Welcome! We’re glad to have you here!

So far it’s all spring onions for us, but I’m seeing the sorrels I split last fall coming back as of the past few days.

They’re american chestnut, several given to us by a friend without any kind of cultivar information. We’ve also got another nursery owner who’ll sometimes give me a bag of horse chestnut seeds when the trees that line his property have a good year

It’s not so much the crop you’re growing, but the weedy species around the growing space which will try to get to that space and will entangle themselves in the plastic interweave. Trying to remove them by pulling will just rip some of the material apart, which means bits of plastic left behind and greater opportunities for even more weeds to make it through.

Juniper helped dig up and split her very first plant, but very much enjoyed pulling them back out when we were potting up the cuttings.

We got accepted to both of the farmer’s markets we applied to this year, which means I wont have to find homes here ror the thousand-plus plants I started in our house. And the weather and overnight lows are finally reaching a point where I can start hardening off and transitioning them outside.

Today we’re out turning over the raised beds and surrounding mulch and soil to rebuild the beds, which I’ll do every few years. The chickens are out appreciating the easy access to the bugs and double checking on my angles of repose

If you mean agricultural felt, carry on. Other than that, most woven landscape fabrics are plastics and will not only break down and get into the soil but also make removing plants which grow through it harder to manage or remove

We’d love to see your project over in Nature & Gardening! I don’t know what your litter bags are like but your local library is likely to have old issues of newspaper that would also do the trick with a few layers put down. Some of those bags can have plastics which will break down and get into the soil organisms that do all that nutrient cycling for your plants, and your food.

Very cool!

The snow we’re getting today doesn’t seem to be sticking but our lows tonight and tomorrow are definitely NSF wee plants

This looks delicious and beautiful!

We have 2 apple, two plum, two pear, three American persimmon, roughly a dozen seedling pawpaw, hickory, and chestnut trees, plus others that are more ‘ecosystem service’ than production trees. The apples and plums are the only ones at production age at the moment. I prune the trees to maximize airflow and sunlight, and train branches to achieve near-horizontal angles. One of our apples is at around 45 degrees relative to the ground and I trim the branches that would grow into the soil.

For shrubs, we have four varieties of raspberry (R. idaeus) and one variety that’s R. oderatus, but maybe 6-10 of each currently. I like to leave three canes upright but will pin last year’s canes to the soil to propagate. The R. oderatus I’ll prune with heading cuts to stimulate suckering. We also have blackberries, black raspberries, blueberries, haskaps, hazelnuts, nan king cherries, spicebush, carolina allspice, elderberry, serviceberry, bayberry, and several kinds of fruit-bearing Viburnum. We’ve also got some grapevines, hardy kiwi, and passionfruit (P. incarnata). We like to mix annual veg into these spaces alongside our perennial herbaceous plants like sorrels, sage, comfrey, bergamot, mints, and others.

We make compost from our poultry bedding, which is mostly made up of wood chips that we get from a number of arborists in our area. We also use the chips for our foot paths and will use last year’s paths as additional mulch on the gardens they border.

We’re in USDA zone 5, but I really prefer the Trewartha climate system, which places us in zone Dca. I also think the Köppen climate system, which Trewartha is based on, is pretty nifty.

While I don’t know just how popular they are here, the replies so far are heartening and food/fruit forest and other permaculture/regenerative gardening posts will be welcomed for as long as I’m allowed to be one of the mods

Out of an abundance of caution, please be sure of whether those decking boards are pressure treated. The newer formulations of copper fungicides are safer than the older methods of pressure treating but are still not exactly great for soil or human health when growing food. In that same vein, thoroughly wash the barrels before you start filling them and be sure to flush any and all plastic bits out after you’re done setting up the outlets.

Your library sounds awesome! If they don’t have one already, consider advocating for a seed library

As for soil/compost/growing medium - bagged stuff is not a worthwhile investment for your money from a cost-per-cubic-yard standpoint, and those products tend to have an inordinate amount of filler that won’t help your plants. You’re likely to spend less and have better results ordering a delivery from a landscaper supply business. They’ll have you order by the cubic yard and dump it at an accessible location at your place. Spread a tarp out to give them something to aim for and to reduce what you lose during the filling of the beds.

I <3 volunteer squash, and absolutely love that you’re making use of them!

Definitely skim through some of the posts here, folks have shared a number of garden beds they’ve built. Regardless of the type of build you’re going for, punky wood is a great way to reduce the amount of soil and compost you’re buying in and will also act as a reservoir of water for drier times.

Some of our rain barrels came from a nearby bakery, and we spent far less buying a snap lock for holding window screen in place on top to keep them from being mosquito breeding grounds. Alternatively, reach out to any gardening clubs in your area - the next town over from us got a grant to subsidize rain barrels for their citizens and there might be a program like that near you

Great job! They look very happy

That. Is. So. Cool! And I totally agree trading is super edifying, though I do appreciate being able to help support our family with my plant addiction.

Heck yeah, that’s rad (no -ish about it)!

Is that tag embossed? That’s awesome! We love trading for things here too; I grow a few tomato plants every year for the guy who manages the town transfer station in trade for him saving vinyl blinds for us to use as plant tags

Be the change you want to see! A fair number of these projects have been started by small citizen groups pitching the idea to their local governments

Good luck!

I love those folks!