guildfordcycads

We bought a house a little over a year ago and am working on slowly redoing the yard. The previous owner didn’t appear to be very fond of anything green. Most of the ‘garden’ on one side of the house was one huge patio. It is not even done pretty, it is fenced in all around and then tiled with those big ugly concrete tiles.

I am in the process of removing a strip of the tiles all along the back fence. The tiles are not cemented, but there is a layer of compacted sand beneath. At some point, I would like to use the space for a pollinator friendly flowers and some fruit shrubs. The fence faces south and it’s fairly wind protected, so it is a good spot for a garden aside from the sand.

I would really like to avoid having to dig up all the sand, which is why I need the help of the permaculture hive mind 🙏🏼.
What would be a good green manure type plant for this? My backup plan would be to add a thin layer of topsoil and then scatter wild flower seeds and clover, and chop and drop for a few seasons. This should build some organic matter over time, but I doubt their roots will do anything to loosen the sand. Usually daikon radishes are the go to to drill through dense soil, but I only read about them being useful to loosen loamy soil. Can they tolerate sand? Other ideas? I am in zone 7/8 and the site gets full sun.

I’m building a guild with sunflowers, Jerusalem artichoke and French cucumber in an isolated section of my yard. I had it all planned out, but recently I’ve decided to change it up. I want blue. Bright blue flowering edibles. I need a vine and a nitrogen setter. Any suggestions?

Hey everyone! My wife and I are transforming our backyard into a permaculture-inspired food forest, and we’d love some guidance from experienced folks.

Our Backyard Setup • Challenges: Pool, grass patch, gravel patch (constantly covered in pine needles from a neighbor’s tree), and borders covered in landscape fabric & tons of river rock. • Progress so far: • We’ve been giving away the river rock little by little. • Started container gardening last year, including fruit trees. • Planted arborvitae for privacy, but they’re struggling, likely due to poor soil and lack of moisture retention. • Started two compost piles and Bokashi composting for food waste. • Brewing JADAM microbial solution from nearby Pine Barrens leaf mold soil.

Our Plan for 2024: Soil First

Since we’re in a pine-heavy environment, we’re aiming to mimic Pine Barrens conditions—focusing on acid-loving, well-draining plant guilds around our evergreens and fruit trees.

1️⃣ Soil Rescue for Arborvitae & Future Plantings: • Clear a ring around each tree, remove/break up landscape fabric. • Lay down cardboard chunks soaked in Bokashi liquid & JADAM solution. • Build layers of finished Bokashi, compost, worm castings, biochar. • Top with peat moss, topsoil (to use up our pile), JADAM solution, and acidic mulch (straw/wood chips/pine needles). • Plant Comfrey Bocking 14 to break up compact soil & use as mulch.

2️⃣ Guild Members to Introduce: • Ground cover & nitrogen fixers: Wintergreen, ladino clover, sweet woodruff. • Fruit & berry layer: Blueberries, cranberries, lupine.

Looking for Advice & Resources

💡 Feedback on our overall plan—anything you’d adjust or improve? 🌱 Best places to source Comfrey Bocking 14 in South Jersey? • Best nurseries or garden centers? • Anyone local have comfrey cuttings to spare? 🏡 Garden centers or suppliers in South Jersey that support permaculture? 📚 Best resources (books, websites, local groups) for building a food forest?

Thanks in advance for your help! We’re excited to learn from the community and share our progress. 🙌

Looking for advices. I’m not that much into raised beds.

Hey folks, a customer/new friend who has promoted us here in the past suggested I join this group so I wanted to introduce myself and offer our latest discount sale to you! So I went way overboard planting Japanese Chestnut seed last year haha, I suppose my eyes were bigger than my garden! So if any fine folks out there are looking for Japanese Chestnut trees we will be offering them at a 20% discount if you use the code CHESTNUT at checkout through our nursery website www.folkrockfarm.com. This promo lasts through March, which is our last month for Spring 2025 orders. We will open back up for ordering in September 2025 for Fall shipping! Thanks and I hope everybody has an awesome growing season! -Rory, Folk Rock Farm

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