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I am looking for local resources, communities, groups to learn what works best here. I am in Algarve.

Our tribe had land and a basic garden, but no gardener so I need to learn fast… or alternatively find a gardener.

I met my GF over a year ago, she’s actively been farming for last 5 years. We now are living together on sort of a collective. Everyone here is in the know but me. I work a job in Babylon 50-60hrs a week and at night, but want to start learning to essentially “catch up” at least understand the basics. Where do I start? Books, YouTube etc. biodynamic farming, permaculture, and R. Steiner are where I’m aiming I guess.

I have very rocky soil in my yard and I’m trying to improve it by making a raised bed on top of it. We put a bunch of decaying leaves and weeds and some broken down rotted tree stumps into the hole and were planning on letting nature take its course.

I’ve been reading on the differences between mulch and compost and such and I guess I’m confused if what this pile becomes will be proper soil I can plant in or if I’m actually making compost? I’ve read the tree stump might lock some of the nitrogen up as well. Is there something I can add to achieve my goal- maybe just soil from the store mixed in?

I have a copy of this, wondering if anyone else has worked on some of these kinds of projects? Thanks

https://preview.redd.it/8a9w64jxnbqe1.jpg?width=774&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3d9b910a5e9b72430b586a0a76eb2048055a7c5

I know it’s not exact and so many factors would affect that answer. But this is my first time trying to use borage and comfrey in this way, I’m planning a vegetable garden with a mix of annuals and perennials. We do have some heavy feeders like tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, onions, etc. The soil will be amended beforehand to have a decent amount of compost, it wouldn’t be the only source of nutrients but I still want to use these as a tool for extra nutrients as well as to help suppress weeds, be insectary and pollinator plants, etc.

Just wanted to say that after my modest 9 years of experimenting so far, my top picks for trees here in SW Missouri are: 1. Garrettson persimmon 2. Illinois Everbearing Mulberry 3. Asian pear (Shinko, Turnbull, Korean Giant).

Most scion for American persimmon varieties grafts easily, but Garrettson is like impossible to fail with.

Mulberries have mostly given me difficult results with grafting. Except Illinois Everbearing. Grafts almost always succeed and grow quickly and give beautiful yields.

Asian pears seem to like Missouri. Overall, pears are a good bet, but Asian ones seem like an awesome choice so far for me. Fruit makes it to harvest in good condition even in my windy spots.

I’m also hoping for a future of pawpaw yields, but I would honestly try to germinate seed and plant it directly into the ground after germination over transplanting if I could go again (wait, I can go again…). Haven’t grafted any pawpaw trees yet. My transplants have all either failed or grown very slowly. Most of them are alive, but yeah, slow growing, even after year 3. Seems like The younger they are on contact with the soil they’ll make a home in, the better off they’ll grow.

Anyone else have some favorites for Missouri or surrounding areas?

I’ve got a .9 acre lot with tall trees scattered throughout, with sections of well established St Augustine grass, peppered with lots of “weeds” that I’m happy to let grow like dandelions, violets, and dead nettle, but also lots of invasive field garlic and patches of monkey grass I plan to uproot. It’s our first spring here, so I’m also trying to just observe what shows up throughout the growing seasons.

I’ve been sporadically pulling up the field garlic that’s been popping up all throughout the grass. Im left with big holes where I remove the garlic and I’m wondering if it would make sense to just toss some native wildflower seeds and/or native grass seeds into the little craters I make each time I pull the garlic out? Or would it be a waste of seeds to plant them interspersed throughout the grass? I’d like to try to foster a way for native and beneficial plants to slowly take over and push out the lawn grass.

I’m not very organized and like to let things take their own course. I can easily get distracted halfway into a project, so I’d rather not just pull up large areas of grass only to fail at replacing it quickly enough to avoid erosion. So I guess if anyone has done anything similar – just trying to let native “weeds” overtake the yard, while also adding various other seeds in hopes they give the grass some competition – I’d love to hear your tips or suggestions.

I’ve been growing these guys for a year now several failed attempts at growing them and this is the furthest I have gotten. Theyre about 3-4” each

I am in NE illinois, and need suggestions on where to plant and when. Have trouble finding suggestions with our strange climate, and I do not trust google AI.