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The fruit trees in the back corner of my yard have started to die off this summer – despite aggressive pruning and consistent watering. I live nearby a river and the soil has typically been very healthy here, so I am presuming this is a result of poison via the neighbours using weedkiller.

No, unfortunately I don’t know the neighbours and the fence is very high so the chance of asking them is close to none.

So, I’m wondering if anyone in this community has any ideas for how I can revive this plot of garden bed. Preferably quickly so I can have a chance at saving the remaining trees. Is there a way of improving the soil quality so drastically that the poison is negated?

Any help would be much appreciated!

We’re in the process of moving to the northwest (Oregon, Washington, northern California). How do I connect with other permaculture or small farm enthusiasts in an area? I have a good working knowledge of plants and some basic farming experience, but I’d love to connect with others so I can learn more about that specific area as I begin to plant. Any suggestions?

I’ve seen several YT videos of similar design and wonder if any one actually built one of these. I need to pump water up a slight incline about 50 yards (maybe 5-6 ft in height). There’s no vertical drop so a ram pump won’t work. What do you call these?

Hello! We are in western Estonia, zone 7a, on one of the islands in the Baltic sea a few km inland. We have a very large, flat lawn that the previous owners mowed. It is a gigantic flat grass area, that’s it! We are keen to turn it into something more natural (it’s a fairly wild area and forest is adjacent. Trees nearby are mostly birch, hazel (?) and fir trees; one area has oaks and maybe ash.) We moved here in winter, and it is currently under snow.

What is the best path forward for naturalizing it? Getting rid of the lawn grass and turning it into a more wild ecosystem?

• Should we try to kill the grass before planting anything else? This sub recommends things like putting out cardboard, but the area is huge.
• There are huge piles of seaweed at the nearby seashore. Is that fine to use for mulch? Could we add it to the lawn to both kill the grass and provide food for wildflower seeds? (Or put on top of cardboard in select areas, say for a vege patch.) Should we till it, to overturn the grass?
• We’d like to plant some trees as well, oaks, maples, maybe others. At least some that grow fast. The idea here might be the old-style ‘wooded meadow’: tall trees spaced out with wild grasses and flowers underneath: https://keskkonnaamet.ee/en/project-woodmeadowlife

Your advice is much appreciated. We’ll keep a small area of lawn, but the more we can turn back into wooded meadows in a sort of rewilding manner, the better. The adjacent forest has deer and lynx for sure; we’d like to make it attractive to wild animals, insects, other life.

I want to get into gardening but I also want to make sure I don’t cause any net harm on the environment by starting out.

I’m thinking of just starting with a single tomato plant.

No permaculture yet because that’s too difficult. The reason I came to this subreddit is because I trust that you guys know the most about sustainable growing in general, and can tell me if I should start with a different plant.