Let’s discuss poisonous lawn mushroom types, and which lawn mushrooms are poisonous, deadly, or toxic! Because there is a lot of concern about finding poisonous mushroom types in our backyard. Many homesteaders avoid foraging for lawn mushrooms because they are overwrought with the worry that the mushrooms will be toxic. We can’t blame them! We …
If you grow some or even most of your own food, you might think you’re doing your part to live more sustainably. However, if you’re not using polyculture farming or gardening, you could be missing out on big ways to lower your footprint – and increase your harvest! Still, what is polyculture, and what is …
Ask anyone living off the grid – the path to self-reliance is about skills development, perseverance, and savvy planning. Moving away from the conveniences of urban living is both challenging and risky! A checklist for off-grid living is essential to help steer your transition from big-city constraints to rural abundance. So, once you’ve committed (if only mentally) to moving …
With feelings of food insecurity on the rise, starting a survival garden may have crossed your mind more than once. Even though we usually have enough food being produced and sold every day, the current crisis has reminded most of us of the possibility that shelves at the local grocery store may one day be …
To make the most of a plum tree guild, it is always important to place it in the right spot and select the best companion plants to help your plum tree guild thrive. Understanding the type of soil plum trees prefer and their light requirements is vital to success. But, you should also carefully consider …
If you want to plant an apple tree in your garden, you should not cultivate it alone. In the wild, plants don’t grow in isolation. They grow in communities of plants. In your garden? You should mimic natural ecosystems and surround any new apple tree that you plant with an apple tree guild. What Is …
The perfect permaculture garden is a garden that cares for people and our planet. It is a resilient space that helps you live sustainably and take only your fair share – returning the surplus to the system. And nature. But the concept of a permaculture garden is often misunderstood. Permaculture is certainly not a one-size-fits-all …
Fruit tree guilds are a fabulous feature of many permaculture gardens. These guilds are essentially collections of plants that work together to improve the health and productivity of the tree at their heart. The concept is simple. However, achieving the perfect fruit tree guild layout and determining the best plants to grow within each guild …
You can grow a lot of basic food crops like wheat and sugar yourself, even though not many people grow them in their own gardens. You might be used to buying these foods from the shop, but they’re actually quite easy and productive to grow in your own self-sufficient garden! How good would it be …
In this series of articles, I will walk you through the seven layers of the forest garden or backyard food forest, explaining the purpose and function of each one and some of the species that can be grown there in a temperate climate. Drawing on over ten years of practical experience, I hope that this series will give …
There’s a bit of an odd-one-out among the seven layers of the permaculture food forest garden – a group that doesn’t fit into any one particular compartment of the garden quite so neatly… Like all plants, climbing plants start their growth in the root layer but can then ramble around anywhere from the forest garden …
In our exploration of temperate food forest layers, we’ve been taking a closer look at each of the seven layers, what we can plant there, and how to design each layer for optimum results across the whole garden. So far, we’ve looked at the root layer of a food forest, groundcovers and the herbaceous layer, …
So far, in our exploration of the different layers of the permaculture food forest garden, we have covered the underground and herbaceous layers that comprise the smaller plants of the ecosystem. Today, we’ll look at permaculture shrubs we can grow in a food forest, and how best to manage them. Shrubs In a Food Forest Shrubs …
Edible ground covers and the herbaceous layer of the permaculture food forest. What makes a food forest garden different from an orchard? One of the distinctions lies in what’s growing on the ground… In conventional orchards, the ground is either mown, grazed, or even stripped bare and exposed to the ravages of burning sun, and …
One of the defining features of forest gardens and food forests is how they utilize space to maximum efficiency by growing crops in several “layers” – just as you’d see in natural woodland. These layers can be roughly divided up into 7: In this series of articles, I’ll take you through the 7 layers, starting …