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I have a silver birch tree which has died. A heap of mushrooms have sprouted from around the base which look to my untrained eye like honey fungus. Is it possible to dig out this tree and plant another one in the same spot? Or does the fungus mean that anything else I plant there is doomed? The garden is south facing, but the tree is on the north side of the fence. I’m looking for something that can cast some shade in summer. I’m in the south east of the UK, on chalk. My front garden is a forest garden work in progress; out here the yields I’m trying to obtain are shade and aesthetic appeal!

I have very relaxed composting system. I’ve really not done much with my property, but it’s a start. I’m nervous to put invasive in my compost. I have Himalayan blackberries, English ivy, thistle, and other noxious weeds (as classified by the county) that I know can propagate and seed themselves very easily. For now, I put those in their own pile to be burned along with a lot of sticks.

Do I need to be so cautious? I have just an open pit/bay from cinder blocks (3-4 feet square) water when I water plants and keep it covered with cardboard, and turn every few weeks. I don’t temp check but I know it heats up. It’s mostly kitchen scraps and grass clippings- which sit in their own mound and get very, very hot before I consider adding them to the pile.

In a year, I only got about 4 cubic feet from one bay but it was dark and rich looking, remarkably consistent… i’m certain that animals ran off with the bigger bits but 🤷‍♀️ what they left seemed awesome.

I’m working on incorporating more yard debris to increase my volume. So should I worry about the invasive?

Hi all — I’m working on a video series called Can You ID This Tree? as part of my TreesWizard project, where I explore tree literacy through quiet observation and seasonal storytelling.

This short episode features a conifer that might be a Japanese Cedar, filmed near Lake Musconetcong in Stanhope, NJ. The goal isn’t just identification — it’s about slowing down, noticing details like bark, needle structure, and silhouette, and deepening our relationship with the trees we live among.

I know this isn’t a how-to or design post, but I believe tree literacy is a foundational part of permaculture — especially when it comes to integrating long-lived species into resilient landscapes.

📍 Filmed in New Jersey, fall season 🌲 Focused on bark, canopy, and form 💬 I’d love to hear your thoughts — is this a Japanese Cedar? What clues do you see?

Thanks for letting me share — and I’ve added the self-promotion flair as required. Always open to feedback on how to make this series more useful to the community.

I’m located in the U.S. and looking for a variety of Jerusalem artichoke tubers. I love the plant and I want to collect as many different cultivars and wild accessions as possible. Would anyone know where I can look? I’m willing to pay anyone to send me some. I already have a few of the more common varieties, but I would loveee some weird and foreign ones.

I recently moved and had to leave all of my gardening books behind. I had a collection of 20+ different books on everything from specifics like soil health to broader topics like general gardening. I read all of them regularly.

Now I don’t have as much space for books but have a huge space to garden. I’d like to have a permaculture book I can throw into my backpack for reference when I go out to the new garden to plan.