I just learned that there was such a thing as Permaculture last winter while I was trying to solve an issue of my neighbors never taking care of their leaves, allowing them to all blow onto my lawn. I can almost hear people shouting, "But why would you not be happy with all of those leaves?" If they were maple, I wouldn't have such an issue. They break down and are easy to deal with; oak take forever to break down, and there are so many! I have a ten cubic foot wheelbarrow, and I would mulch them as best I could with my electric lawnmower and leaf blower. Still, I would have to make about seven heaping loads to the far back every time I went out, and I'm a 62 year old woman with heart failure. I had planted many bulbs such as crocus, snowdrops, scilla and daffodils that I wanted to enjoy come spring, but they would never see the light of day with such a heavy, dense leaf pack. I was researching some sort of hedge that I could plant near the sidewalk, and this is when I must have stumbled onto the idea of food forests. As I was reading and watching everything I could find, I just kept thinking, "Of course; this makes such perfect sense!" I'd been dancing on the fringes for years, but never thought to put all of my edibles together, nor had I realized the variety available to me. I had planted grapes on a chain link fence around the pool and hardy kiwi on a pergola. I had planted cherries, pears, a peach and 50 blueberries, but each was in its own area. The property came with apple trees, probably original to the property and I would assume about 150 years old! The ones that remain are hollow, yet this past year was a bumper year!
I live on a highway and there are sidewalks, so I need it to be attractive. I stumbled on Regent serviceberries, and that was the beginning! I have at least 120' of sidewalk, and I had planted perpendicularly down the property line previously with plants in hopes of blocking some of the oak leaves that would be left to blow over. As I'd said, last year, and every year, I paid to have them mulched twice and I had gone out and raked seven times...an all-day event each time. I finally resorted to planting spreading yews on the far side of the bed last year, but they are still too small to block much of anything. I have a doublefile and Korean Spice viburnum, Leonard Messill magnolia, kousa dogwood, rhodos and various other plants and bulbs filling in the nooks and crannies. (I finally got up the courage to taste the kousa fruit this past fall. I'm in love! I wish I had known about and tried it sooner!) It is a beautiful bed in which I'd spent a fortune in efforts to combat the leaf issue!
Anyway, back to the new garden that connects perpendicularly to the one I just described. I spent the rest of last winter researching and tracking down plants to find everything that would be hardy in my zone 5A. I got everything I wanted to start with by ordering though six different reliable nurseries. That felt like quite a juggling act! Even ordering in December, many were already sold out for the upcoming year...hence, the number of places I needed to order through. I researched how to get rid of so much lawn...if you've ever removed sod, you know it can be a slow, tedious process, especially if you wish to leave the soil: for that first garden I wrote about, it took me over a week of cutting squares, picking them up, and shaking out the dirt, and that was a tiny area compared to what was in front of me! I was working against time, as the plants were due to start arriving at any time! With the new bed, I couldn't take the time to do sheet mulching; I found a device called a "sod cutter" that I could rent for the day. With delivery and pickup, it cost me about $200, but it was the best money I spent! A neighbor offered to help run the machine, and I followed him and rolled up the cut sod to bring to the back of the property for composting. In a few hours, I had an area cleared that measured 120'x15' averaged out. It is semi-circular on the non-sidewalk side, and it joins up with the 'dogwood' garden. It is southern exposure.
So, I planted 28 Regent serviceberry about three or four feet away from the sidewalk the total length, spacing them every three or four feet. They only get to about 4-5' tall, so it should be tidy and friendly looking. Behind those, I planted 50 asparagus. On the shadier western side (Remember my neighbor's oak?!) I planted many currants, gooseberries, a jostaberry, lingonberry, honeyberries, a rhubarb, cherry, paw paw, medlar, quince and persimmon trees. (Fight fire with fire!) I also added in some flowering plants such as catmint and daylilies, daffodils and crocus...many more will be added next year...I already have the seeds! At the narrow center part of the semicircle, I will have an arch with climbing roses. I had some bluestone that I took from another place on the property to lay as a walkway underneath. The roses are ordered and will arrive in the spring, and the arch is on the back porch...There is a potential theft problem so I am holding out on putting it in place until I have the roses which might deter anyone stealing it.
On the other side, which is edged by the driveway, I planted a little herb garden that forms a triangle with the driveway and sidewalk on two of the sides. The fifty asparagus extend around to follow the driveway, but are at least two feet in to avoid the gravelly stuff used in the making of the driveway. I plan to plant flowers between the driveway and asparagus for the insects, fragrance and beauty. I have 4 dwarf mulberries, three dwarf apples, two more paw paws, an Autumn Brilliance serviceberry (that I had planted prior to knowing about permaculture), I have more honeyberries and have used strawberries as a ground cover. I planted 50, and the number of runners they have sent out has been remarkable. I had had mint in my herb section, but I was nervous that it would overrun everything, so I moved it out back, and put it in a rotted out and hollowed apple tree stump. I planted two Carmine goumi berries, but they were my only fatalities. I will replace them this spring; I am already on the lookout for them. I transplanted some yarrow and other flowers into this bed as well.
Out back, I planted two elderberries, two more persimmon and four hazelnuts. Although I love raspberries, I am looking to avoid high maintenance plants. These I'd be willing to go pick on someone else's property! I think I will have enough to offer in trade!
Because of the timing, I did not have time to track down woodchips; instead, I ordered eight cubic yards of mulch. That was all the delivery truck could hold. I could have used double that amount, but cost was becoming a factor. Now that the big expenses and hard labor are behind me, I can take the winter to reflect.
What's that permaculture motto? There are no problems, only solutions? So true! I had been raking my neighbor's leaves for fifteen years and for equally as long, I'd been asking them every spring to please take care of them. This past fall, after planting the yews, I decided to put up a temporary fence of 3' chicken wire. Before I did that, but after again raking and paying to have them mulched, I parted the leaves so that I could stake the chicken wire. The forty year old neighbor came stomping over stating how he had spoken to the town and his lawyer! How dare I rake any leaves over on his yard!!!! Meanwhile, they hadn't done anything, and they have a ride-on mower! That was the final straw; that is when I started looking into hedges, and that led me into Permaculture. I couldn't be happier...and, I will have a little chuckle when my persimmon trees grow and some of the leaves fall onto my neighbor's side!
I now live in a condo, so everything is scaled down. My compost resides in an big pot that a tree once came in. Earth worms crawl up into it and start baby nurseries. I have just recently learned about using bio-char, and now I am making some. Point is, even with a tiny space, we can still do this stuff. I might not be able to do that much, but I keep doing it, adding stuff as I learn more. At the very least, I will leave the area around my condo much, much better than I found it. So keep right on talking, people, and I will keep right on reading and learning - thanks! 
