2012 Review

2012 has been a year of many changes. it was the biggest year for the Permaculture test patch at The White House [on the Corner], a community house that is no longer [Dec.2008-2012]. the garden expansion gave way to try new things, and left the opportunity to see how the previous year's patch would come back on it's own.

winter '11-'12 was exceptionally warm, we have become used to waiting for our big snowfalls, but last winter we barely saw the white stuff. there were a few things that stayed green all winter in the patch, some of the herbs and berry leaves hung around.. it was interesting to see how the plants adapted to the warmer winter.

spring was an exciting time with an opportunity to expand, experience the second year cycle for half of the garden, and build some new planter boxes in the yard. the lettuce did well in the planter boxes, and last year's greens came back strong in the polyculture patch in the first phase of the garden. seeing the berry bushes produce fruit in year two was a satisfying experience, anyone who tasted these blueberries couldn't help but smile.

the summer was long, hot and very dry. learning from last year's grow season some plants were better placed for shade and moisture control, but new lessons were learned this season also. we had planned to put in a fruit tree or two and never went so far, regrettably. the next step from a permaculture test patch to a true food forest is just that... trees!

despite the scorching summer there was a very fruitful bounty this year. many species of lettuce in early sping, a variety of tomatoes, eggplants and an abundance of peppers, which did very well this season. especially the hot ones. the squashes were exciting to grow as well, though the bigger species didnt make it through the heatwave, the smaller bush variety did pretty well.

after trying for half the year to permanently acquire the house and land to keep the permaculture test patch, the deal fell through and we were forced to abandon the garden. sad as it was to experience, it gave us an opportunity to see what survived without any human interaction. these things are important to know for the next style of gardening we intend to try.. stay tuned for the 2013 blueprint, err.. map?!