Our garden comprises of dozens of varieties of perennial and annual flowers, we grow our own hops that we turn into ale and our own grapes that are made into wine, we also keep chickens that provide us with eggs, manure and good company.
The bit of the garden thats closest to the back door houses all manner of edible and medicinal herbs and salad leaves.
my garden is my place for leaving my troubles behind. when we first planned the garden we started with three raised beds, then after we acquired 2 allotment decided to grow mainly flowers and some perennial vegetables, three years ago we completely re designed the garden loosely copying the design of a pendant I wear depicting the eye of Horus, i love tall flowers like foxgloves and lupins so there are plenty of them we have two vines, hops and clematis growing up arches made from wood we coppiced from a patch of scrap land, we have kept chickens for the last 5 years, at the moment we only have two hens but have kept up to 4 at any one time and do plan to get more, at the bottom of my garden I very successfully grow hellebore and during the summer have a magnificent thistle that attracts 100s of bees, there is also a large patch of wild garlic that is thriving, There is no grass in my garden every inch apart from the patio is crammed with all sorts of plants. My proudest achievement is that I grew 100’s of foxgloves form seeds I collect myself
We have raised most of our own food for forty years. Twenty at Stony Run. We have gradually shifted from “traditional” row crops with fertilizer to a no-dig polyculture a la permaculture principles. Spring crops do well here, summer crops are more of a struggle. The season sometimes ends abruptly before the winter squash are ready. Our best achievement is the poultry moat and letting the poultry into the garden in winter — holds down the slugs and snails and other pest eggs.
A 1996 urban 3 bed, plus loft conversion, semi detached house.
After attending a Permaculture course in 2011 I decided to make the front lawn the start of a Permacuture project for the whole house.
Lawn Gone is an example of how a not very good front lawn can be made into a productive and beautiful garden.
The most successful grops are herbs, I have managed to dry and store my own herbs since 2012 – Marjoram, Thyme, Rosemay & Sage. I also use Rosemary, Calendula and Lavender in soap making.
The garden is a haven for bees and birds and also I spend much more time out there than I used to so get the opportunity to speak to my neighbours more often.
I have to weed every few weeks as the grass still wants to grow and I have to let some weeds stay put as the beds are mounded without support it can lead to soil erosion. The weeds help to stop this.
It looks a bit bare in winter and I may try to introduce some evergreen plants but come late spring & summer it’s stunning!
Started to learn how to propogate cuttings from my plants so that I don’t have to buy replacements, hope to sell a few herbs locally.
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We are a small urban farm serving five families. We have just shy of one acre of land and have experimented with many different types of gardening to maximize production for our environment. We have also planted a micro-orchard that is just coming to fruit this years. We do garden tours and provide educational opportunities to children and adults in gardening methods, composting and backyard chicken keeping. We hold several open houses each year in an attempt to build community and connect like-minded people in our area. I have been veg. gardening my whole life and can’t imagine not doing it. It makes me heart-sick to see that people don’t know where their food comes from or how it is grown. I am very saddened that some in our neighborhood think that this practice is only done by second-class people and don’t want it to ‘bring down their property values’. We will continue to fight for garden freedom!