This Is My Garden

 This is me. My name is Jeremy.

This is my garden.

I live and garden on the Colorado Plateau on the Arizona Strip, in Zone 7B at a five thousand foot elevation on an acre and a half of land. This was where my original garden spot was when my family moved here some thirty years ago. We originally cleared all the brush and tilled it up. I then double dug beds which have long since disappeared. Due to health and other issues it has been fallow for a number of years and I am just to the point of reclaiming it. This time all I have done is remove the brush that had overgrown the spot. I am going no-till and will be utilizing cover crops to help build up the soil. My goal is to create a resilient regenerative ecosystem on this little piece of land.

Several years ago I discovered permaculture and it has changed my perspective on food growing.  I am beginning by growing vegetables and over time will transition it into a food forest.

Instead of neat rows of veggies I mixed the seed together and broadcast it into the beds.  I was inspired by Matt Powers' throw sow method.  I wanted to do winter sowing so the seeds could sprout when they are ready. The first bed was seeded just before it started to rain and snow a few days ago. When these seeds have sprouted more will be broadcast. That way I can get successive crops.

My mix consists of: beets, broccoli, radish, kohrabi, turnip, parsley, onion, carrot, dill, lettuce, cabbage (green and red), swiss chard, garden cress, mustard, endive, garden purslane, dwarf pac choi, cherry tomatoes and sunflowers.  It is mostly cool weather crops. I added a few warm weather crops as an experiment to see if and when they will germinate. As the season progresses and each bed is seeded a different mix of seed will be put in. I want it to end up being a diverse polyculture.

I will keep you updated on the progress of the garden.