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Hi everyone, could anyone please list some community gardens / permaculture sites and projects in the UK please? Preferably those that have a body of water and are run by the community.

I’m thinking of things like Westbury Wildlife Park (https://wwpf.uk/) and Campwell Woods (but without the glamping, so closer to its former usage as Cherry Wood) – outdoor kitchens, cooking on fire, growing veggies etc.

Thank you!

I’m in Kauai HI, the area I am in is actually considered subtropical because it gets relatively cool at night. But it rains a ton, and does get hot in the afternoon.

I’m planning my garden and hearing how important mulch is. It keeps the soil hydrated and cooler. What are the other benefits of using mulch?

With the amount of rain we get I’m wondering if mulch would keep things to damp? I was thinking of just using that white insect netting on top of the soil to deflect the sun and help keep the soil cool. And the netting would allow the soil to get some air and let it dry out a bit. Is my reasoning correct? Or would a mulch like straw or wood chips be better?

Will this leech chemicals into the soil when heated by the sun?

They are similar to the wheel covers from a semi truck. I’m too poor to invest in a proper black tarp and got these tire covers for free.

I want to kill off a section of weeds and grass to begin a native Perennial wild flower restoration project in my backyard next year where toxic chemicals were already leeched into the soil by an automechanic who lived here before us and worked directly over the lawn.

So I recently stumbled across the scrap of knowledge that woodchips themselves don’t “tie up” nitrogen in the soil, but rather, that the soil microbes require more of their own nitrogen to break down the extra carbon, and stop sharing nitrogen with the roots of the plants they are symbiotic with. So if you feed extra nitrogen during that time, you will still get healthy plants and a huge, huge benefit in the long run.

How does one practically apply this information to annual garden beds? Especially when building soil from a depleted state? How do I use wood chips, and get a good yield, and build my soil most effectively when starting from square one with depleted soil? I have virtually unlimited compost, wood chips, chicken manure granules, and leaf litter at my disposal.

I started a new Discord server (group/chat/forum) for fruit growers that would make a great companion to this group. It is more of a very well-organized, multi-channel real time group chat than an old-school forum, as I noticed a lot of the existing forums have extremely outdated and slow UIs.

This one’s called The Orchard Underground, and it’s meant to be a clean, well-organized space for backyard growers, orchardists, breeders, homesteaders, foragers, rare fruit collectors, preservationists, and anyone else who’s into growing and tasting fruit.

It has various (and growing) collections for online resources, a giant compendium of nurseries, channels for grafting, propagation, orchard design, trading scionwood, recipes, and much more.

Whether you’re working with a full orchard or a few potted trees on a patio, you’re welcome. We’re just getting started but the goal is to build a proper community and knowledge base, with daily activity and easy access.

If that sounds like your thing, come join!

Press “Join a Server” once your account is made on Discord (app or desktop). The invite code is: WCBxANpR6F
Just paste that where it says “invite link” 🙂 Or you can join with this direct invite link! https://discord.gg/WCBxANpR6F

There is a guide to Discord within the server for new users, as I know a lot of people may not be as tech-savvy.