[tweakmonkey]

Location: Bay Area, north of San Jose / south of Berkeley
Goal: To grow fruits and vegetables in my backyard with no prior experience and without spending money. To have a regular yield of food throughout the year without much work once established.
Permaculture: The garden will be built around the permaculture concept, creating a diverse and layered, balanced ecosystem.

There's a really good interview from the "founder" of permaculture here.

Why I'm doing this

Land is a terrible thing to waste, especially by covering it with a shiny grass lawn that requires tons of water. Fresh produce is damn expensive, especially organic. And running to the store for these items costs me a lot of time, too. My goal is to do this with as little money as possible, using anything I can find around the area / house / trash / work to reduce my costs and re-use waste, and to create a very low maintenance and high-yielding garden.

I also live in a rental house. I could move any day, but will probably be here at least another year. I can't buy the house, or do anything crazy to develop it I'm sure. But, I figure anything I do will roll over to whoever comes here next, and is certainly better for the world than leaving it as just grass that requires watering and mowing. This will be a long project.

Currently I have not been managing the back yard at all. There's a decent amount of space in front and back, and on the sides. But I understand that even without soil you can grow a fair amount of food, so I have a huge advantage over some people. I know it's a waste not to make the most of it.

Here's a basic map of my backyard, I'll add scale and a higher quality map later...


** Latest addition is the Compost area in the bottom-left (NE) corner.
Compost will be moved to W corner in two sections with mulch on the side.



Anything in white is either unknown, concrete, or doesn't matter. I won't be doing anything with the front yard for a while. I'm focusing on the back where I have more control. The bluish thick line around the backyard is a 6 foot tall wooden fence.

I don't know exactly how to do it yet and know virtually nothing about the subject, but I'm really interested in the concept of permaculture, specifically making a garden / backyard that's naturally layered and has all forms of life, not just the vegetables. I don't want to kill the bugs or only grow tomatoes. I want insects, flowers, fruit trees, etc., too. I want a stable ecosystem, not a strip of foreign plants that don't belong there. I want diversity, and the plants to exist side-by-side and fight it out.

Someone must have planted some stuff in the past few years, because the backyard isn't totally barren. From the map, you'll see a couple trees, bushes, grass, and so-on. The perimeter is surrounded by a few feet wide patch of bark, which is covering black plastic bag-like material, and nice soil underneath it. A lot of the yard is just grass. I named one section the "fertile crescent" because the grass is much greener and taller there.

Today I went out and explored the yard closely. I checked for various insect types and plant life, because I have honestly no idea what's alive back here. The apple tree drops tons of fruit so I figured there was some stuff. I let my cat join me outside. She's never been outside on her own, and has only been outside in the backyard about 15 minutes, ever. She's very very curious about what goes on outside, but treads extremely lightly and I try to keep an eye on her at all times. She's seeing bugs in the "wild", live birds, plants, and many new things for the first time, so it's really interesting watching her explore the world, too.

I'm very fortunate to already have one fine fruit tree. There's a large apple tree in the corner of the property that has at least three varieties. It stays in season for a long time and drops apples of different types throughout about 6 months of the year it seems. They only seem to be edible for about 3-4 months.

BTW I apologize for the quality of these photos. I used my phone to take them. I will try to borrow a better camera for the next round (unless someone wants to donate one ).


Stage 1: Exploration ... Discover what's alive now, what's good, what's bad, and plan how to use the space I've got


The patio, looking toward the unknown tree. Notice Neko the cat, nervously sitting on the stairs near the door.


The view from the unknown tree, looking at the apple tree. There's quite a bit of green foliage along that back fence. The people behind the fence have some pretty interesting stuff alive back there and it's crept over the fence for years it seems.


I call the apple tree "Elephant". It has been trimmed/grafted many times and looks like pretty strange, but it continues to flourish.


Looking up into the tree.

[tweakmonkey]

Large vine plant that lives against the back corner near the apple tree.


The trees all mingle here. Oranges, apples, and limes from the three corners grow together.


While exploring the fertile crescent's long grass, I found a plastic army man that someone who used to live here lost in the jungle. Neko watches in the background and chews on the grass. Notice the orange bucket and table.

I figured the plastic army man was probably not alone. A little more exploring and I found one of his platoon.

I wonder how long these toys have been resting here...

[tweakmonkey]

This long healthy vine has large thorns on it, and grows from the fence out almost 10 feet. It has bright red flowers at the end.


The only spider I've seen so far with a web. The spider's in there, just really hard to see in this pic. He stayed still while I approached.


Neko freaked out when she saw a real spider moving through the grass. She didn't step off the concrete though.

[tweakmonkey]

Sign of life near the unknown tree. This is at least 10 feet from the furthest reaching apple branch, so something carried it there.


More evidence. I saw a couple squirrels near this spot a few months back. Maybe they're still around.


The unknown tree. A plant grows at its base. The fence is flourishing. During the spring and summer, large pink and red flowers surrounded that side of the fence.


I'm not sure what this was.

[tweakmonkey]

I picked up all the apples that landed on concrete or the table and put them into this orange bucket I found in the garage. I also threw my banana peels from this morning, and will add any food waste I don't eat. This is the base of my compost for now. I need a better long term solution, but figured I may as well get it started.



I forgot to put the table on the map, but it's next to the apple tree. It's just an old work bench that can be used for something productive back here.


An orange that fell in the yard from the neighbor's tree.


Terribly blurry, but apples at different stages of their cycle.


The vine that crosses the yard.

[tweakmonkey]

This is the first time my cat saw a bird in flight. She froze solid then stared into the sky.

That section she's sitting at is a wood divider between the different sections of concrete. Grass found a way to poke through and find sunlight, but nothing with a brain yet...

[tweakmonkey]

Some of the bark perimeter.


The black plastic under the bark. Lifting it up reveals tons of ants at work, and some interesting beetles.

[tweakmonkey]

The side of the house near the apple tree and table. It's mostly covered in bark for now.

[tweakmonkey]

The other side of the house. Bark, gravel, and concrete. There are pipes where someone had apparently intended an irrigation system (and wasted money ) and several 2x4s. I'll use these supplies later.

I need to put a sign on that lawnmower: DO NOT MOW THE BACK YARD!!!

That's all for day 1.

[Jishory]

thats bad ass, ive attempted tomatoes and strawberries on my balcony, ended up with about half a dozen strawberries, vegetable gardens are the shit

[tweakmonkey]

Originally Posted by Jishory

thats bad ass, ive attempted tomatoes and strawberries on my balcony, ended up with about half a dozen strawberries, vegetable gardens are the shit

I think everyone should grow something on their land / in their window / bathroom / whatever. I didn't realize this until traveling to the countryside, 5000 miles away, and at 27 years into my life, but now I think it's absolutely crazy to have all this land be used for a LAWN and nothing I can eat.

I'm not sure what all will grow here, but it's nice out so much of the year that I imagine a lot will. I'd be happy with just tomatoes, lettuce, beans, and peppers, but I'm hoping for a lot more.

[tweakmonkey]

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[super_Chris]

That vine looks a lot like a bugenvilia.

If you're lazy like me, plant trees. Trees -once established - will produce a ton and take little regular care.

Show us the leaves on the unknown tree.

[OcTaNe91]

that "black plastic bag material" is most likely a weed blocker. if your using nursed plants, you put the plant in the ground and then cut an x or what have you to fit around the plant, then cover it with mulch or what ever you want really, but putting soil on top of the weed blocker kinda defeats the purpose.

also, what do you mean you "found" that bucket in the garage.. do you not know whats in your own garage?

[mistawiskas]

How's the solar exposure? you could put up a non-permenant greenhouse with enough sunlight. I haven't the room or I'd build one out of recycled windows and slider doors. raised beds are a great way to put in an easily managed patch for growing and you can tailor the growing medium for the produce you wish to grow.

[MSP]

Originally Posted by mistawiskas

How's the solar exposure?

First thing I thought too. At least one tree would probably have to go to really grow a garden back there.

[tweakmonkey]

Originally Posted by mistawiskas

How's the solar exposure?

Originally Posted by MSP

First thing I thought too. At least one tree would probably have to go to really grow a garden back there.

There's lots of sunlight making it onto the ground and around the perimeter. The apple tree is the only one with a lot of stuff up top, and it's way in the corner. I'll take some pics of this today showing the light hitting the yard.

Since trees take so long to grow, especially one that can give as much fruit as that apple tree, that I think getting rid of them is something I would regret.

BTW, the back yard faces north-east, which I know isn't the best for some things though. =/

The phrase bolded in the quote is "grow a garden". MSP, have you checked out some videos on permaculture, or experimented much with the idea? If not, I think you would dig the concept. I'm not growing a garden in the traditional sense of the word. I want dense supporting layers to create a self sustaining forest in the backyard.

Originally Posted by OcTaNe91

that "black plastic bag material" is most likely a weed blocker. if your using nursed plants, you put the plant in the ground and then cut an x or what have you to fit around the plant, then cover it with mulch or what ever you want really, but putting soil on top of the weed blocker kinda defeats the purpose.

I wouldn't put soil on top of it, I'd probably just remove everything there covering the soil if I need the space later.

also, what do you mean you "found" that bucket in the garage.. do you not know whats in your own garage?

Not really! I mean, I know most of the stuff in the garage, but there's a bit that was left behind by the people that lived here before me. I've been at this house over 5 months, but I haven't really had time to explore the property much.

Originally Posted by super_Chris

That vine looks a lot like a bugenvilia.

If you're lazy like me, plant trees. Trees -once established - will produce a ton and take little regular care.

Show us the leaves on the unknown tree.

I agree about the trees. I'll post pictures of that tree's leaves today.

[tweakmonkey]

Maybe I can find a way to do a time lapse video of the backyard to see how the sun comes over the property and to determine what wildlife I'm missing throughout the day.