Don't waste what you've started Pippa. Cover what you're not going to use this year with compost, manure, old weeds and then black polythene, old carpet, weed proof matting and leave it until you want to use it. It will be beautiful soil when you uncover it, and NO WEEDS!!.
We've gone for deep beds with a no dig policy. We just loosen the soil with a fork to get any weeds or old plants out. It saves the back and leaves the soil fauna and flora where it likes to be.
Permaculture & Getting Going in the Garden.
Moderator: Peak Moderation
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kenneal - lagger
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I'm off on a permaculture design course for 2 weeks starting end of April in Shropshire.
Also I've started some "Tora Bora" Gardening in my neighbours garden with a few friends. We termed it Tora Bora gardening as because we got permission it can't be real Guerilla gardening but is a sort of training camp for Guerilla gardening.
Also I've started some "Tora Bora" Gardening in my neighbours garden with a few friends. We termed it Tora Bora gardening as because we got permission it can't be real Guerilla gardening but is a sort of training camp for Guerilla gardening.
"You can't be stationary on a moving train" - Howard Zinn
Please please report back on this....newmac wrote:I'm off on a permaculture design course for 2 weeks starting end of April in Shropshire.
I still debating doing a 10 day design course in Cork at the end of August. I'm keen.... but....
.. well 10 days is a long time away.
... I've also read fairly extensively on the subject already
.... and being a biologist I do have reasonable knowledge on ecosystems etc
... also I am PO aware (obviously as I'm here fairly often!
)So I don't want to committ to 10 days and find it repeating stuff..
That doesn't sound quite right.... but you know what I mean. Do please report back...
Yes but the 2 or 3 day courses are all Intro ones... and probably don't get really into the subject.snow hope wrote:It does seem to me Sally that a 10 day course is not really what you require. Being a biologist and all that.......
From my perspective I imagine a crash 2 or 3 day course is what would be ideal for you. Just trying to help you decide.
& This one sounds quite fun! http://www.westcorkpermaculture.org/
But... but.... Oh "Ho hum!"
Sally,
Save the 600 Euro for the permaculture course and build yourself a flat plate solar collector!!
Everytime the sun shines you will get such a sense of satisfaction and achievement. It will pay for itself within the year on saved gas/oil bills. This last year has seen a concerted effort to POWERSWITCH the house from fossil fuels to low/no carbon fuels. It has been hard work but so satisfying not to mention the smug delight when the quarterly bills come in!
The best way I have found to face up to this peak energy issue is to do one step at a time i.e. energy reduction, solar collector for hot water, wood burning heating system, super insulation, micro generation.
From the lovely photos you posted of your garden, you have the setting, space, skill and commitment to establish a brilliant food-producing environment. If the TSHTF then you will also have the time.
I have only been to a permaculture taster session and did not like it (maybe it?s me) but three friends/colleuges have been on a week?s course and my word do they talk a good job! Unlike you, they have not actually done anything, but oh! Could they tell you what you should do.
Back to the solar collector, it was quite sunny on Anglesey yesterday and the home made solar collectors got the super insulated 210-litre hot water tank up to 59c. Enough for all the hot water needs for a household full of women whom think power showering is a basic human right!
Save the 600 Euro for the permaculture course and build yourself a flat plate solar collector!!
Everytime the sun shines you will get such a sense of satisfaction and achievement. It will pay for itself within the year on saved gas/oil bills. This last year has seen a concerted effort to POWERSWITCH the house from fossil fuels to low/no carbon fuels. It has been hard work but so satisfying not to mention the smug delight when the quarterly bills come in!
The best way I have found to face up to this peak energy issue is to do one step at a time i.e. energy reduction, solar collector for hot water, wood burning heating system, super insulation, micro generation.
From the lovely photos you posted of your garden, you have the setting, space, skill and commitment to establish a brilliant food-producing environment. If the TSHTF then you will also have the time.
I have only been to a permaculture taster session and did not like it (maybe it?s me) but three friends/colleuges have been on a week?s course and my word do they talk a good job! Unlike you, they have not actually done anything, but oh! Could they tell you what you should do.
Back to the solar collector, it was quite sunny on Anglesey yesterday and the home made solar collectors got the super insulated 210-litre hot water tank up to 59c. Enough for all the hot water needs for a household full of women whom think power showering is a basic human right!
A couple more pics (Sorry they're a bit dark.... I took them at dusk oops:)
The raspberries with their hay mulch
The other side of the greenhouse
Update on the cardboard and compost beds from earlier in the thread.
Near bed has onions and peas. Far bed mostly potatoes.
& Now it's a lovely morning so I'm out to prepare an area for my runner beans.
The raspberries with their hay mulch
The other side of the greenhouse
Update on the cardboard and compost beds from earlier in the thread.
Near bed has onions and peas. Far bed mostly potatoes.& Now it's a lovely morning so I'm out to prepare an area for my runner beans.
have you started preparations .
I 'v moved to Australia in 1975 from Canada . Man was it cold in winter .Australia is nice . I understand the short summers . I once taught in northern Canada .Summers lasted about 6 weeks but the plant grew very fast because the days were long and the plants photosynthesised about 18-20 hrs/day . plantingrequires a great deal of work but it is relaxing and enjoyable . I've recently been learning about aquaponics (a mixture of aquaculture and hydroponics .) You can grow plants and fish . I will be commensing my first system in 2 weeks . I am beeing taught by an Australian aquaponic expert . He has a great deal of success .I like aquaponics because it can be for small spaces and it does not use much water -that is a plus here in Australia. see you.
I'm looking to improve Zone 1!!!! Zone 1 is small, very small, who ever you are.
Ours is pretty tiny - here it is....(please no lectures about the bbq, patio heater or unsustainable wood table because a) the damage is already done, we've got them and b) I'm not the only one with an opinion about daily living in our house
Last year I planted tomatos on the right where the bike is and I grew aubergines, chillis and peppers in a friends garden (I'd grown them from seed to start with in my mums greenhouse). We shared the produce.
This year I'm not going to grow the tomatos in the bed (you shouldn't keep growing them on the same plot of mud) so we are going to have large pots and put them by the kitchen window.
I love the blue bush and also the rose that grows next to it. However, when its finished flowering this year its going to have a massive haircut and an apple tree put next to it.
Anyone got any good ideas about what I could grow on the left hand side wall? I have got a plan for cherry trees on the parish land outside "our" garden. What else would be useful to eat?
Ours is pretty tiny - here it is....(please no lectures about the bbq, patio heater or unsustainable wood table because a) the damage is already done, we've got them and b) I'm not the only one with an opinion about daily living in our house
Last year I planted tomatos on the right where the bike is and I grew aubergines, chillis and peppers in a friends garden (I'd grown them from seed to start with in my mums greenhouse). We shared the produce.
This year I'm not going to grow the tomatos in the bed (you shouldn't keep growing them on the same plot of mud) so we are going to have large pots and put them by the kitchen window.
I love the blue bush and also the rose that grows next to it. However, when its finished flowering this year its going to have a massive haircut and an apple tree put next to it.
Anyone got any good ideas about what I could grow on the left hand side wall? I have got a plan for cherry trees on the parish land outside "our" garden. What else would be useful to eat?
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alternative-energy
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SILVERHARP2
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Sally wrote:Yes but the 2 or 3 day courses are all Intro ones... and probably don't get really into the subject.snow hope wrote:It does seem to me Sally that a 10 day course is not really what you require. Being a biologist and all that.......
From my perspective I imagine a crash 2 or 3 day course is what would be ideal for you. Just trying to help you decide.
& This one sounds quite fun! http://www.westcorkpermaculture.org/
But... but.... Oh "Ho hum!"
I havn't been to this one yet but have heard and seengood things about them
http://www.theorganiccentre.ie/courses.html
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biffvernon
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The left hand wall is east, the house south, right hand west and from the unseen side is north.alternative-energy wrote:Nice walls for growing cordons, espaliers, fans. Which way does the LHS wall face? ( I'm guessing north) If it is you will be limited to tayberries, gooseberries and morello cherries
So the things growing on the left hand wall are shaded from direct sun until 11 ish in the summer.
Woops got rotation wrong!
The hottest part of the garden in the corner where I currently have an evergreen clemetis growing. It likes it so much you can see its now growing along the telephone lines. So, I suppose that I will have to cut that back before it pulls the lines down.
Anyhow the north west facing end of the wall is pretty shady. I currently have a hydranga there which has only really started to grow after being there for about eight years. Lots of ivy which seems to love it.
So maybe I should plant an apple tree nearer the sun and a cherry nearer the shade. Maybe I could have grapes where the clemetis is and put trellis up on the brick wall? Is there something more suitable for that wall - its hot and sheltered. What about nuts?
Are you suggesting I make a large pond?biffvernon wrote:Hydroponics could be the way to go in a restricted space with walls. Ask clv101 about his GCSE Technology projectPippa wrote:Anyone got any good ideas about what I could grow on the left hand side wall?
Now about that table and patio heater....