guildfordcycads

My family has some camping land in zone 6a the eastern US. It has been wild for about 60 years and completely unmanaged for 10 years. Over the past year we have started to bring the camp areas back to a state of accessibility, and part of the plan is to start permaculture gardens focusing on edible and pollinator-friendly native plants. So far we have planted Jerusalem artichokes, Joe Pye, raspberries, mountain mint, and a few others.

Any suggestions about what else to plant? We want to keep it fairly hands off and mostly rely on native companion planting. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

We are currently contemplating the purchase of a 8100m² property in Germany (a few kilometers north of the Harz mountain range). Our main concern is the fact that the property is on a north/east (20° to east) facing slope – house at the top. The highest point of the agricultural area of the property is at ca. 165m above sea level, and the lowest point is at ca. 153m above sea level. The distance between those two points is about 50m (+/- 3m) with varying gradient (some parts quite flat, some steeper) . The lowest part is already used as a field by a farmer; the upper parts have been used by the previous owners. They had a small vegetable garden and various fruit/nut trees (hazelnuts, walnuts, etc.).

The house is on a small plot of ca. 300m², the rest is pretty much all supposed to be used for permaculture with the goal of self-sufficiency. Our main concern is the potential lack of sun to get anywhere near our goal. Any thoughts and/or advice?

Attached a satellite screenshot with the borders of the property.

4 year old vibe never pruned before

Howdy! Back with another query. On our plot, we had a soil test performed by the local CO-OP, and now we’re trying to interpret the results. We expected to be disappointed; the area is bare dirt, and the forest mat was scraped entirely away, so now we are working to heal the area the permaculture way.

The CO-OP is very much geared toward larger farming operations, so I’m wondering how applicable their advice is to amending the soil. They suggest a heavy application of lime to improve the pH. I’ve attached the important bits from the soil test for your viewing pleasure 🙂

Currently, we have cover crop seeds en route (peas/oats), and we plan to add compost and spent mushroom blocks before seeding, composting again, and spreading a layer of straw to mulch and keep the seeds/compost in place.

There is still time, though, to add lime per the CO-OP’s suggestion, but I’m curious to know what other people would do in this situation. I’ve seen many methods and differing opinions on soil pH altogether, so I figured I should keep scurrying down this rabbit hole.

The highlights are as follows:

• Soil pH 5.1
• Buffer pH 6.86
• Phosphorus (P) 6 ppm
• Potassium (K) 99 ppm
• Calcium (Mg) 35 ppm
• Organic Matter 3.3%