes that were absolutely pathetic. in a different 50' bed i pl anted asparagus(which i was told doesn't grow here) but we will see, i hope to get 2 weeks or so of harvest. in a tilled but not bedded area i planted cucumbers, squash, melons and pumpkin. I also planted some fruit trees which promptly died(who knew you could plant them too deep) and blueberries. The property has existing apple, cherry, pear, plum, currants, raspberries, blueberries and grapes.
this year in addition to the same stuff planted last year i will add more greens, eggplant(for my wife, yech), oh, i planted strawberries last year, half didn't make it, so more strawberries, maybe cabbage n brussel sprouts, ground cherries, an assortment of herbs and a bunch of other stuff for which i have seeds but can't decide which to use. oh, and all kinds of flowers for which i have seeds. already started calendula, nasturtium, and marigolds.
at 69 the hope of seeing seedling trees get tall enough for shade may be stetching it, but i have coming this spring, buartnut trees, turkish hazelnut trees and beaked hazelnut trees for shade, hopefully/eventually, and hazelnut bushes, in addition to seaberry, osage orange, white mulberry and aronia berry.
it's late and, after reading my list, i just realized how much work i have in store, so i go will curl up in a closet somewhere and hide, sleeping til it all goes away.
darn you nicole for making me put this down in writing, i never do that, it's too scary. i usually just keep it in my head and brush it off as a nightmare.
cheers james

I'm not lost because where ever I go there I am and that light at the end of the tunnel is not a train.

James Everett

pollinator

Posts: 162

Location: Gaines County, Texas South of Seminole, Tx zone 7b/8a

I like...

posted 1 year ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Anne Miller wrote:James, it is great to see you back on the forum.

Thanks for sharing those pictures.

It is apparent that the property looks very different in 2022 from 2015.

Thanks yeah the last few years have been busy at work with many people coming and going from work. Leaving me to working 60 + extra hours a week and leaving me little to no time to work on the land. Though what little I have done with the drought going on here you would not know it in the areas I have worked on in the last 6 years. Just getting out and digging a basin to allow more water to go to ground does amazing things in a desert.

The two armies met. But instead of battle, they decided to eat some pie and contemplate this tiny ad:

permaculture and gardener gifts (stocking stuffers?)

https://permies.com/wiki/permaculture-gifts-stocking-stuffers