In celebration of International Permaculture Day and the Herbalist class I am taking, my husband and I are planting more strawberries, blueberries, asparagus and two Elderberry bushes. We would like to gradually transition the annual beds into perennial crops and only have some herbs, tomatoes and peppers as annuals. We would also like to get a composting system together this year that works well for us and install a greenhouse for overwintering and growing plants all year. Our goal: to do as little work as possible, for the maximum amount of fruit and veggies. Having greens in winter would be amazing because a package of salad is $5.00!
Elderberry and two Blueberries
25 Strawberry plants that can’t be seen yet !
A second baby Elderberry
Grapes are budding along the fence and Hardy Kiwi Vines and Concord grapes are spreading over the old clothesline. Peas and radishes are growing that we planted a couple of weeks ago. Many, many berry bushes are budding and flowering and the Nasturtium I spread around the garden are sprouting and starting to grow. Our little food forest is growing before our eyes.
I started Lemon Balm, Peppermint and Lavender from seed outside in containers and the Sage and Thyme is already turning green in the herb spiral. I also started several herbs indoors, with the Common Thyme, Oregano, Garlic Chives and Rosemary sprouting already.
Our neighbor recently cut down a hundred year old tree that shaded our yard, as well as several other yards. With this act, as much as I will miss our old friend, our garden is now exposed to sunlight all day long and our fruit trees should do much better than they have been doing. I am concerned about the wildlife that lived in the great tree next door and would like to put in some bird houses and nesting boxes and have already planted buckwheat, oats and some other plants around the edges just for the seeds for the birds and squirrels and the tremendous amount of insects the flowers attract.
Twice this week, as I was digging with my hands to plant, I have bumped into toads living in the soil, so maybe a little toad pond would be fun to install this year too. =)