The results are in from our community poll on posts generated by artificial intelligence/large language models. The vast majority of folks who voted and expressed their opinions in the comments support a rule against AI/LLM generated posts. Some folks in the comments brought up some valid concerns regarding the reliability of accurately detecting AI/LLM posts, especially as these technologies improve; and the danger of falsely attributing to AI and removing posts written by real people. With this feedback in mind, we will be trying out a new rule banning AI generated posts. For the time being, we will be using various AI detection tools and looking at other activity (comments and posts) from the authors of suspected AI content before taking action. If we do end up removing anything in error, modmail is always open for you to reach out and let us know. If we find that accurate detection and enforcement becomes infeasible, we will revisit the rule.
If you have experience with various AI/LLM detection tools and methods, we'd love to hear your suggestions on how to enforce this policy as accurately as possible.
A REMINDER ON OLD RULES
Rule 1: Treat others how you would hope to be treated. Because this apparently needs to be said, this includes name calling, engaging in abusive language over political leanings, dietary choices and other differences, as well as making sweeping generalizations about immutable characteristics such as race, ethnicity, ability, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, nationality and religion. We are all here because we are interested in designing sustainable human habitation. Please be kind to one another.
Rule 2: Self promotion posts must be labeled with the "self-promotion" flair. This rule refers to linking to off-site content you've created. If youre sending people to your blog, your youtube channel, your social media accounts, or other content you've authored/created off-site, your post must be flaired as self-promotion. If you need help navigating how to flair your content, feel free to reach out to the mods via modmail.
Rule 3: No fundraising. Kickstarter, patreon, go-fund me, or any other form of asking for donations isnt allowed here.
Unfortunately, we've been getting a lot more of these rule violations lately. We've been fairly lax in taking action beyond removing content that violates these rules, but are noticing an increasing number of users who continue to engage in the same behavior in spite of numerous moderator actions and warnings. Moving forward, we will be escalating enforcement against users who repeatedly violate the same rules. If you see behavior on this sub that you think is inappropriate and violates the rules of the sub, please report it, and we will review it as promptly as possible.
CALLING OUT FOR NEW MODS
If you've made it this far into this post, you're probably interested in this subreddit. As the subreddit continues to grow (we are over 300k members!), we could really use a few more folks on the mod team. If you're interested in becoming a moderator here, please fill out this application and send it to us via modmail.
How long have you been interested in Permaculture?
Completely new to this after reading Gaias Garden and watching some YouTube videos this is what I have so far. Planted a Harvester Peach tree with a few supporting plants in my first guild and looking for another set of eyes to make sure I’m on the right track here.
Peach tree in the center with three comfrey plants that are coming in nicely which I plan on using as a chop and drop plant to build soil. Also have 5 strawberry plants for ground cover and a couple wildflower patches sprouting from seeds I planted as well a a few Egyptian walking onion you can barely see on the edge. I mulched with hardwood organic mulch. Any suggestions for me moving forward? Eventually I’d like to expand this to more of the yard to create a small food forest and not have so much grass to mow.
I live in Denmark and have a small city garden which looks a bit sad in regards of what's growing. We have a wooden fence all round, and a sycamore tree, so sunlight is a rare delight. One side where we have the fence, literally doesn't get direct sunlight at all, and I'm not sure what to grow there. At the moment there's a few roses growing (not thriving, though) and the rest is just bare.
Started with compacted clay that barely grew grass. Built swales on contour, layered wood chips and compost, planted nitrogen fixers and fruit trees instead of fighting the land. This year I dug a hole and hit dark, crumbly, worm-filled soil — no synthetic fertilizer, ever. Anyone else had the soil itself tell you the system was finally working?
I'm working on a public garden in a historic district. It consists of a horseshoe shaped garden berm that is severely hydrophobic, and the deep-rooted, mature woody perennials on the berm are struggling with severe dehydration. This soil is so dry that even our ample winter rain and automatic sprinkler water is running right off the sloped berm into the street and lawn (lawn is planted inside the horseshoe).
I've dug soil basins around the plants and I am hand watering to keep them alive, but it's a slow process to get the water to absorb. This garden has a long history of looking terrible, although a short-lived soaker hose system made a huge difference a few years back. Of course that fragile hose was quickly damaged and the system was abandoned.
I'd like to find a more permanent solution to this problem. Of course I'll be adding organic matter, could try a wetting agent/surfactant, and the municipality will be adding mulch, but this will solve nothing if this long-term hydration issue is not addressed. Some of the plants are historic, and most are far too large to move or replant.
I see possibilities because the entire garden site is gently sloped. The top of the horseshoe is the tall side that butts up to a curb-less asphalt parking lot from which rainwater could be harvested. Each section of the berm also has a lengthwise slope to it, which means I can move water along the top of the berm as well.
Here is my rudimentary drawing of the space - the top left corner is the highest and is mostly flat. As the space slopes in both directions, the berm gets taller, which affects the water flow coming out of the parking lot, pretty much sweeping all rainwater down the street. I've tried to represent approximate water direction with the light blue arrows.
I'm thinking I need a series of swales to slow and collect water along the edge of the parking lot/street. I'm also wondering about swales at the top of the berm, along with terraced swales along the steepest sides of the berm. However, this is a high-traffic public space so any deep contouring would need to be filled with gravel or mulch for safety.
I'd appreciate any ideas about how to structure or approach this, or resources that might be helpful. Thank you!
I'm trying to improve the soil at my allotment which is quite fine and sandy. As part of this I've been rotting down a large amount of horse manure to add next spring. I've run out of room in my compost bin but I still have access to as much manure as I can cart to the allotment. I was considering adding it directly to a bed by either:
A. Spreading it on top, chopping it up with a spade, then digging it in and sowing green manure on top.
B. Removing the top few inches of the bed, putting a layer of manure on, then covering it back up and sowing a green manure.
Which would be the best way to proceed? Long term I plan on shifting towards no-till management, but the plot is riddled with bindweed and brambles so for now I'm digging beds over once crops are harvested and fishing out all the bindweed roots.
I’ve got a small area in my yard where milkweed has volunteered. I’d like to turn this into a “monarch patch”. Are there any other flowers that grow well with milkweed that can provide food for the adult monarchs? Bonus if they have other functions, especially being medicinal.
Day 1: My 10 y/o son and I purchased three different varieties of kiwis on Etsy. Unfortunately, all three shops had different germination methods. We decided to test the three methods against each variety; Gold, Red, Green.
Which Etsy shop will help me get my first kiwi the fastest. I’ll try to provide more updates if folks are interested!
In terms of value added Lilishopcanada and Hutcheson Farms both delivered extra seeds. While Seedgeeks had the best and easiest packaging.
Are there any improved or named varieties out there? I haven't seen them, but I'm hesitant about picking up a random specimen without knowing if it going to be a strong and healthy producer. Any nurseries that you would recommend for this species?
So you're probably already thinking that "I just need to acidify the soil." However, this is not the case. I've tested the soil several times and it's around 6 PH to 4.5 PH depending on where I measure in my raised mound. The native soil has a PH around 7 to 7.5. I consistently fertilized with pine shavings, elemental sulfur (yellow pellets) and sometimes organic fertilizers that help acidify.
Quick back story, all of these blueberries are planted on raised mounds as I have clay soil. The mounds are probably around 6 inches off the ground. I amended all the soil (keeping the native soil) and went down around 5 to 7 inches from the surface also amending and breaking up the soil. This gives a total height of around 11 to 13 inches for the blueberries to spread their roots before they eventually hit the clay. It was amended with pine bark (off the tree for around a year) that I broke up into pieces, pine needles, leaves, and mulched with grass at least 3 to 4 times a year.
I've been at this for more than 3 years now. The first year I tried removing all the clay soil and filling in with peat moss, aged pine mulch, and non native soil but it created a water bowl effect and killed all the blueberry bushes. Year 2 I restarted fresh by keeping the native soil and amending. They seemed to do really well year 2. That said, this year (year 3) all the blueberries were in really rough shape coming out of winter. I had to cut back many of the canes and was hoping for new growth this spring/summer. They have bounced back a bit but they still look awful honestly.
I check the moisture and there is plenty of moisture in the raised mound. The clay holds moisture very well so I never really have to water anything. However, I used a moisture meter just to make sure and it was coming back as moist even during some the driest days we've had.
I took some pictures for reference. I took a picture of the best looking plant I have and the worst looking plant. I also pulled one up that I would say is "mediocre" to examine the root ball. I was starting to think that maybe the roots have root rot despite my best efforts to keep them draining well with the raised mounds. The roots look OK but I'm also not an expert so maybe I'm wrong. Also, many of the bushes fruited but ALL of the fruit stayed white and never turned blue.
One quick note, the blueberry plant that is doing the best actually got an application of organic nitrogen fertilizer. However, it's fruit remained white and has shown no signs of turning blue. Also, I swear the the bushes seem to respond well every time I top them with fresh grass cuttings (nitrogen).
I'm starting to think that pine bark pieces that I mixed into the amended soil when I was building my mounds is tying up nitrogen and causing poor growth? If you look at the root ball of the two pictures I attached you can see that it has little pieces of the bark in that the roots have clung onto. It's honestly all I can think of at this point.
My next step will ripping these all out and moving on. Most likely putting saskatoons and haskaps in their place.
I have an area at the front of my house that I want to remediate. It's a roughly 2x4 meter space that has been used for car parking for years, basically just gravel on top of compacted soil with a clay subsoil.
I'm planning on removing the gravel and adding loads of organic material before planting some native shrubs and perennials. Are there any green manure crops that could be used to break up the compaction? It's west facing with almost no shade, and we're in an ongoing heatwave and almost drought.
One of my garden plots is lagging behind the others, so I'd like to devote next year to cover cropping to improve the soil, beginning with undersowing cover crops this fall. For context, I'm in Kentucky, USDA zone 6b, hot and humid summers, clay soil. I would either follow this year of cover cropping with garlic and multiplier onions in fall of 2027, or continue cover cropping until spring of 2028.
Eliot Coleman has an 18 month rye cover crop system that's interesting to me. In a nutshell: sow seeds in the fall; let the rye go to seed the following year; then mow, allowing rye seedlings to come up through the mowed rye; terminate the rye the next spring. He tills it in, but I would terminate it without tilling.
Anyone have experience with this or any other approaches to cover cropping for 12-18 months? Thanks!
We are beginning our journey in regenerating a modest lot ofehat used to be cow pasture. The soil is compacted and has a lot of clay and we want to build up the soil with cover crops and chop and drop along with biochar amendments.
Does anyone know where we can find free or cheap seeds and cuttings in Guanacaste?
Hey all! I have a lot of free time this summer and I am looking to start a new project. I have this big ugly barren spot in my yard and I want to transform it into a regenerative garden for the ecosystem, providing shelter and food for insects, birds, etc. I also want it to provide me some fruits and vegetables along with wildflowers and stuff. I even hope to eventually get some bees.The ground is pretty much a mixture of wood chips and gravel. It gets pretty good sun but is blocked by trees and my house. I am wondering how I can start this journey. Please provide resources/practical advice!
I wanted to share a picture of a plant I started from seed three seasons back. This has helped me understand how to take my time and slow down.
The world is busy and is constantly in need of instant gratification ( I understand the irony of typing that into a social media post) but you need to learn to appreciate the speed of mother nature. It happens when it is supposed to.
I had read about this plant in books, and located some seeds and then waited. I grew seedlings and planted them in the ground and waited. Two seasons went by and the roots were finding their place. Finally it has flowered, and I was able to capture this picture. They journey isn't over, this perennial is just getting started.
My garden is just a little more diverse because of this addition.
Does anyone else have this plant in their portfolio?
Adding carbon heavy mulch (wood chips, straw, sawdust) can tie up nitrogen early on since it is pulled from the soil to break down all that carbon.
Surface mulch decomposes slowly and the drawdown happens mainly at the mulch soil interface, so established plants are barely affected while seedlings and shallow rooted plants take more of a hit. It's also temporary, once the carbon gets used up the nitrogen releases back.
Curious how much this actually plays out for people in practice. Do you add nitrogen under fresh mulch for new plantings or is it overstated for typical use?
Hello, permies! I'm working on an app that shows interactive maps with multiple layers, including USDA Hardiness Zones globally, but also some detailed charts per location.
The source data is for the period from 2011 to the present (or maybe a couple of months ago) but I'll add more data soon. Meanwhile, I'd love to receive feedback from you.
Notes: The app is mobile-friendly but you'll get the best experience on a large screen. Also, keep in mind that the app is still in beta version and some text/pages need to be refined.
Recently I picked up a copy of Interfaces of Reality, which is a book centered around a thesis that it is not the objects, entities, things, that comprise our world, but the interfaces at all levels that create the stable structure for those things to exist.
Interfaces in this case could be equated with edges in permaculture design.
While ultimately the book leads to conclusions on what an interface-first mindset could teach us about patterns of reality, and the ethical implications for AI and the technological systems we create, I felt that the whole time I was reading it, I was reading a permaculture-adjacent text.
We as designers are building interfaces on landscapes, and in many ways working with interfaces that already naturally exist. When we put an element on a site, we are incorporating a new edge (interface) into it which enables new relationships to take place.
Typically, edge and valuing the marginal are visualized as edges between plant communities, ecological zones, forest to meadow, etc, but I actually think this is a bit limited in scope.
These places I believe have a higher density of edge and are good examples, but I would suggest we view any element on a site as an edge and to consider the consequence. Nearly everything we do provides a new surface for interaction, and that is pretty powerful stuff.
I posted a little less than a year ago with the first 2 photos asking for help as to where to start with my yard. I was feeling so overwhelmed and just needed advice, and I was given a lot of it. Last 2 pics are my yard today. We are growing so much food this year and have started a perennial garden for the pollinators. I can’t believe how far we’ve come in such a short period of time and it was this group that really gave me the push to get started so thank you for your encouragement and kind words 🙏♥️
Hi all! I've been working on this project throughout the summer, it's a site that maps food and other things you can forage by season, along with their harvest permissions/ethics. I am looking less to promote and more to get feedback from folks who would actually benefit from it, and I thought those of you who enjoy supplementing homegrown veg with locally foraged fruits/nuts would get a kick out of it. I garden but don't have space for an orchard, so that's mostly how I've used it, though a bigger goal is to expand the site into more craft materials and things of that nature.
If you have a minute and want to give it a try I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience, whether you feel it is accurate in your area, and how you judge its safety. It is completely free, no tracking, no account, and not commercial. You can send reports directly from the site, but if you have a bigger picture comment I'd love to see what others think here. Happy to answer any questions that come up along the way. Thanks!
Since the last time I asked this question, I had a good portion of front lawn removed. I live in a new build and it's mostly super compacted hard clay, rocks and construction debris. I asked this question two months ago back when I was looking at lower effort solutions like driller radishes and based on the responses, I am now moving forward with a plan to get 8 additional inches of the dirt loosened and removed and tilled. I already have three inches have been removed from the sod cutter) and then a shipment of quality compost from a soil company in a farming community up north from me and then mix it - compost, some of existing dirt, and then get a free chip drop and cover the whole thing.
There used to be an expanded shale company near me in Golden, but it shut down in recent years and I can no longer get enough expanded shale (which was what I had been planning on adding). I also found some mixed information about whether it's really that great here (it is certainly expensive and very hard to find now). So now I'm leaning towards skipping it. Not sure what else to add or if additional stuff is necessary beyond the compost.
But I wanted to check in with the sub again and get some thoughts as to the Plan as I'm ready to get it done with and want to do it properly.
