Kempy Dupree

Yes Tyler, the design gives me a great idea on where to start.

That looks super cool! I don't think chickens would like my mastiff too much. 😀

I think it would be fun too! 😀

No slope in the main yard, the area to the left of the house has about a 7 foot drop heading to a pond. We have not done anything with that part of the property, really like the trees. The back of the property faces south.

Ok, so here is a pic from google earth. The green dots are the fruit trees and the raised beds.

Not sure if this is what you meant by a sketch of my area.

I will see if I can get a sketch of my property. It does look like a lot of shade. The pic was taken at 8:30am and the sun has already started to move further south. Normally the raised beds are in full sun by 9am and stay in it until about 7pm (during the summer).

I kind of thought the same thing about the fruit trees. About how far out do you think I should pull the dirt around the fruit trees?

Ed, I guess I am looking for a design so to speak. I know I want to keep the raised beds just plant things that can work together. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on but sometimes I feel more confused then when I started. I have looking into classes but they are at least 2 hours away from me. I think I'm stuck trying to do this on my own.

I'm posting these pics again in hopes someone will be able to help me. I am north of Hosuton in zone 8. My two raised beds are just a mess and I never get anything other then greenery out of it. I have an "orchard" we started 3 years ago and they have the same problem, no fruit. I added companion plants around it tree this spring but they didn't seem to do anything for the trees. My plum has canker and will need to be pulled up this fall and my peach and nectarines have little to no leaves.

I have acreage to plant lots more things but I wanted to get this area right before I waste my time in other areas of my yard.

Can someone help me figure a way to set these areas up following permaculture guidelines? I hate that I waste so much time, energy and money when I know if I had it set up correctly it would be productive.

Thank so much for asking this question. I'm in Texas in zone 8 and I was wondering the same thing. This has helped me tremendously!

Happy Growing!

Ok, the first pic is the raised beds. Notice all the green. Lol the other two are of our fruit trees those ar not doing well either but they have only been in the ground for 3 year. I tried companion planting around each of them this year and only the chives and chamomile did well.

I wanted you to see the amount of space I have to work with and this is just the small spot I wanted to start in. I have plenty of property all around but I don't want to overwhelm myself.