My new permaculture bed has been planted and is now ready for winter. I planted everything around the beginning of September. There are 3 blueberry plants which were bought in the spring and spent the summer in the old garden and 4 sea buckthorns that have been struggling for two years where they were originally planted.
I also planted a bunch of comfrey as a border to keep the lawn from creeping into the permaculture bed that borders the grass. Comfrey can be pretty invasive but since this garden will never be tilled or dug up, the roots won't get disturbed which is how comfrey spreads all over the place. Comfrey is the most important plant in permaculture gardening, according to what I've read. It's a great border plant and when the leaves get big you slash them and use them as a mulch. Because comfrey is so vigorous, it provides a lot of nutritious matter. It is so nutritious for plants that it can take the place of animal manure, it's an insectary plant, used traditionally for wound and bone healing as well as a skin moisturizer, the vigorous taproots push far into the soil and can break up hardpans and heavy clays, and it's a nitrogen fixer. I planted about 12 plants against the grass so next year I'll let you know how that turns out.
The pond only recovered a little and it looks like the plant growth has stopped now. There's still frogs in it but the water doesn't look very nice and has a grayish murky look. I still have the kitchen sink and bath water going into it. Sure hope the plants will make it through the winter.
I've figured out where next-year's permaculture bed will go. I'll be able to install it earlier than this year's as I have much of the material now. I plan to do a bed every year until the whole backyard is a permaculture haven. Next I'll be figuring out what will be planted out in the spring. Happy gardening!
No comments:
Post a Comment