Suburban Permaculture in Zone 5 - Ontario retiree gives a tour of his food forest and garden.

Join us as we tour Poppy's place in early 2021. What has changed since last season? One thing is a new grape trellis! How is his suburban garden doing this year?
I also take the drone out and show you one of my favorite trees on planet earth. His incredible Oak tree. What a legacy tree that is. I would like to meet the person who planted that oak and just tell them how much I enjoy it. Or maybe it was a squirrel. Well, they deserve thanks also.
Thanks for watching.
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[@candicebadie3463]

Makes me piss my dad. I’m starting a food forest and my dad would have loved it. You remind me of him thank you!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

❤️

[@jessicalandi6750]

Thanks for the coffee-blueberry info. Used the info right away pouring leftover coffee on my less-than-thriving blueberries this morning! Also, I just found out my pawpaw tree is arriving today. So psyched! Where can I share such "silly" excitement, but on a comment thread like this, haha.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I know, its great. So many plants geeks in here.

[@tonydyvr]

Funny you mention the legacy of the Oak tree in the garden - back in the early-60s, my folks bought a newly-built little 2BR house in an Ontario subdivision, and every new building lot got a tiny little sprig of an oak tree in the centre of the lawn from the developer. That first autumn, my Dad ran over the tree with the lawn mower, killing it (or so he thought). Fast-forward to next spring, and sure enough - a couple of little leaves were poking out of the soil, so my Dad decided to give it a second chance. Fast-forward again, but this time 60 years through several property owners and decades of benign neglect, and this oak tree (the sole survivor in the neighbourhood) is huge and magnificent, like the one in your video - supporting an entire ecosystem of nuts, mosses, insects, squirrels, raptors... Amazing what a tiny thing can become over many years!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Wow what a story. The little oak that could.

[@branchingoutpermaculturewi4766]

i love poppys food forest and i got something out of the grape trimming info so thanks poppy

[@danhaley3397]

I really like the explanation on the grape trellis. Cheap and simple. New project...again. thanks 😊

[@samanthamariah7625]

Yes I agree. I’ve been trying to figure out how to manage an old grape vine that popped up in my greenhouse on my new property. I’m going to try what Poppy is doing. He explained it so very well 👍😊

[@samanthamariah7625]

Ahhhhh . . . my father died in March and seeing Poppy and his garden brought tears to my eyes 💚💚💚 PS I loved the way Poppy kept referring to what his son-in-law gave/brought him while you’re the one behind the video camera 😀

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I was trying to figure that out as well - he did it last time. I think it's because after I do one of my videos he goes and tells all his friends to go watch his garden, so it's like he's talking to them. LOL I'm sorry for your loss. I hope you can find connection to him through your garden. I find when I'm outside in my garden I can almost feel my grandmother's spirit all around me. Such a crazy thing for me to say (if you really knew me even 5 years ago), but I don't know what to say, it's true.

[@samanthamariah7625]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy That makes total sense about him showing the video to his friends 😊 oh yes, I love feeling those connections. They can be super strong sometimes. I’m glad that you have that garden connection with your Grandmother. Warms my heart 💚 My Dad planted an orchard when I was young and eventually took it out. He was unable to figure out how to not need poison on them. I just got the supplies for my compost tea brewer and I know I’d make him proud by learning how to care for the trees without poison 😊

[@mybelovedchaos]

Im not sure how well white clover would do where Poppy is but having an abundance of it around the lettuce works better than a fence for the bunnies. It works well for me so I thought I would mention it. Beautiful garden!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

It's my favorite bunny fence. Give them food and they eat less of your other plants. Totally agree.

[@frederickanderson8778]

It's official, you are my favorite channel on KZbin. What a great video. So well edited. The music was fantastic.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

It's official you are my favorite subscriber! Just kidding you are all my favorites. Seriously, what an amazing little community we have here.

[@Ok-vj3dw]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy instead of Freemasons we're the Treemasons, the best of the cults.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

LOL

[@samanthamariah7625]

I agree! No one I’ve found have a channel done as well as Keith’s. And the music is just amazing while walking around. Would make most anyone want what he has (or what the gardener he’s showcasing has).

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

So kind Sam, thanks.

[@annburge291]

Lovely set-up. Love the social fire pit in the middle. Just needs a fruit vegetable wash fountain so one can pick, wash and socialise around the fire...

[@saraht6562]

Poppy is adorable. ❤️ Man, when you were talking about suburban I was picturing a postage stamp yard like many of us have. That place is huge! So much potential, and he’s got some great stuff already.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Yeah, his place actually made me leave my actual postage stamp lot and buy land. I was washing dishes in his sink looking into the backyard and thinking... I want this. Now, his place IS quite big, but honestly the planting spaces could fit in a postage stamp lot, it would just be crammed full.

[@redinthethevalley]

Looking beautiful! He gave me some wonderful ideas for grapes!! Thanks poppy!🇨🇦♥️

[@jeannechin5052]

Thanks Poppy!! Awesome garden and food forest!!

[@MsCaterific]

💚Wow, I really enjoyed this episode. But that Oak❣️O.M.G! It's glorious. The world needs more Oaks.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thanks! I totally had to do a double take that you commented more than your usually heart. ❤ lol

[@MsCaterific]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Haha Plot Twist! 🙃

[@abdullahvonsnarkenson2442]

Unbelievable. Very good film.

[@pattibando3104]

Great Video Poppy and Keith. Enjoyed the view.

[@KitchenGardenTherapy]

Nice, I love watching other people talking about their garden

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Absolutely. The best way to make a friend is ask a gardener about their garden.

[@Mikhail-Caveman]

Awesome Video! Seems like a really peaceful place!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thanks! He is really building something different there. All his neighbours are talking about it. Kind of neat to be the talk of the neighbourhood.

[@Mikhail-Caveman]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy looks like you might have inspired him a bit?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Definitely. I'm slowly pulling him more towards the wild and chaos of a permaculture garden.

[@debbiehenri345]

Lovely tidy garden, lots of potential in those young trees. Also, I see he's a fellow conifer fan :D

[@vanessal1893]

Great video, and I really like the music!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thank you very much for the feedback.

[@gaeangardensbyizabela]

Beautiful garden for the whole family, Poppy's put his talents to work, so awesome!

[@KASA0828]

Love love love!!!

[@kristinraabe6887]

What a nice place. Thanks for the tour!

[@ramthian]

Thanks 🙏.

[@The-Ancestral-Cucina]

Wow! When you need the teacher, the teacher will surely show!! What an amazing piece of property. Poppy is so captivating to listen to. This girl 🙋🏻‍♀️, whose family is also from southern Italy, has been wanting to learn about trellising grapes so that I may actually see them (visible) and harvest them (plentiful and sweet). The trellising will make all the difference for sure! Question Keith: I must have missed something. What is Poppy using the soaked uncooked coffee grounds for? Do they add more acidity to the soil? I’ve gone ahead and purchased blueberries, thornless black berries, several varieties of apple trees, a self pollinating cherry tree, and pear tree. We already have strawberries, raspberries and currents. I’ve propagated some service berries and elderberries from the yard of an acquaintance. I also retrieved dozens of seeds from her asparagus. I have a local Permaculture teacher/enthusiast coming on Friday to offer up suggestions re:swales. I AM OBSESSED AND FULL OF PASSION FOR THIS NEW FOUND LOVE OF PERMACULTURE/REGENERATION (for our beloved land). I have you to thank 😊👍🏼 or to blame 🤣😂🤣 @Canadian Permaculture Legacy

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I'm loving the passion I feel from you! You are in good company, we all have the same fire in us :) The coffee grinds are supposed to lower pH. It's dubious how much it actually works. I've heard many people say that it's like peeing in the ocean. It will do almost nothing. Still, if you have extra, try it out and see. A soil pH tester is cheap at Home Depot. I believe the key is that the grinds must be fresh, not spent grinds. That also makes this idea quite a bit more expensive to implement, so I would recommend testing and verifying that it does anything, before committing too much money to it.

[@homesteadhaven6024]

Poppy!!!!! So awesome to see you thriving. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Love your potatoes buckets. If you’re doing them again, they must have worked well last year. I’m going to try it with sweet potatoes. I’ve also tried your coffee-for-blueberries routine and it did wonders. Your grape trellis looks fabulous. Thanks for explaining how the grapes branch - very helpful as I figure out how to trellis my one-year-old grapes. How are you keeping your fruit trees caterpillar-free? Thank you both :)

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thanks Angela, by the way for anyone reading this, go check out Angela's KZbin channel. She is restoring an old schoolhouse and the property around it into a food forest permaculture garden. It's incredible. For my trees I don't do much (besides my philosophy of planting food for birds and bringing in predators to my pests). Every action has a reaction, and netting berries and preventing birds from eating our food means that we don't have as many birds. Less birds, less apex predators for the caterpillars. Now I'll pull the odd caterpillar off and toss it into the pond for the fish, but I don't go out of my way to do it, and I allow caterpillars to eat my leaves. But ever since I started doing that, I've had LESS leaf damage, because I believe my ecosystem here is maturing - and it's because I leave those up that I have less problems with them. I know Poppy is in a different situation. Fewer trees, less space, and surrounded by neighbours who spray pesticides and herbicides. So in those conditions, sometimes what you do doesn't really matter that much.

[@homesteadhaven6024]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy thank you for encouraging others my way. I only started making garden tour videos because you asked your viewers to do it a couple years ago and I’m so glad I did. It’s so useful to look back. I’ve tried to relocate a wasp nest to the food forest and added birdhouses, so I think I’m on the right track. As always, thank you for your time and expertise. You’re flattening out the learning curve for so many of us.

[@CuriousinNY]

@@homesteadhaven6024 How did you relocate a wasp nest without getting stung? Where did you relocate it to?

[@homesteadhaven6024]

Hi @@CuriousinNY I used a small wooden box, covered the nest from below and used a stiff piece of cardboard to knock the nest in and cover the box. We took it out to the food forest and removed the lid. The paper wasps made themselves a new nest, since I had dislocated theirs from the house, but at least they’re further away where they can’t hurt anyone or be hurt. We have bee suits and a smoker if we have to relocate a really big nest.

[@CuriousinNY]

@@homesteadhaven6024 I wish I knew this earlier. I had one under my mailbox and when I tried to look up how to remove it, all that I found resulted in the wasps (or hornets - I don’t know which it was) being killed. 😞. Next time I will have a better solution.

[@CuriousinNY]

I love, love, loved this video. Poppy is fantastic! I hope you will do another one this summer or fall so we can see how his grapevine is doing as well as his fruit trees. Especially those cherry bushes. I never knew there was such a thing. I thought cherries grew on trees only. Any idea of what kind of cherry bushes he is growing? I can’t wait to watch the videos you did of his place last year. Is this your dad? Is this why the videos are called “Poppy’s” Place? If not, how did you meet?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Poppy is my father in law. I married into a wonderful family. Poppy's family line comes from southern Italy, and I think gardening is very much in their blood. He teaches me a lot, and I think I've taught him a thing or two. I have changed many of the things he does in the garden - it's quite the unsaid compliment that he would be willing to try things like "not tilling anymore", or covering his gardens in woodchips, etc. I'm not sure what Cherry bush he has, but I have Nanking, Romeo, Juliet, Cupid, and a bunch of others. His is a bit sour, but still quite good. He dropped off a tupperware container filled with them and we've been working our way through them. Really good.

[@CuriousinNY]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy I am happy for you. I always wanted to be part of a family like that.

[@ramthian]

Hello again.

[@tonydyvr]

Beautiful garden! If you don't mind me asking, how much of his property is taken up with his gardens/food-forest? You mention in another video that you conceptually divide a property into different areas which are progressively further away from your house and hence visited less frequently, So is this area sort of a 1/2 acre within a 5-acre property kind of thing? Seems like a labour of love for him! PS: Thanks for the recent video on amending the soil in annual areas.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

His entire property is just under an acre. I would say the planted area roughly 1/4 acre total, but it's actually quite spread out. I think you could put the same number of trees/bushes and garden space on 1/6th of an acre or less.

[@jrdahl711]

This might make a good video, otherwise chat is great, but can you explain how you gave him the grape and peach starts? I really like his grape plan, and we have a grape doing pretty well. So if i can use cuttings of it to start more like poppy has that would be great. I've also got a peach that we might want more of as well

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I touched on this in my propagation part 1 and part 2 videos a few months ago. For the grapes I was pruning pruning vine to remove growth I didn't want (low sideways growth), because I want the grapes to push up on top of the trellis. When I did I called him and asked him if he wanted to try to root any of them. He took them home and put them half in water for a few days until they calloused and then potted them in soil. Bam, new grape vine. For the peaches, they are from peach pits planted a few years ago. Every single peach that I eat gets its pit planted somewhere. Often on my land but many times in wild places also. These seedlings were from that. Free trees!

[@tinle6865]

I prefer planting cherry bushes than trees. What variety do you have in your garden?

[@tonyamiller4045]

What is the name of the cherry bush? I have a cherry tree, but the bush looks soo much easy to pick from!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

We have many! I do truly believe the cherry bushes are the human crops and the tree cherries are for the wildlife. We have at least 5 different varieties from the Romeo series. We also have some Nanking cherries.

[@EctoMorpheus]

You got some proper Discovery Channel folk music at 4:00-5:00! Tune into KZbin Monday at 8pm for a new episode of Moonshiners ;)

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Lol yeah. He likes country so I did that for him. If I could have fit a Harley Davidson in there it would be perfect for Poppy

[@KASA0828]

How’d you get the baby peach trees?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Every peach I eat I save the pit and plant them. Some of them sprouted and I had a bunch of baby peach trees that I then transplanted around the property and gave 2 to Poppy.

[@KASA0828]

Also: what’s a cherry bush?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Cherries can come in bushes or trees.

[@xyzsame4081]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy That is great, I never knew. I assume they were bred like that. I sew potential to pruning such a bush to grow up a trellis of a housewall or shed (warmer micro climate, they did that in Europe in the mountains, it is part of world heritage of the Hallstatt region for instance).

[@tanarehbein7768]

What kind of grapes are you growing in your zone? I've managed to kill two of them.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I honestly don't know. I bought them before I started doing videos, never wrote down what they were.

[@francismeowgannou5322]

I just started a suburban permaculture. What kind are tools should I first get?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I have several blogs on my favorite tools: permaculturelegacy.wixsite.com/website/blog I recommend a good shovel, a good hori hori, and good pruners to start. My favorite ones are linked in separate blog posts on each one.

[@francismeowgannou5322]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy thanks! Your videos are a ton of help.

[@samanthamariah7625]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Hey Keith, Do you still feel that the 1/3rd horsepower submersible pump is a good power for spraying compost tea onto fruit trees? I noticed they have ones with higher horsepower. I’m going to order one today and am wondering if you still feel confident in yours? Thanks!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

@@samanthamariah7625 yes more than enough power. I actually wouldn't even use a more powerful one if I had it.

[@mafu3344]

Where are you sir ,which place in Ontario

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I'm Between Toronto and Ottawa.

[@rolfwelsch8570]

do you mean coffeepowder?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Just fresh coffee grinds. Not put through the coffee maker, just fresh.