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Sobering. For myself, I find I can rarely just walk away from information like this. So, years ago, because of my Permaculture training about beneficial critters and then continuing with what I see in my own yard, I started letting wild islands come up around the place. Wild islands are...

My experience with wood chips is that if they are not worked into the root zone, they are not a problem. The microbes that break them down will soak up nitrogen, taking it away from plant roots, if the chips (or any high-carbon material) is in the root zone. I agree with baymule, providing...

Hi! I live in New England, but we have some garden aspects in common, I think. Calycanthus floridus is a lovely, fragrant flowering shrub. In moist areas, I grow Clethra alnifolia - blooms late summer here, very fragrant, bees love it. Seeds itself nicely so once you have some you can...

I have had surprising success growing peas for shoots on just used duck bedding - pine shavings - sometimes with a sprinkle of compost on top, peas covered with a tiny bit of chopped straw. I think if they just have a little covering of something they sprout fine.

Hi, all. (c: I agree with sumi, it's worth a try. Not sure how much would be too much . . . I have mulched with rhubarb leaves on the surface of the soil around dogwoods, just because. No apparent harm done.

Apios americana grows well in some shade.

We share the blueberries with the catbirds. Whoever gets to the bushes first in the morning gets them, giggle

@Denim Deb here we go http://www.coppiceagroforestry.com/

@Denim Deb Dave Jacke is owrking on a book about these practices in this part of the world. It is not easy! But I know he is working on it. There is an FB group for this, also. I will see if I can poke around and find more official information. Meantime, I can tell you that I have...

Perhaps a review of Permaculture principles would be enjoyable. I know I need to look them over from time to time.. Observe and interact - learn from nature, from nature's many different facets, and use that knowledge to design a landscape, a garden, a life.

Permaculture is reclaiming the ways in which humans lived as part of the living systems that support life. Permanent, as in you can keep living this way for about as long as one can imagine - as opposed to the use it up and crash system.

Food, fuel, medicine, fiber. Some basic needs. Coppice and pollard are two methods for yielding fuel. Rather than cutting down huge trees with (nonexistent) chainsaws, my ancestors cut four inch saplings a few inches above the soil, or at breast height. The former is coppice, the latter is...

And then there are the berries that make a fabulous dye for light- colored natural fiber, just add vinegar. Soak fabric in vinegar in a jar in the sun for a day. Soak fabric in poke berries and vinegar in the sun for four days. Hang to dry. Rinse in cold water till it runs clean.

One of the Permaculture principles is that each element - each part of the system - has more than one role. Ducks provide manure, eggs, meat (for some), eat slugs, snails, and weeds. Another principle is that more than one element does the same job. Ducks eat weeds, I eat some, and the...

Peas are growing nicely on some foot-deep duck bedding I planted. They are primlarily for building soil, but the sprouts are yummy! Might put in some field peas soon. I was impressed last year. It was a very dry summer, and flax, radishes and mustard did very well. So did buckwheat. I am...

Thanks!

This year we are making a little extra push to establish more perennial vegetables and small fruit trees. An increasing need we have is to reduce effort for producing food. Somwe now have wine cap mushrooms, sea kale, Korean celery, mintroot, and Turkish rocket in additin to kiwi, raspberries...

@Beekissed - I can give a try for definitions... Permaculture is a design discipline based on science and ethics. Three primary goals are meeting people's basic needs, improving the health of the ecosystem, and redistrbuting surplus (sharing, expanding the system, etc,). Many different...

Turning in soon.