Here's some pics of my new permaculture-style circle gardens.

Bed2 - Young apple tree in the center of the circle, surrounded by mulch. Growing bed around the outside is mulch built up over rocky soil. This bed contains tomatoes and tomatillos, a couple melon plants, and some herbs:

Bed3- Another apple circle with squash, peppers, cucumbers, and eggplant. Also baby honey locust trees in pots:

Wow! Its obvious that you've put a lot of work in there. Looks great!

That does look really neat. *thinks, must take pictures of my garden to post*

Are the locusts for gum, shade, or because they're cool?

Looks good.

Thank you all! :)

The locusts will be for shade and food (you can eat their seedpods).

I've started two more gardens like these on the other side of the house, now have 6. I'm really happy with the way this is working out.

My tomatoes are ripening!

More pics, because they're fun. :D

nursery -One of my nurseries, with baby yams, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, collards, etc

yamsplanted - Experimental bed of yams, Dioscorea batatas, in the main garden, just planted but before being mulched

mulchbrush - A mulch materials collection system. We piled brush in one of our fields across an area of runoff from the neighbor's grazing land. In the last flood it collected a huge quantity of leaves, cow patties, and grass. I use a lot of mulch in my gardens. I'm excited at how well the brush piles worked. Caution: They are also effective at collecting snakes!

Caution: They are also effective at collecting snakes!
Western Diamondbacks? Corals? Whereabouts in TX are you?

No, these were just some nice harmless snakes, but in a place with poisonous snakes, it could be an issue. I'm in Central Texas, though we're supposed to have rattlers and corals here, I've never seen any. But we have many kinds of harmless snakes. :)

I lived in Dallas for 3.5 years and Austin for another year, and the only snake I saw was in Austin's Zilker Park / botanical gardens :( There was a sign posted saying that a small water snake lived in one of the ponds, and indeed I saw it there.

I lived in Dallas for 3.5 years and Austin for another year, and the only snake I saw was in Austin's Zilker Park / botanical gardens :( There was a sign posted saying that a small water snake lived in one of the ponds, and indeed I saw it there.


We're pretty much festooned with snakes out here. Rat snakes, checkered garter snakes, green snakes, ribbon snakes, hog nosed snakes, coach whip snakes.....

You have wild hognoses? Cool.

http://www.dreamsnake.net/ids/index.cgi?mode=image&album=/Animals/Reptiles/Breeding%202003&image=P8082368.JPG

Ever tangle with a coachwhip? I understand that they're moderately pissy.

You have wild hognoses? Cool.

http://www.dreamsnake.net/ids/index.cgi?mode=image&album=/Animals/Reptiles/Breeding%202003&image=P8082368.JPG

Ever tangle with a coachwhip? I understand that they're moderately pissy.


A lot of the harmless snakes will bite if you mess with them, and can give a nasty wound. I usually only pick them up wearing gloves, unless they're really tiny. I'm a chicken! Coachwhips get darn big, about four feet long. We had quite a large rat snake in our shop, he was over three feet long, when we had a mouse problem. I was working in there, and heard a slithering sound, looked around, and this large snake just came cruising out from behind a box, circled the room, and went under some shelves....