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Zone 6B – morning/early afternoon sun, afternoon shade

I am building a fence around my raised bed area to protect it from the bunnies – and I am trying to plan out the look.

Right now I am thinking Irish moss between the stepping stones (or just small stones)

But I want to make a plant barrier around the very edge to block the grass from my lawn from creeping in.

I’m thinking of maybe planting lavender and chives around the edge because I read that they create a barrier from the grass growing in.

Does this sound like it will work? Ideas? Issues? Tips?

I’m new to all this and just trying to learn and want to do what’s best

Hello everyone!

I have been trying to build a herb spiral the last few days but the more I try and figure out the orientation the more confused I get.

We are in central Portugal so the Northern hemisphere but it seems there is a lot of conflicting information about how to orient your spiral.

Can someone give me some pointers and explain why this spiral is right or wrong?

Thank you!🪴

SERIOUS WARNING:

From a person with a deep scientific background in physics, biology, mycology and agronomy, with years of experience in permaculture, syntropic, mycotropic and soil sciences, PLEASE, do not ever take into account what LLM tell you about these subjects.

While LLMs can do some structured and “logical” tasks, they are totally unable to understand and pass on any info concerning complex systems such as ecosystems, orchards, permaculture designs etc. I usually do my research on google scholar and books and for fun I always ask a lot of LLMs questions on these issues. Almost every time they just say completely false things…like UTTERLY false things. Please ignore them. Talk to real experienced people if you want to avoid big mistakes.

Hello all,

I’m searching for some ideas on how to best control some tea tree ([Gaudium laevigatum]()) on our property.

Over the last 20~ years, an area of around 1 acre has been overtaken by tea tree. It’s now at the point where the shade / lack of nutrients has killed all ground foliage and restricted or stopped the (non mature) wattles and eucalypts from growing above the tea tree canopy height.

We’re looking for options to return the area somewhat close to it’s original state – the best idea currently is to cut and mulch all the trees and turn over the soil where the roots are highly concentrated. Then plant similar grasses that are in areas close by, with the hope of growing fruit trees and / or native herbs in it’s place one day.

It’s a pretty brutal approach also involving a lot of time and energy, but due the dense growth (you can’t even walk between the tea trees) I can’t see many other options without having them grow back immediately.

The land sits on a slight undulation, dropping down into a valley and dried creek bed. Further up the valley is paddocks and over time have washed most of the topsoil downstream, leaving a very dry and barren clay.
From my research, adding swales would help with the soil recovery and water retainment, but wanted to get others thoughts first.

I am ultimately interested in starting a permaculture farm in Mexico. Before making that leap, I would love to be at experience others’ permaculture farms in Mexico. Are there any that you know of that you might recommend? Even better if its located somewhere in Mexico where the summer (when I would like to visit) is not too hot, such as in the high mountains. Thank you for your input.

I have a five year old permaculture orchard modeled after miracle farms. I am in zone 7b SE TN. I have a bunch of spots for nitrogen fixers that I really do not want to fill with only nitrogen fixers. I also have spots for stone fruit that I want to scale back on because I am in a frost pocket and it tends to warm up early and get hit by a hard freeze.

Anyway I have read/heard a few times that you want to plant mulberries away from other fruit trees to attract birds away. The thing is mulberries are pretty amazing and I am thinking about filling 5 to 10 spots. Has anyone done this? Did you regret it?

Location: central Ohio (zone 6a).

Vision: a greenhouse to house an aquaponics system and to grow food for home consumption – without having to step outdoors! (Fish may or may not be eaten, I’m more focused on veggies)

Specifics:

The carport is on the south side of the house. There is some tree cover on the east and west.

Footprint would be approx 10’x20′ You can’t see well in the photo, but there’s a side door to the house in front of where the car is parked. The door is not covered by the carport, and that area has pea gravel. In order for that door to open into the greenhouse, I’d have to extend the roof out a few feet on the west wall. Having a few square feet with drainage would be an added benefit to this, since the impermeable driveway will be the floor of the rest of the greenhouse.

I investigated and found that the carport section of the roof is internally separated from the rest of the roof, over the front porch. I don’t know what it looks like on the inside; there’s a “ceiling” to the carport (is soffit the right term?), but I assume it’s just wooden framing and possibly some insulation…? I’d remove the roofing and siding and replace with glass, polycarbonate, etc.

I would lose a covered parking space, but that’s not a major concern.

Ventilation: I hear those automatic wax windows can be nifty – is there a way to close them manually in a high wind? Will also need to plan fans, airflow.

Moisture: I’m guessing I would need to remove the siding and put some sort of moisture barrier on the side of the house to protect it…? And probably also paint or seal the wooden frame.

Electricity: there’s an outlet in the wall, but once I’m running lights/water pump/fans that will probably be insufficient. Could I hire an electrician to beef this up somehow?

I’m skeptical about overwintering fish in an aboveground tank, in an unheated greenhouse, in Ohio. How do folks handle this? Do hobbyists generally so three-season aquaponics and start fresh every spring, or is there a feasible way to maintain a “dormant” system through the winter?

I’m inexperienced in most of this and in the pre-planning stage, so expert feedback would be very much appreciated. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Just got this peach tree in the ma from rain tree and was wondering if I should make a heading cut on this peach tree and if I do have to do one do I cut the branches below the heading cut as well?

So about 3.5 years ago we planted out some young apple, pear, cranberry, mulberry I think, and black currant… Too close together, I think. The trees are about 6feet apart lol we got all these natives and we were excited and overwhelmed with info so we just got them in the ground. Now I’m thinking I need to mitigate this issue…? Could I trim them to be dwarves, would that be enough room for them then? (The apple and pear mainly) OR should I respace them and dig them out and do the whole damn thing with more space in between?

How far apart do you plant your apple and pear trees?