Clik here to view.
Garden Bed & Walkway Design
Like most gardeners, my fruit and vegetable gardens were setup in nice neat rows, just like you see on an industrial style farm. Granted I was using many different varieties of plants mixed together,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Zones in Permaculture
A major design concept of permaculture is zones. When you are accessing a permaculture site, dividing the property into zones can help you to position certain plants, animals, aquaculture, pasture,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Build an Herb Spiral Part 1
Herb spirals are synonymous with permaculture. Most people even vaguely familiar with permaculture have encountered the famous herb spiral. The idea is to create a structure, the spiral that will have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weeding for chickens (Don’t weed what they like!)
UPDATED 3-16-2013 Wednesday 6-6-2012 Many plants that people would consider “weeds” in the garden, can actually serve valuable purposes. They can be great nutrient accumulators, nitrogen fixers,...
View ArticleHow to Build a Hugelkultur Raised Bed Video
See how to build hugelkultur raised beds, and how to incorporate them into a sun trap.
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Build Hugelkultur Raised Beds
Hugelkultur is a German word that means mound culture, although I have heard others say it means high bed. To be simple, it is basically soil over wood. Hugel beds can be any size, use different sizes...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Start a New Garden the Permaculture Way
This past weekend I helped my neighbor install his new permaculture garden. Granted it’s not finished yet, but I wanted to share how we set up the garden beds, and the hugelkultur berm. Installing...
View ArticleHow to Install a New Garden the Permaculture Way Video
See a new garden being installed using sheet mulching. Also, see a large Sepp Holzer style hugelkultur berm being installed.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Companion Planting
Companion planting is somewhere between a science and an art, and we certainly haven’t figured it all out yet. Certain plants can benefit each other by trading valuable nutrients through their roots,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Plant a Three Sister’s Garden
A Three Sister’s Garden is a Native American planting guild, where you plant squash, pole beans, and corn together. The beans fix nitrogen for the corn, the corn provides a natural trellis for the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Multi-Functional Plants for the Permaculture Garden
If you have a choice of planting a tree, shrub, vine, herbaceous plant, or groundcover that only has one function or another species that fills that desired function and also provides three other...
View ArticleHow to Build an Herb Spiral Video Part 2 (Planting)
See what herbs can be planted in what microclimates in the herb spiral.
View ArticleInstalling Swales Video (Part 3 Planting)
See the result of planting the downslope berms of my swales with 600 trees & shrubs, and an herbaceous layer of a polyculture seed mix.
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Build Swales (Part 3 Planting)
So the surveying has been done, and good level swales have been dug with the soil placed carefully and loosely downslope from the ditch as berms. At this point it is very important to establish your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fruit Tree Guild Installation Part 2
Last year, I prepped and installed some of my fruit tree guilds. I had planned to install the following guilds around my zone 2 fruit trees. As with most plans, they did not go exactly according to...
View ArticlePermaculture Design Updated 8-14-2013
Below are the links to view the design via Adobe. Also listed below the links is a list of the trees in the design and their plant communities. Plant communities are not listed on the design. Design...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Test your Soil for a Pond Site
If you are planning to build a compacted pond without a liner, it is a good idea to test the soil to determine the clay content. The clay content will tell you whether or not the existing soil can be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pond Planning Part 2 (Laying out the Pond Site)
There is a lot to consider when planning for your pond installation. It is a good idea to thoroughly plan you pond installation prior to the machines arriving. I personally like to measure, get the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Calculate Catchment for a Pond
Catchment refers to the amount of area that feeds a particular pond. It is very important that you are aware of the size of the catchment area for a couple of reasons. For one, if you are building a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Calculate the Proper Spillway Size for a Pond
The point of a spillway is to passively divert water runoff from your pond safely under or around your dam wall. It is extremely important that the size of your spillway is large enough to accommodate...
View Article