Geoff Lawton: Establishing Self-Replicating Dryland Permaculture Demonst...

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Day 6

Today I spent just a little time straightening up the garden area. Most of the day was preparing to go back to work and also watching the Redskins play. Too bad about the Redskins, Maybe next year.

Day 5

Productive, but still no raised beds. I got the fence up on the outside (east) edge of the garden area.  My winter break is almost finished so my progress will slow, but I hope it will be steady. I'll add pics to show what was done.

Day 4

OK, so I didn't take any pics today. It'll make it better for tomorrow.  I've been studying about soil, compost, and different types of mulch. I did a bit of work on the fencing, but more time was spent running errands to get hardware.

My vision for this garden is something that, while loosely planned out, changes as I sift things through my mind. The creative spirit rises as possibilities occur to me, leading to tangential thinking that is affecting my painting (I am an artist and art teacher) and my guitar playing.

Green smoothies. They are what brought me to this... Thanks Vicki. Since trying a green smoothie, I decided to get a fancy blender and make my own. Now breakfast and lunch are mostly green smoothies. I want an organic garden in order to save gas money going to Sprouts or Costco to feed my need for green.

Day 3

I hired a friend to help out today. After taking out the east fence, digging post holes, and setting posts, my dog Coda came to check things out.

Here's a view from the opposite side. This show the new posts and how the area has been expanded. Thanks to Steve for working harder than me.

Day 2

January 2nd, 2013

I cleared out junk from next to the house and roughly leveled the ground. I've decided to extend the area about 10 feet to the east which means tomorrow, the east fence has to come down and be redone at the new border. Also, I need to add fence on the west side of the area as well as part of the new fence on the east. I recruited help for tomorrow.

Here is a picture of what I have so far...

For perspective, here is a wider shot...

Day 1, January 1st, 2013

Okay, here goes... I'm not a gardener yet, but I have taken a proactive approach to my health in a gradual but steady manner. Most of the food I buy these days is bought with a consciousness of serving my well being. As I started making more and more organic choices, dealing with the added prep work of food that is less and less processed, something dawned on me. I started to feel better. I decided to start composting with the idea of putting the compost to use later. Since I can remember, my energy levels have always had huge spikes and valleys. When that started to level out I knew I was on to something worthwhile. This is why the idea of making my own organic garden began to germinate.

About a month or so ago, I started thinking about how I'd do my garden. My first idea was to build a cover over my back patio area including a deck area on top, where I would set up framed beds to grow in. I still love the idea, but I'm sure it is too ambitious for me to accomplish at this point. OK, so it's also not practical. Next I found myself investigating online all about drip irrigation, which I plan to implement. I'm still not sure if I will set up multiple sites in my front and back yard in order to deal with my sun exposure challenges or not. For now, I have decided to start on an available area on the limited southern side of my house.

Day 1,  January 1st, 2013

I pulled some weeds and moved some earth. This is going to be a lot of work. 

The picture was taken after I'd started to clear the mess and level the ground.