Dave Holmgren's quarter acre permaculture retrofit

Article about suburban permaculture from his website.

post-solstice

My first cauliflower, a gorgeous one:

Note: Just last week this was the size of a tennis ball, and its companion is already a little past perfect -- starting to look raggedy as the blossoms open, I think. Cauliflower doesn't seem to have much of a window for harvest.

Chard and kale chuggin along. Lettuce growing much slower. Squash vines looking bad and the squash looking pale. When to harvest? The tomatoes are no longer ripening. The brussels sprouts are big and healthy along with all the other brassicas, but no little bundles at the bases of the leaves yet. The newer-sown spinach never really grew much. The radishes are small and hairy and spicy.

I've saved seed from one of the custardy yellow tomatoes, but figure I'll re-up on seeds next year and keep better track of them.

fall

The weather took a drastic turn last week -- getting chilly, and the days growing suddenly short, and then a bunch of rain on Friday night. The tomatoes have virtually stopped ripening, and the squash leaves have gone gray.

I harvested the last romaine interplanted among the winter brassicas yesterday. Full and gorgeous! And the green deer tongue is delicious, as well. All the lettuce is good. In general, we've been harvesting lots of greens including chard and kale, though the spinach is bolting.

We're also harvesting tons and tons of tomatoes, and somehow we're managing to eat them all. Elana is a salsa machine, with her salsa machine.

My squash have done poorly -- a few small fruits on the vines. I'm pretty sure they're overcrowded. Next year I'll plant them farther apart and see if that fixes it.

A lot of garden projects right now. Been working on that new coop and am almost done. Some fun artistic use of natural forms for the gate and the food canopy outside. The perimeter is pretty patchy in places, but should hold.

Also, scored a p-patch! After at least 2 years on the waitlist. Want to use it to learn about growing staples -- corn, wheat, potatoes, maybe beans and winter squash. Though my other idea for winter squash is a hugelkultur bed contouring above the garden at Davi and Wojtek's place.

lettuce harvest etc.

Have been harvesting the interplanted lettuce over the last couple of days - a new red fire, a buttercrunch, and a romaine. The romaine are small but I don't get the feeling they'll get much bigger without turning bitter.

The tomatoes are ripening, finally. There are a few squash on the vine but the first fat sweet meat has shriveled and many of the small ones are yellowing and shriveling. One big one shows promise. I don't think they have nearly enough root room -- next year, a couple big squash with plenty of room.

The chard is still bumpin, as is the kale. The basil looks fantastic. Time to pinch off the tops and get the first small harvest!

Ordered 1.5 lbs of garlic yesterday - an early-season, a mid-season, and a late-season. Should be enough for 60-90 heads!

How the Global Food Market Starves the Poor

How to feed the world ? from Denis van Waerebeke on Vimeo.

mid-August, basil

Planted 32 basil starts this evening, which had been growing leggy and tough for months in their flats at the SYGW farm. Yellowed leaves and few of them, woody stems, totally rootbound. I tore at their roots to loosen them up, then mixed compost and fertilizer into the bed (~18 sq ft), dug long trenches, dug holes, stirred in some more fertilizer, and buried the plants as deep as I could with the leaves still sticking out. Watered them in thoroughly then watered again with diluted fish emulsion, ~4 tbsp in two gallons.

Fertilized most of the leafy green stuff with fish emulsion as well, and the brassica starts and tomatoes with Solomon's dry mix sprinkled around the edges of each plant and chopped in a bit.

One of the brassicas turned out to be a mutant:

So I replaced it with a seedling that's been growing in its soil block on the front porch for a while.

Not much at the garden right now. Big chard leaves, kale (the two plants that remain which used to be infested are doing very well), green beans, and a succulent Romaine on the verge of being ready. NOTE: Romaines take ~60 days to mature, butterheads ~50, Green Deer Tongue ~50, and New Red Fire ~30, according to Territorial. There are also lots of jalapenos and the Anaheim peppers are coming on. Pruned a couple of the tomato plants yesterday to try to spur the fruit to ripen. It takes a lot of time when they're this big.

Also watered everything in very deeply keeping a sprinkler moving around the last couple days.

Time: ~2.5 hrs (incl. tomatoes)

The Plant

Awesome design for a building/business/living system. Incorporate humanure and you've got a production engine. More here.