We are again offering a class on planning and planting your permaculture garden. This time we will focus on the seven layer forest garden; planting perennial fruit trees, bushes, herbs and vines with winter vegetables, and ground cover plants. The class will be on Sunday, Dec. 4 from 10:00am until about 2:00 or 3:00pm.
We have experience raising crops for culinary purposes in this area and want to share the successes and help you avoid some of the failures we have had. The class will include soil preparation, plant selection, irrigation, seed starting and saving, site planning, use of livestock, and what it takes to make gardening flow and turn the environmental problems into assets.
The class will include short presentations about permaculture and organic principles, soil health, and the use of natural assets. This is not just an idea and theory class –THERE IS NO POWER POINT!–but a hands on experience. We will design gardens taking into account the sun and shade, winds, water flow and companion planting while trying to obtain a bountiful yield. We will make beds with swales and berms, plant fruit trees, vines, shrubs, ground covers, herbs, vegetables and root crops–all in one area, benefiting one another. The main focus will be on perineal, but annuals will be mixed in. You will get your hands in the dirt. We will discuss interplanting and plant rotations, make compost tea and see how a permaculture garden might work.
Winter is a prime time to garden in the gulf coast region. Weed and insect pressure is minimal and the temperatures are usually tolerable.
The basic idea of the layered forest garden is creating an environment where each plant contributes to the overall ecosystem. Large fruit trees create summer shade and transpire moisture, vines take advantage of vertical space, shrubs that fruit in the spring grow under the deciduous fruit trees that have lost their leaves, vegetable plants that like shade can be planted in one area and those that like sun in another, a ground cover like herbs, squash or strawberries will hold in moisture and inhibit weed growth, and root crops grow below the surface. Such a garden needs very little attention and holds moisture well, whether we are talking about flood or drought.
My online store is selling it as an item for pickup. It is not. It is a class at the farm on Dec. 4 at 10:00am. I hope I can fix that problem but me and computers are not always compatible.
The class costs $40.00 per person Tickets
If weather makes cancellation necessary a full refund will be available.
Laughing Frog Farm 