Growing Resilience Permaculture

It's time for a new thread- Tools. I'm going to focus on simple hand tools that will save you time and weed-induced heartache in your gardens. The criteria for which tools to include- simple, robust, easily operated by a variety of body shapes and sizes, and no motors.

I’m going to keep pushing this simple set up. 2’x4’x6’ rolling wire rack with 4 shelves, 18’ of reflexit insulation, (4) 20”x48” germination heat pads, (4) 48” 4000k LED shop lights. That’s it. With (16) 72 cell trays, that’s 1,152 potential starts. Imagine the amount on food you can begin in such a way. This is enough germination space to grow well more than any family could eat in a year. Not all crops begin here- potatoes, peas, beans, carrots and beets are all direct sow (DS). Total Cost of all hardware- about $700, before seeds trays. Get after it!

New Series: Broadforking and preparing beds

A new thread- “Growing peas, building soil” My pea patch seemed to draw quite a lot of attention earlier this Summer, and now the growing season for them is done. I’m going to show how I take the trellising down and prepare the pea plants for the next step, decomposition. My goal is to use as little energy as possible, produce as little waste as possible, and give back to the sweet soil that sustained the plants during the growing season. Here we go…

“Let me now put in a word as to the cause of this success with our garden. It was not owing to our knowledge of gardening, for we made many blunders not here recorded, and lost crops of two or three different things in consequence. Neither was it owing to excessive richness of the ground. But I lay it to the unsparing warfare kept up upon the weeds, which thus prevented their running away with the nourishment intended for the plants, and kept the ground constantly stirred up and thoroughly pulverized. I have sometimes thought one good stirring up, whether with the hoe, the rake, or the cultivator, was as beneficial as a good shower.” Edmund Morris Ten Acres Enough