Pittsburgh Permaculture » Soil Development

3 Nitrogen Fixing Plants for the Forest Garden

Michelle — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:48:00 +0000

Nitrogen fixing shrubs are valuable in agroforestry systems. They can be integrated into perennial agriculture systems to restore and maintain nutrient cycling and fertility self-reliance. The following 3 nitrogen fixing plants have additional uses and benefits as well. This is a quick snap shot of nitrogen fixing plants. Please share your experiences with these [...]

Food4Wealth Review: Less Work, More Food with the Ecological Garden

Michelle — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:04:18 +0000

Personally, I have had lots of fun growing food and herbs. I have also spent many hard, sweaty hours pulling weeds and preparing beds. Eventually, I managed to develop garden beds that perform similarly to a Food4Wealth bed; however, this was after obtaining a Master’s degree in Sustainable Systems, working in a market garden, [...]

Permaculture Resource List

Juliette — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:54:33 +0000

Compiled by Elizabeth Lynch, Troy Hottle, and Juliette Jones

Pc Communities, on-line or other

Pittsburgh Garden Experiment: http://www.meetup.com/PittsburghGardenExperiment/ Eastern Permaculture Guild: http://www.meetup.com/permie/ Eastern Permaculture Guild: penn-permaculture-list@meetup.com Local Food Cleveland: http://www.localfoodcleveland.org/ Three Rivers Permaculture Guild

Pittsburgh-local Resources

Pittsburgh Permaculture: http://pittsburghpermaculture.org/ Transition Pittsburgh: http://www.meetup.com/transitionpgh/ Pittsburgh Garden Experiment: http://pittsburghgardenexperiment.org/ Steel City Soils: http://steelcitysoils.com/ Octupus Organics: [...]

Come Join Us at the Food Forest this Saturday!

Michelle — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:23:22 +0000

We will be working at the food forest on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month from 10am-12pm. The food forest is located at 4700 Irvine St in Hazelwood. It was 4 adjacent vacant lots owned by the URA and now hosts a diversity of edible and otherwise functional tree, bush and groundcover [...]

An Herbalists’ Permaculture Landscape

Michelle — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:00:06 +0000

One of the best ways to assess a site is to observe it for at least one year. This plan for my backyard has been in the works for almost two years now. I have made certain changes due to the encompassing urban landscape and the sometimes undesirable situations that it brings.

Rats- there [...]

10 Methods for Soil Improvement

Troy — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 04:03:20 +0000

The following is a list of 10 easy and effective approaches to improving your soil. We have also noted the benefits that each technique provides and included a description of why each one is important.

Adjust the soil pH to optimal levels (6-7)- general (nutrient availability) – The pH of soil dictates the ability [...]

Rocks in the Garden

Troy — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:54:48 +0000

I am exploring the use of large rocks strategically spread throughout the garden to aide in the thawing process in spring. In the warm months, and in the winter when the rocks aren’t covered in snow, rocks buffer the diurnal temperature swings. That is to say they make the micro-climate around them a more [...]

Permaculture Design Certificate Course

Juliette — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:54:30 +0000

This is a reminder… exactly one month until the PDC, register NOW to join us at the Phipps Garden Center!

6 WEEKENDS (January to April 2011): Jan 29-30; Feb 12-13, 26-27; Mar 12-13, 26-27; Apr 2, 9:00am to 4:30pm

– Earn your internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certification! – Share 6 weekends immersed in a fun, [...]

Get your PDC in Pittsburgh!

Juliette — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:34:39 +0000

Get your PDC in Pittsburgh! It’s inexpensive!!! Hands-on! Permaculture Design Certificate Course at Phipps Join us at the Phipps Garden Center for 6 weekends of intensive permaculture design and practice!

Primary Teachers:

Darrell Frey, Three Sisters Farm and Bioshelter

Elizabeth Lynch, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Juliette Jones, Pittsburgh Permaculture Dates: January 29, [...]

Cheap Actively Aerated Compost Tea

Troy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:44:57 +0000

Two large air stones for the bottom.

The "T" connection for the air stones.

Paint filter bag.

The small air stone for the bag with the compost.

A dual output air pump.

Not too full to avoid overflows.

Bubble out the chlorine if you are using [...]