Got Some Land, Now What? 5 First Steps When Starting a Permaculture Garden or Farm

Whether you have 1/8 acre or 180 acres, these 5 steps will help you create a successful permaculture design for your property.
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[@sello-lawrence]

Permaculture is the future 🌱🌳👍🏼

[@polinadenissova738]

Observe, start small, slow down - I keep repeating this as a mantra! I tend to get overly excited about things including gardening in my new yard. I want to grow everything right now haha! But instead I keep observing, watching your videos and gobbling up a bunch of permaculture books.

[@joycemiller7908]

I'm the same way, hahaha! Plus, I'm 67, so I kinda feel some pressure from time!

[@kitdubhran2968]

You can plant little bits at a time just to make you happy. Annual flowers are great to start bringing in pollinators and hummingbirds. Plus they’re pretty and just make you happy about seeing your land. Then towards the end of their life, you can replace with perennials or just plan for annuals again. I have a little patch in front of my house where I park. I put in some gorgeous petunias this year, and every time I drove up and parked I felt a sparkle of happiness from just seeing the plants. 10/10.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

How serendipitous. I just made a video exactly like this a few days ago. Hopefully we get lots of new people started and joining us! Great video.

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

Ha! I was texting my bestie in the wee hours panicking a bit bc this was scheduled for today and then I saw your video in my recommendeds at 2 am and was like , “Well, this is like that time Antz and Bugs Life came out in the same year!”

[@lwjenson]

Love both of your channels!!!! People will like watching both!

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

His is in my queue to watch with my tea after lunch. :). I love seeing how the differences and similarities between our gardens in super different climates. Can’t wait to see what his take is on considerations for starting a food forest. :)

[@GreenLadyUrbanFarm]

Same! 😆 I was just saying I'm going to film a startup video because I keep getting so many questions on my FB account for help starting. Mine won't be for a few months now. Lol 🖖 Keep up the good work, each of you!

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

Watched it! He brings up some really good points I hadn’t even thought to cover and would not have been on my top five list. The obvious things like “make a budget and assess your needs“ it’s interesting to see the different takes on essentially the same points. It reminds me how Permaculture is site-specific and the same principles or subjects look really different when applied by different people to different landscapes

[@junejewell]

Thank you for reminding us that it is all available for free. So many push PDCs or believe that that’s the only way to be knowledgeable in the subject.

[@GodExplained]

I found Bills course online for $20… honestly makes no sense not to get it and watch it for that price

[@ShizKhan786]

Thank you for your kind guidelines... Appreciated ...

[@karenjones9422]

I'd love to see your site map of your property to see how it's arranged in relation to north, south, east and west. Thanks for all the great content!

[@MyBacktrail]

I agree, and would add, as someone who bought land with permaculture in mind and didn't get around to starting it until after years and years, here are the things I learned. FYI my land is flat so there was no planning for swales, etc. First, we don't all end up in a place with plentiful rain in the summer. So establish a way to easily water your garden. My first garden immediately collapsed because I had no easy way to water it. For the next many years I was "too busy" to fix that problem. Second, immediately after you have water, plant the trees. Because, of course. Protect them from deer, etc. Save up and buy one tree at a time if necessary. Eventually you will have a bunch. Third, sheet mulch everything with cardboard and wood chips. This could actually be FIRST, but the best time to plant the trees was five years ago, so prioritize what it takes to get trees growing. While sheet mulching, be aware of any native plants you want to keep so you don't kill them. Finally, come in and plan your guilds and start planting.

[@formidableflora5951]

Exceptionally well done. You are a gifted teacher and your collected wisdom really shines in this video.

[@christiegrows2022]

I love this. My allotment this year (very small rented plot in uk) has really suffered due to my time poverty but my home gardens have been so productive as I am able to access them. I decided I am going to make the allotment a permaculture plot and have been thinking how I can do this so I can set it up and leave it to itself for the most part. I have lots of perennials in mind

[@realgoodbear7149]

I enjoyed this video immensely. It's the first video I can remember taking notes from. I'm retiring mid October this year and I will finally have the time to spend to reap the rewards I want. I'm so excited. I've been subscribed for a few months and I appreciate your style so much. Thank you!

[@SuerteDelMolinoFarm]

At the LooseNatural farm in Andalusia Spain we learn and adapt. Observation is king!

[@leighb.8508]

I hope other people can and will pay you for your on-line work, you deserve it. I can't and I'll spare everyone the reasons. What I will say is THANK YOU, Angela, from the bottom of my heart. Some people make me want to cry because they have helped me so much and relieved YEARS of clogged up thinking and fruitless work in just a few minutes of a smart, kindly spoken videos. You cleared up many bad ideas I had and gave me many better ones. Following is one example of a huge problem I've had that has caused 8 years of back-breaking, fruitless, "total bummer" nothingness and how you opened up HUGE potential for me. As soon as I finish typing I get to go outside and get to work on things that will produce, including buying the one little pullet chicken that is for sale near me! THE PROBLEM: We have an electric well pump that we haven't used in 8 years because of broken underground pipes going to about 15 spigots in our 3-acre, raw, rural yard. The spigots don't work, so I had limited myself to gardening and animal raising within 40' of the house, which has one "city water" spigot. The area where the hose would reach is not ideal for any of the permaculture/animal work I wanted to do. -- We have an old barn, a south-facing concrete arbor, a wood gazebo, a metal shed and a run-in shed, all going to waste because we can't get water out there without filling gallon jugs. We're 62 and 80 years old and those well spigots were part of why we bought this property. I don't know how the pipes broke but they did. We've tried digging and making repairs ourselves, but to no avail, and we can't possibly afford to professionally fix everything. So guess what you inspired me to do, based on your 5 steps? SOLUTION: I'm going to turn on the well and observe where the water shows up in the yard (I know it does) above the broken pipes. I think there are about 6 places. It will either pool or shoot up and I will assess how best to use that water for trees, vegetables, animals, composting, etc. Depending on whether there are trees or shade or natural berms/swales, I'm going to make my garden beds and animal pens. I can just turn on the well pump when I need water for those needs! It will be like an underground spring! I now know that I can fill a little pond area for the chicken I want, and maybe a duck! THANK YOU NICE LADY! THANK YOU! I'm going to name the pullet Angela.

[@kastenolsen9577]

I have learned a great deal from you and a few others. I quit watching the 'You have to do this' or 'You must have these'.

[@yourgardendoc]

Yes yes yes!! This video and your tips were extremely helpful! I’m gonna save this one to send it to any of my friends that are just starting off! ✨👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

Thank you! Glad it was helpful!

[@kitdubhran2968]

Unintentional succession plan. I have a massively old elm in front of my house on the street strip of plants. I have a squirrel planted walnut just on my property, underneath the elm. When the elm needs to come down, my walnut should be big enough to shade my house. ❤️🌳

[@TeaCupSimmer]

Thank you Angela! I always appreciate your content 😌.

[@TeaCupSimmer]

Your content makes me feel optimistic about my life and my future and my potential as a permaculturist even though I don't have as many places to practices and learn. You said "bloom where you are" once and I really love that sentiment. Thank you again

[@cititattoo]

Thank you for being so generous and to the point!

[@joycemiller7908]

Thank you very much for this video. This is so timely for me & I'll be taking notes!

[@allysonvollmer7223]

Thank you so much for putting up so much free content. So much knowledge is out there but I find it isn’t in forms that helps me learn. You are very clear in your ideas and never boring

[@northerngirlhobbies]

Excellent thank you Angela. Working on this for our 5 acres.

[@sajithomas2158]

Very brainy ideas thankyou

[@Taking_Back_Thyme]

This was so helpful. Thank you. ❤

[@darthfiende1]

Yay for beginner content! I went into my site design very uninformed a couple years ago and wish I'd done more thinking about succession earlier on. We're behind the eight ball with adding shade and other needed infrastructure to amend our microclimate.

[@Jaycalsun]

Thanks for this. Nice and succinct.

[@dfhepner]

I guess part of observing is talk with neighbors to get their input. I was told that I should shield my garden from wind from the north and west. This is a wonderful education channel.

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

Talking with neighbors is a great way to collect data points!

[@kristinelaybourn5929]

Drawing a to map out on paper is a skill. My father can get everything perfectly to scale.

[@Banano91f]

Thanks for sharing ❤

[@joannewolfe5688]

Fabulous outfit! It all compliments you well.

[@sarahbear4848]

amazing vid. thanks!!

[@niamha301]

The phrase slow small solutions perfectly describes me😂 so many of my friends make jokes about how I do everything slowly instead of doing total makeovers or big projects. I always said slow and steady wins the race but I find the phrase slow small steps or solutions a much kinder phrasing. Thank you again for your lovely videos😊

[@permiebird937]

Well said🌻

[@masjoko8401]

nice i love it: small & slow

[@barbarahenn-pander5872]

These are interesting points. Some examples of how people used these questions then went on to succeed or fail would be helpful. Sharing how things worked out on your cute little parcel would be good. Thank you for your work.

[@erwinbrubacker7488]

My site is low & wet; I plan to use turnplow to plow from both sides to create a high point & ditches.planting tree rows on ridges & having ditches for drainage 16' to 20' apart. Its sloped so I wanna run my ridges where they almost stay level. Which will make it SE & NW. It will be exciting. Trusting turning soil no more than twice before fall planting. Meanwhile between plowing to plant rye as covercrop. We used this principle 45 yrs ago on 100 acre farm, in PA.

[@tinlilly222]

Very helpful thank you, it's so overwhelming to think about. We just bought 1 acre and are building our home on it, we have 1/2 acre to create our permaculture design. It's all old alfalfa no trees at all.

[@erwinbrubacker7488]

Yes, observe, & observe some more. Plant what is in landscape, ( food plants that grow like weeds.) We have plenty wild plums & wild grapes. Western NC.. peaches might do good.

[@kastenolsen9577]

Thanks!

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

thank you!!!

[@lauriewestenhaver284]

I have a winter time topic suggestion. Any Essential oil use? Healthy habits? Whole Foods challenge would be AWESOME!

[@spritzpistol]

Thank you❤. I’ve been interested in permaculture for a long while, but never had the time to implement it to be full time, what I call “properly”. We live in the UK, with a front and back gardens, two allotments and manage to grow seasonal veg all year round. July through to October (and sometimes beyond those months) we are self sufficient in all salads and veg, and catching up with fruit. Our aim is to be self sufficient all year round….is anyone in here, in 🇬🇧 or beyond managing this?

[@michellepope2829]

I love gardening. I love planting plants, getting my hands dirty, and watching them bloom into beautiful flowers or veggies, alike. I will admit though, there is SO MUCH to learn, and so many little idiosyncrasies, old myths, and wives tales, friends, family members, and neighbors.... all with their well meaning advice, what has worked for them, what has not, and boy don't try X, Y or Z, because IF you do, you will most assuredly kill everything you have worked so hard to achieve! **Grrrrr** Why isn't there ONE, mostly comprehensive website with all the above mentioned advice, IF you are in zones 1-3, or in zone 9, etc??! Sometimes, it gets so overwhelming, that this year... this year, beginning next month, I am going to stick with the UFL Agricultural Extention. I don't know what else to do.

[@lisalikesplants]

Assessing the needs of the community is important to me. If the community doesn't actually like aronia jam, it's just wishful thinking to say it's a food crop for us.

[@erwinbrubacker7488]

Sweet, train noise in back ground !

[@treewizard2502]

Would like to know more about guerilla gardening

[@TheDragonsGarden]

Hi angela! its Kirsten from Fabricdragon, i just got a new "mostly garden" channel so i subscribed under this one too!

[@melissamybubbles6139]

I do yardwork for my parents. The landscaping is already mostly designed. I haven't bothered with trying to create zones. But I do need to think about the yields I can get out of the site.

[@sherrymiller804]

I’m disabled and can’t stand for very long, but I would like to create a edible landscape and pollinator attraction for the garden as well. I have all lawn/grass and just one or two maple trees. I also have chickens. I have started by putting cardboard paper down then hardwood mulch. I will have to have some paths for a wheel chair or walker to access the plants and of low maintenance because of my lack of mobility.

[@happynaturalist1793]

I’ve never heard anyone mention the human life cycle and succession! I’m intrigued, and will think differently.

[@endang1977]

Amati Interaksi Apa yang kita inginkan Tentukan budget waktu, biaya, tujuan Buat peta lokasi

[@fabricdragon]

i cannot stress enough to plan for disability. you do *not* want to have to take out your best apple tree because its in the only place to put a ramp. since my husband and i were already disabled when we moved to this property (and we moved in part to get a one floor home) i made my plans assuming that we could get worse. as a result YES i did far more than was convenient in the first year, but i was working on the assumption that every year i would be able to do less work. we deliberately left the paths *wide* even though it cost me planting space on my small lot, because we use canes now most days, and a walker or wheelchair is not out of the question later. I barely grow annuals (only a few and mostly the ones that manage themselves) because i cannot predict which days i will be able to go out and work in the garden. there are things i wish i had 'done right' and yes i made more mistakes than i am happy with, so if you are able/healthy *right now* do things "right" but PLEASE plan for the inevitable time when someone is ill, or on a walker or having bad balance... or cant do reliable work on a schedule.

[@annebird9195]

I'm on a rental property in growing zone 6 a&b the it's under a 5th of an acre but the land lord says I can do whatever I want with the back yard, as long as its drout resistant

[@nicolasdilley7849]

Thanks for these amazing advices! Would you have any recommendation for good sitemap software? :)

[@polinadenissova738]

BTW, can you create a separate video on literature you recommend? You recommended a book here and there in some of your videos but a comprehensive review would be super helpful I think. Thank you for all you do! 😍

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

Great suggestion! I will try to do a more comprehensive book rec video. I also have a list of books I've read, like, and think are worth reading, here: www.amazon.com/shop/parkrosepermaculture/list/39W9F5NPA1RRU

[@GreenLadyUrbanFarm]

Yes please lol 😆

[@nate4fish]

Could you imagine trying to manage 180 acres by yourself as a permaculture farm. I mean you could raise livestock but that’s about all one would have time for without using techniques that aren’t permaculture.

[@dottiannblakemore9231]

❤

[@lwjenson]

I would love to hear ideas about the idea of succession as you age. I mean other than hiring someone or cutting down trees I'm not quite sure what are viable options for what to do. I'm at the beginning of my permaculture journey, in my 30s with toddlers, planting 20 various fruit trees and 40 vines and fruit bushes. I have no what are practical solutions for the future of this yard. I hope/plan to live in this house well through retirement. But I don't really know what that is going to look like in the future. I get that I should consider it but don't really know how to do that.

[@irinabelichenko8611]

👍👍👍

[@robertjsmith]

Where do you get the water from,if there isn’t a water source

[@erwinbrubacker7488]

How to keep out whitetail deer.

[@ernesthader1109]

Hpw about profit? How do we plan and design to profit from our permaculture garden?

[@branchingoutpermaculturewi4766]

My advise is start with getting in the trees and bushes so in five to ten years youll have fruit. every year you waste is a year your not getting growth on said tree. my big mantra is do what you can not what you cant. dont give up keep trying

[@michellepope2829]

Hi! I have a very important question to ask you. I have a home in zone 9A, in the Florida panhandle. So, I'm also on the edge of zone 8, and I have roughly, a third of an acre of property. When I bought my home in 2020, I decided to create a food forest of sorts. Being a beginner gardener, with only 4 or 5yrs of experience, I would really like to understand how you planted 40 trees within a 1/4 acre. I thought that spacing the trees was vital, as to ensure a healthy tree, with less chance of either disease or insect infestation, and size of the fruit. I am trying to picture how, if all those things are true, to consider doing something like that. So far, I have planted rabbiteye blueberry bushes, 11 of them, along the side of my house, to create a hedge. I had 2 apple trees, one I was told to get rid of, Quick, as it had recently become a victim of Fire Blight. The other, seems to be stunted. It is still alive, in spring new leaves sprouted, but it is going on 3yrs, since I planted it. I knew not to expect fruit this soon, but I'm definitely not getting the healthy growth that I expected. I also bought a peach, a pear, what I thought was a plum, and those two apple trees. The plum turned out to be a second pear, which I was very disappointed in, but I also would like to purchase another peach, and two plums. I also have a Loquat tree, and some banana trees that I have managed to kill off, as well. Ohyes, and a ruby red grapefruit tree, in the front yard. Finally, I would like to get a mandarin tangarine, and possibly a naval to finish out my fruit trees. So, how far do space all of these out. Now I'm worried that I may have spaced them out too far apart.

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

You can space them as far as you'd like! You can fill in the areas between trees with other guild plants or do intercropping. My parents used to live in Southern FL and grew the most delicious juice oranges and carambola and moringa. My uncle grew the most amazing mangoes. I'm so jealous of the diversity of crops folks can grow in FL! Are you familiar with ECHO in Ft. Myers? A GREAT example of the permaculture potential in the subtropics and they have a fantastic demonstration farm. I HIGHLY recommend touring it to get inspiration!

[@k.r.5400]

“I’ve done guerrilla gardening in inner city St. Louis” HELLO FBI

[@backyard_orchardgardener3304]

I found this: "The Carolina Permaculture Farm" while searching for the Permaculture Farm that has a similar landscape as yours and was wondering if it is close to your place?

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

I’ve never heard of them! I’ll look them up :)

[@cindyhammond7320]

The first video says their climate is similar to the Himalayas so I don't think it's by Portland.

[@luceyrains]

Can you send me the link of your permaculture 2nd floor apartment garden! I need help getting mine going!!

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

I'm not sure I have any actual photos...that was before digital cameras, and we were SUPER poor, so I didn't take many photos as they were expensive to develop.

[@luceyrains]

@@ParkrosePermaculture no worries dear. I did you make any type of video about it here on youtube? I am trying to learn more about permaculture and make one on my patio ere at my apartment. Appreciate you getting back to me so quick!

[@joycemiller7908]

I haven't watched yet; I want to be able to really focus and take notes. But I'm super excited about this subject. One thing I'm wondering about, though, is would you have any different advice for older, single women? I've heard you mention previously, that in your yard, you've started thinking about aging and how you can tweak things to make it better for you as you get older. So, in starting out, would you start differently? For instance, in my move, I'm digging up and bringing my asparagus with me to my new place because I don't want to wait another 5 years if I start fresh. One more question; I'd also really like to bring my cherry, plum & pear trees because they finally just started to produce. But they'd been planted in big pots and have grown roots through the bottoms. To move them, I think I'll have to cut the roots off. Will that set them back so much, I might as well buy new trees? (They will be planted in ground here.)

[@CasaLillis]

Uf i bought 6000sqm size of the land and dont know how and where to start lool