Toad's Permaculture
Toad's
August 10th: we have pumpkins
That’s right. I have pumpkins sprouting up all over the place. I am extremely excited. We have been watering them two to three times a day depending on the heat.
I went back and read one of my posts. I just should let everyone know I write these up quickly and do not proofread. I just type it up and publish it a couple of days out – just in case I change my mind about posting it (which happens).
Anyway, there were only a few in the beginning. They were so tiny. It is exciting to see that they are actually coming up. I hope that this time it all works out.
Now, my more mature daughter asked me about planting them so close together and if it was a good idea. I am starting to wonder that myself.
I never anticipated that my garden would actually grow this way. (I am thinking the partial shade is really helping me out) That is one of the reasons that I planted them on the outside and I put the peas on the inside.
I figured if I put the pumpkins on the outskirts that they will be able to vine out, but great points were made. Should I do extra for the pumpkins or is my plan good?
Those are pumpkins in their rows below and I can’t wait for them to get bigger and show me pumpkins. In the middle two rows are the peas. We will be setting up stuff for them to hang out against. I have been watching those gardening groups, they have some really great ideas.
The more that I see success in others the more I can see there can be success in me. When I get low I have been asking others (just random citizens that frequent the groups I am in) to show me their gardens. It has been great 100% of the time. People that garden just seem to be nicer. I am excited about the pumpkins and seeing what everyone else has out there.
Not going to lie I am starting to feel true concern for my peas. Only time will tell. I am hoping that everything works out, until next time people.
Side note: make sure you know where your water is going to travel so that you can capture it.
Banana Spider or Zipper Spider
All of my life I have called these banana spiders.
My husband argued that these were zipper spiders and he was right.
“The spider species Argiope aurantia is commonly known as the yellow garden spider,[2][3]black and yellow garden spider,[4]golden garden spider,[5]writing spider, zigzag spider, hay spider, corn spider, or McKinley spider,” –Wikipedia
None of the names that I found matched what I called banana spiders.
But I do like to keep them around. Females tend to stick around the same area their entire lives. (We have four now that live around us but I don’t know if they are male or female)
They eat their own web at night. I had no idea about that, but it makes sense that they keep such an organized web. I love my Bs. Bertha, Beatrice, Betty and Brenda; because I still call them banana spiders.
For reference, this is a banana spider. They are pretty cool, but not the spider that I have on my porch.
Pretty things for your eye holes
I enjoy taking pictures. Here are some of my favorites from this week.
Day 2: continued firebreak phase one
Optimism is out the door. This is day two of the beginning of this battle. The vines are too much.
I am debating setting them on fire myself and just starting over. There are so many and they go all the way up to the top of the trees.
Even with my new fancy gloves that are amazing and have protected my blistered hands (so far). So many vines. We had no burn pile…
Now we have one… tada
Working on getting it all taken care of has been ridiculous, but we have been working at it.
We were out there working and there was this fine that had been buried beneath the brush. I didn’t notice it but when I went to pull another vine it touched me and I jumped high into the air.
If you had been there you would have been impressed with how high I jumped. Regardless, no snake just a vine, but now I am on high alert.
So we have realized that not only do we have a vine problem but we also have a baby tree problem. There are so many baby trees, they litter the floor and it is already hard enough to get to the bottom.
I am debating on murdering these remaining baby trees or if I am just going to cut everything around them and let them grow.
I do not see any benefits to these jungle vines. They are huge and very thick. I have to get rid of them, but it’ll be so hard. Not looking forward to the rest of the work, but I know it will be rewarding and look better too.
August 1: Peas and Pumpkins
Stop and just imagine for a second that plants just magically grew with little to now work…. that is just a great dream. Now pop it. I have been hoeing. These are my adventures… 🤣
Well, random citizens, I have started a very small fall garden. I worked on it for an hour a day. First, I took my mighty hoe and I scraped all of the grass off of the top surface. I had to wet the soil multiple times. I did not enjoy this, but since my son hurt my tractor by hand it is.
I had to really start moving dirt and my kids really only wanted to help with the fun stuff. I used the dirt that had all of the grass in it as an outside barrier.
I do not know why I did this, maybe I thought that it might protect the plants. We plan on putting ant poison around our beds. Something in me said, “keep it away from our precious.” My husband just rolled with it.
The ground was so dry I found myself beating the dirt just to get what was on top. I complained a lot about how it was similar to rock- because it was. My shoulders were sore and I hate not having a working tractor. It is for the birds
Some people told me that I just needed to do raised beds in the beginning, but I’d kind of like to know how fast I would have starved in the 1820s. Right now, my family would have been doomed. I have already murdered plenty of plants from lavender to an entire vegetable garden. I really hope my luck changes this time, but just in case I am not using nearly as many seeds as I did the first go around.
I gave up half way through the day because my delicate hands befell a blister. Missing my tractor. Regardless, I came back the next day with a blister and new determination. My husband felt bad for me and came out to help the second time. Although I did not work the dirt again that first day I did water it more than five times.
It did not work. The dirt was so dirt and compacted that it only glared at me. So, the ground was still tough but my husband watered it 10x more than I had because he said it made it easier for him. He could have peed on it for all I cared, he helped out a lot. I was not going to complain about his methods.
I was going to do this cool thing in the circle that I had seen on the internet but my husband disagreed. Since I had messed up so horrible with our spring garden, he suggested i do fancy patterns with my plants at another time after I have become a little bit more skilled. He may be right, but if these ones die: we’re doing it the fancy way. 😒
It does not look like it but I just watered those stupid seeds not even 15 minutes ago. Frankly, I am disappointed. I walked out there only to realize that I might need to put my sprinkler on them at least for today, while they’re getting started. I don’t want them to just become one with the dirt. I will update in a few days. I will also show the progress on spot two.
Spot Two will be preparing for our August 10th planters. I am excited. I saw on big names on this list. When I am done with these spots this fall I have some big plans. First- I am going to plant more grape plants. Then I am going to build a giant wooden structure to go over my bushes near the house. (I do not like the sun as much as I do the shade.) This will eventually have grapes growing all around it and I can’t wait.
So stick around and maybe I won’t kill everything this time.
Day one: Firebreak
Been doing some research and I have found that a firebreak might be a good idea to incorporate. Before we even start planting our food forest, we should probably make sure we plant stuff according to our needs.
So, the first thing we noticed is that the majority of articles tell you to survey your land. They want you to look for dry and dead debry that could easily spark a fire.
I did not get far. I just walked to the front of the property and I found my first job. Before I start to plant new evergreens my first step is cleaning up the front of our property.
As you can see, we have our work cut out for us. We moved in October 2019. I have never owned such a large property before and had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even notice this until I knew what to look for.
So, we are going to work on getting this cleaned up. Having all of this could surely spark a fire. As the front of our home is so close to the road I am now nervous about it.
My son is excited to use a hatchet and I am sure together we will make quick work of this mess. Good thing about this is that the majority of these trees are evergreens. 🌲 (I just really wanted to use that tree 🌳 and this one)
Notes: before I start on getting my brand new fire break I will ensure that my current one is secure. I like that there are a lot of pine trees.
Another good thing is that getting the dead away will help them grow bigger and better or just not look so dead.
More on my millions of projects later to come 💚
Asking all these questions
So, as I have explained before: I stumbled through my first year. It was not a good thing, I murdered multiple plants this year and I feel very guilty about it.
I am not talking about one or two- it was the entire thing, the whole garden from corn to peas. Mid season I had to do raised beds and study. No matter what I did that first round was not good enough. I didn’t come prepared and I had a vague idea of what I wanted as well as some idea that it would all just magically happen for me.
During this time I came up with quite a few questions. These might or might not be useful. Feel free to add your own or comment a suggestion to add. I haven’t thought of everything I am sure.
1. What are my goals? How will our current decisions impact our long term goal? Do we have a clear end in mind? Can we break our goals into smaller missions and goals that can help us get to our end game? What are our manageable goals? What is most important? How will we manage our property organized v wilder methods?
2. How will my goals impact the property? How can the property interact with our ideas of our homestead? How can we plan adaptability into our system and how will it respond to change? What does the property want to be and what do you want it to be? What is appropriate and inappropriate for the property? Where is the natural flow of the property? What are the primary characteristics of our property? (Climate, terrain, biome etc.)
3. What do we need in order to make that happen? How will we work with nature? How can we retain resilience and durability? What materials and methodology do we want to use? What is our starting point? Can we do it alone or do we need assistance?
4. What is the natural layout of the property? What are our renewable resources and how can we make them work for us? What are our climate and geographic risks? Do we want to add to the property geographically in order to benefit our systems?
5. How will we handle our waste? What compost system will be best for us? Do we want worms or flies? Do we want a living system? Do we want do those weird German or Dutch mounds? How can we make it low impact and low waste?
6. How will we integrate as opposed to separate? How will our plans for diversity effect our long term goals and long game; how can we use these things to our advantage? Should there be straight rows or do we want a wilder and more layered food forestry method?
7. Do we want to plan our outside perimeter that is a wild area barrier? If not, how do we utilize that space? How will we use our edges and values? What kind of agroforesty, permaculture or other scientific name do we want to use and why? How do we plan to balance our system?
8. Where do we want to place our infrastructure? What type of structures will we need and how much space do they need to occupy? What type of nursery/greenhouse do we want to utilize? How will we heat our greenhouse? Do we want to have an aquaponics system and if we do what kind of fish? Would we want to expand to a fish farm? What about hydroponics?
9. What is our natural soil fertility and how do we plan to improve it? What living fertility methods will we be using? What is our soil texture, soil structure and biological activity? How can we get our soil tested?
10. How do we plan on using our natural landscape to capture maximum rain water? How will we store the water? Do we have a natural water source? Do we have a natural slope? Where is our natural occurring positive drainage and how do we direct our water and not it direct us?
11. What natural ecosystem do we want? Do we want a pocket wetland? How much work do we want to put into that system daily?
12. Where is the Suns orientation? Where is our solar sweet spot? Where does your property get the best sun and how do you plant your property according to what would be the best to support that natural sun direction?
13. Where do our wind directions? Summer v. Winter winds? Do we need a wind break? Do we want to use a windmill?
14. Do you want animals? How much will it cost? Is it worth it? How much area will it use and what are the benefits and the risks? What kinds of animals do we want to raise?
15. What skills can we contribute? Are those skills useful towards your goal? What can you YouTube and what will you need help with? Do you have help (who, what, when, where, why, how)? What insects and animals are in the area? What can we do to repel them naturally?
16. What will our zones look like? How will our zones effect our property and the water supply? Hiw many zones will you have and how will we section those zones out? What overlaying sector plan do we want to use? Are there natural things that we cannot change or edit? Where do we want our fire break and how will that effect our zones and property? What plants will we need to do this?
18. What do we want from our land (self reliant, hobby, income, education, healthy food etc.)?
17. Where are our frost pockets? How will we protect our plants during the winter? What kind of winter preparations do you need? How does winter effect your property? These questions also apply to summer.
19. How will manage our roads and paths? How will we prevent erosion? Living v. Nonliving walkways? Do we want to build pathways? What kind of paths?
20. What inspires you to continue? How can you put a plan in place to avoid getting burned out? Are you in a group to help where you have other people to help you? Do you want to do it alone or do you want people to help you and if so, who?
Lots of questions. As I get them answered I will post them here because I am a boring person and this is exciting for me. So that is that. Lots if work to do but my husband would prefer I not do anymore on my vacation.
Things I didn’t know… Metal pipes v. Me
So first let me say, I jumped into this like a kid that can’t swim. First, I decided I was going to start out with four. I bought four baby plants- I did not know what I was doing- and planted them along a metal pipe.
This is not including the six lavender plants that I murdered, just the ones that I am baking alive this summer.
So I did not realize that I was literally baking two grape plants, a blueberry, and a blackberry plant. Honestly, the grapes and blackberry plants are not dying but these blueberries are crying. I do not want to uproot it because I am afraid I would murder it.
Those blackberries have some never die in them though
Also, my dumb self did not put any supports up. Later I will take a picture of how my one living tomato plant is propped up with garden decorations and some twine. It isn’t a good look, but it worked at the time and I have not switched it out quite yet.
My goals are ever evolving right now but I really want to have a whole property covered in plants. I think it will make me happy in my old age.
End game goals: make a seasonal “witch” themed attraction during September and October. I will retire on this. My permaculture food forest will have everything I need to do a spooky trip that will be fun for all ages. I have so many ideas, but that my dears is how I plan on retiring. I want being old to be fun.
Negrete, LA cemetery: Zion Hill
My sage: one day of being back
Our plants after one week vacation
Drip irrigation: After a one week vacation
So we left for vacation on Saturday, July 25, 2020. We came back just now- like magicians or in cars. Anyway, before we left we tried to find someone- anyone to water the plants that survived the first few months.
Anyway, we have all these plants and we had no one to water my babies. Also I had just planted three blackberry bushes because I got them on sale. I am a sucker for a sale. We looked into many different systems but we decided that the easiest cheapest way was to use our old buckets and collect tidy cat buckets in order to set up drip irrigation.
Not going to lie, we were throwing this mess together the night before because we had to collect the materials
It took quite a bit of time. We were collecting materials until the night before we left. Driving to strangers houses and asking for their little boxes the week before- to make sure we had enough. Fun Fact: we still didnt have enough.
Anyway, it worked (kind of it turns out our neighbors will filling the buckets twice a day), so we are 90% sure we did it wrong. We screwed a hole into each bucket and the water slowly dripped out. My Aunt went back to check on her cats, so she filled up my buckets for me mid week and I thought that everything was fine.
I thought that the drip irrigation was lasting, per white bucket, 4 days, the tidy cat’s around 3.
The blue berries loved it, they were looking yellow before. I think we’ll keep the buckets for our blue berries because the leaves look a lot better. I think that is because of the rain water. We need rain water collection and just found out that I don’t need to be watering my plants with tap water.
Regardless we only lost one plant the entire week because of a team effort. Now my neighbor (who I had no idea was an irrigation specialist) wants to help us.
He informed me that this was not going to work for our long term plans and how water is the bones of any yard. I would need to figure that out long before I started mass planting like I want to next year.
We are going to start working on that tomorrow. This has been one heck of a learning experience. Hoping for future success.
Where I went wrong and right with my property
Well, first let me say I had a general idea of what I wanted in the beginning. It was a rough guess but more like a daydream. I wanted to build this awesome thing but didn’t have a bit of information on how to do it. I decided I would just figure it out as I went.
I did zero research on my property I just knew it had this big huge tree and it had a wide open pasture so I wouldn’t have to clear anything. I do love that big tree, it was a major selling point.
So we put in our house and we starting messing with the dirt. I didn’t even check out the soil until I broke a shovel. That was when I realized that pasture land might have some cons. It does not hold water to save a life. The only things that survive are resilient and durable plants that are native- which did not follow my plan one hundred percent.
So, now I have this property that has been used to run cattle for over twenty years and I need to figure stuff out. Nitrogen levels are low. There is no water source. I did not look into these things before hand because I guessed natural rain would just magically make my plants live.
I was still super excited and continued to fight the clay dirt. It was so tightly packed that we had to wet the ground before we tilled it. If we were using a shovel we had to use lots of water.
The garden was tilled and I added NOTHING. I just figured it’s broken up, the dirt will just fix itself. Again, I was hoping for some magic. I planted and watered and waited. We watered faithfully and very few plants sprouted. We planted over five hundred seeds, most didn’t germinate in my soil and the ones that did could not survive a few weeks.
When nothing came up I was really upset, but i moved to perennials and raised beds. Now, I am planning for 2021. I will not be choosing another property, I’ll fix it, but now I know that plants don’t grow on hope. I really wish I had done more research.
The beginning
So first let me say, hello and welcome to my adventure in turning my property into a Food forest by using the principles of many things. One of which is Permaculture. Let me first say: orginally I planted so much and spent too much on seeds just to watch it fail.
After that terrible start my eyes wandered to research. Lots of research which started the beginning of my herb garden, as shown above.
After failing so hard at first I really needed these raised beds to make it. So I worked a little too hard at them. It helped some plants thrive, others not so much.
After lots of research. I decided that these experimental boxes would help me get my end game goals accomplished. They helped me out because I realized what I did wrong with my large garden that I had planned.
I planted 26 plants this year that were perennial. Plenty of BlackBerry and blueberry bushes as well as a fig tree and other naturally occurring trees and shrubs.
Honestly, even though some of my original plants died I got a lot out of it. I learned a lot and I think I want to expand that and share it. Who knows someone smarter might have a suggestion.
More beautiful sun things
Natural colors are the most beautiful
