I can’t imagine not having a garden. From time to time, my life gets so busy that my garden gets neglected, or lack of water makes me scale right back. But I always go back to it. Life is such a miracle, such a lucky nexus of so many necessary conditions, and food is so much at the centre of it.
Food is the basis for our own life – the pleasure of it and the keeping of it. It is also the basis of our relationship with every other species on the planet, either directly in a forage or predator relationship, or indirectly as competitors for the finite planetary resources.
Honouring, respecting, enjoying, being responsible about food seems to me to be basic to loving life. Every witch’s kitchen needs a kitchen garden!
It does not, however, have to be a full permaculture system (fun though that is.) Herbs in pots make a huge difference to culinary style. Growing sprouts and salad greens in boxes and little doorstep beds is small effort for large reward. In season vegetables, once you are into the rhythm of it, don’t take a huge amount of time or space. Backyard fruit trees, well chosen, can earn their keep with side benefits before you even get to the gluttonous yields. Chooks make wonderful pets.
I have written about permaculture, on and off, for years. Here are some articles about the basics, and (more fun for me) my new blog diary of garden adventures.
Early Spring
- Leafy Green Planting in the Long Days of Spring
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Early Spring
- Leafy Planting Days in Early Spring for a Neglectful Gardener
- Roast Goose: Step One
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Early Spring – Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
- Fruiting Planting Days in Early Spring – The Summer Crops Go Out
- Leafy Planting Days in Early Spring and Teenage Mums
- Paw Paw and Citrus Fruit Salad
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Early Spring – Planting Asparagus
- Fruiting Planting Days in Early Spring
- Leafy Planting in Early Spring – Advanced Seedlings
- Hilling Up the Spuds
Mid Spring
- Leafy Planting Days in Mid Spring
- Fruiting Planting Days in Mid Spring – Beans of Many Kinds
- Leafies in Mid Spring – the Frizzle Weather is Here
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Mid Spring – just the regulars
- Fruiting Planting Days in Mid Spring – the Sweet Corn Goes In
- Leafy Planting Days in Mid Spring – Using the Shadehouse
- Hilling Up the Spuds
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Mid Spring – Getting Ready for Frizzle Weather
- Fruiting Planting Days in Mid Spring – A Big Planting Day
- Leafy Planting Days in Mid Spring – Heat and Bolt Resistant Varieties, and Low Expectations
- Roots and Perennials Days in Mid Spring – Avoiding the Bolters
- Fruiting Planting Days in Mid Spring – Catching Up
Late Spring
- Fruiting Annuals Planting Days in Late Spring
- Leafy Planting Days in late Spring – Mustard and Coriander Microgreens
- Fruiting Planting Days in Late Spring and There’s Still Room for Endamame and Sweet Corn
- Leafy Planting Days in Late Spring
- Bringing in the Garlic
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Late Spring – Trying Sweet Potatoes Yet Again
- Eat It or Plant It?
- Fruiting Planting in Late Spring – Practicing Restraint
- Leafy Planting Days in Late Spring – Don’t be Afraid of Shade
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Late Spring – Hazpac-ing the Carrots
- Fruiting Planting Days in Late Spring – Cramming a Bit More into A Garden That Is Full!
- Planting Leafy Greens in Late Spring – If You Must
Mid Summer
- Midsummer Planting and My New Beans
- Leafy Planting Days in Midsummer
- Fruiting Planting Days in Mid Summer – Eggplants at Last!
- Leafy Planting Days in Mid Summer
- Fruit Fly
- 41 Degrees (106)
- Snake Beans
- The Turmeric is Flowering
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Mid Summer – The Mulberry Trees Go In
- Fruiting Planting Days in Mid Summer – Don’t Be Afraid of Shade
- Tomatoes as Themselves
- Leafy Planting Days in Mid-Summer
- Surviving the Frizzle Weather
- Roots and Perennials Planting in MidSummer – Next Year’s Strawberries
- Leafy and Fruiting Planting Days in a very Wet Mid-Summer
- Fruit Tree Shopping
Late Summer
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Late Late Summer
- Fruiting Planting Days in Late Summer into a Newly Chooked Bed
- Rainy Missed Planting Days in Late Summer
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Late Summer
- Saving Tromboncino Seed
- Roots and Perennials Days in Late Summer
- Fruiting Planting Days in Late Summer – Beating the Mouse Plague
- Beans for Us and Beans for the Chooks
- Leafy Planting Days in Late Summer
- Tromboncino Genealogy
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Very Late Summer – Planting Spuds
- Fruiting Planting Days in Late Summer
- Leafy Planting Days in Late Summer Frizzle Weather
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Late Summer
- Fruiting Planting in the Long Days of Late Summer
- Leafy Green Planting Days in Late Summer
Early Autumn
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Early Autumn and Onions
- Fruiting Planting in Early Autumn and Hedging Bets
- What is it about March and Leafy Greens?
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Early Autumn
- Leafy and Fruiting Planting in Early Autumn
- The Garlic Agrees
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in early Autumn – Garlic Planting Time
- Fruiting Planting Days in Early Autumn – A Risky Planting
- A One Pot Autumn Garden
- Leafy Planting in Early Autumn
- Fruiting Planting Days in Very Early Autumn
- Leafy Green Planting Days in Very Early Autumn
Mid Autumn
- How we plant fruit trees these days
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Mid Autumn – Planting Out the Garlic
- Fruiting Planting Days in Mid Autumn – Broad Beans, Peas and Snow Peas
- Leafy Planting in Mid Autumn – the first of the Winter Greens Go In
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Mid Autumn – Onions and Garlic Go In
- Fruiting Planting in Mid Autumn – Peas, Snow Peas and Broad Beans
- Leafy Planting in Mid Autumn – The Winter Greens Go In
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Mid Autumn – Self Sown Garlic
- Fruiting Planting Days in Mid Autumn – Peas in Paper Pots
- Leafy Planting Days in Mid-Autumn
- Planting in Mid-Autumn
- Happy Autumn Equinox!
Late Autumn
- Leafy Planting Days in Late Autumn
- Leafy Planting Days in Late Autumn
- Oceans Eleven in the Garden
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Late Autumn – My Carrot Planting Method
- Leafy and Fruiting Planting in Late Autumn
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Late Autumn – Planting Carrots
- Fruiting Planting Days in Late Autumn – Peas and Broad Beans
- Leafy Planting Days in Late Autumn
Mid Winter
- Planting Peas
- On a Roll – Planting in Midwinter
- It Doesn’t Take Much….
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Mid-Winter – Globe Artichokes From Seed
- Fruiting Planting in Mid-Winter – The Last Of The Peas Go In
- Leafy Planting Days in Mid-winter – Finding the Gaps
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Mid-Winter – The Last of the Onions
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Mid-Winter – Getting Ready for Spuds
- Fruiting Planting Mid Winter
- Leafy planting days in mid-winter – Staggering the Planting
- Jonquils
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Mid-Winter – Planting Shallots
Late Winter
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Late Winter, and Meditations on Belonging
- Fruiting Planting in Late Winter – Rattlesnake Beans
- Leafy Greens in Late Winter and the Long Slow Infancy of Greens
- Fruiting Planting Days in Late Winter
- Roots and Perennials Planting Days after Imbolc
- Some for Us and Some for the Chooks
- Planting Mulberries from Cuttings
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Late Winter – Planting Spuds
- Fruiting Planting in Late Winter
- Leafy Planting Days in Late Winter – Basil Time
- Imbolc in the Garden
- Roots and Perennials Planting in Late Winter – Turmeric
- Fruiting Planting in Late Winter
- Leafy Planting in Late Winter – Making Leaf Pots
Year Round
- Using the Chooks to Garden
- How They’ve Grown
- Azolla for the Chooks
- Compost Gold
- The Mulch Mountain
- 28 Spotted Ladybeetle
- Sorting the Seeds
- Saving Seed
- Why I Don’t Use Chook Domes Any More
- Bean Basics
- We Have Chooks Again!
- Home From The Beach
- True Love is a Pile of Compost
- We Have Geese
- We Have Fish
- Chickweed
- One of the Nicest Things About Gardening
- Homegrown Coffee
- Hubble Bubble
- Leafy Planting Days in Mid-Autumn
- Making Compost with Azolla
- A Garden With Stamina
- A Short Lesson In Exponential Growth
- Gardening in Small Spaces: Go for Herbs
- Mowing
Some FAQs
Why I don’t Use Chook Domes Any More
Compost, Earthworms, Chickens and Waste
A Quick Guide to Breeding Compost Bacteria
Lunatic Gardening – Using a Lunar Planting Calendar
Day Length and Photoperiodism – Gardening by the Solstices and Equinoxes
Up-Gardening: Gardening in Small Spaces
