Permaculture
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Pawpaw: Our Kentucky Champion Gave Its First Ripe Fruit - A Flavor Between Banana, Pineapple, and Pudding
We ate ripe fruit from our pawpaw tree for the first time this year - the cultivar is Kentucky Champion. The flavor was genuinely striking, something between banana, pineapple, and pudding. Researching why such a good fruit isn't in supermarkets turned up an interesting story.
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Black Madeira Fig: Its First Fruit, But It Couldn't Ripen This Year
Our Black Madeira fig tree gave its first fruit this year, but it couldn't ripen because of rainy, cool weather. Researching the cultivar helped me understand why - it wants a late, warm season. We'll see if it delivers next year.
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130 Kilograms of Rain: A Diary of the Record Day We Lived Through in Sakarya
It hasn't stopped raining in Sakarya for the past three days, and on September 29th, 133.6 kilograms of rain per square meter broke a record that had stood since 1999. In this diary entry I'm sharing both the numbers and what an extreme weather event like this stirs up in me as a gardener.
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Giant Elephant Garlic: Not True Garlic, But the Garden's Giant Star
These massive cloves coming out of our garden are elephant garlic. Botanically it's actually closer to leek than true garlic, and that's exactly why its flavor is so much milder and sweeter.
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Sari Lop Fig: Our Native Fig That Shines When Dried, Not Fresh
Being honest about Sari Lop fig: I didn't love its fresh taste, and it cracked quickly after a bit of rain. But that just means we were looking for this treasured native Turkish fig's real talent in the wrong place - because Sari Lop's true strength isn't fresh, it's dried.
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Italian 258: One of the Most Beautiful Figs Added to the Collection
Italian 258 gave its first fruit while still a tiny sapling, and it's now joined our fig collection. The deep red flesh revealed when we cut open that first fruit immediately explained why this variety is so loved among fig collectors.
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Jujube Harvest Has Begun: Li Abundant, Chico Few But Incredibly Delicious
Jujube harvest has begun this year. Both Li and Chico cultivars fruited, but very differently - Li was abundant enough to weigh down the branches, while Chico gave only a handful of fruit, though that handful was incredibly delicious.
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Miljska Fig: The Sapling I Brought From Montenegro and Planted in My Garden
I brought this sapling back from my trip to Montenegro and planted it in my own garden, and now I'm harvesting from my own tree. As I researched it, this deep purple fig's name turned out to carry an unexpected story and a tricky identification process.
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Ravika Fig: The Taste Serdivan Carried Across a Bridge of Memory
We've been harvesting from this tree for two weeks and still can't get enough. But Ravika fig isn't just a delicious fruit - it's a name woven into Serdivan's identity, carrying the story of a migration.
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Batumi Pear: A Regional Delicacy Passed Down From the Caucasus Migration
This year, we made our final harvest from this tree. Batumi pear is known in my family as a regional delicacy, a pear variety that takes its name from the city of Batumi in the Caucasus.
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Pink Lady (Cripps Pink): The Late-Ripening Pink Apple in My Garden
I caught this apple on my tree at an early stage - the pink patches scattered over a green-yellow background and the late ripening timing pointed me toward Pink Lady. There's no confirmed nursery tag, but the visual and seasonal fit is quite strong.
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Kadi 77: Yalova's Registered Early Summer Pear
This pear sapling I got from Yalova Tarim is Kadi 77 - an early summer pear cultivar registered by the Yalova Ataturk Horticultural Research Institute. The first fruits in my garden stayed yellow, but the flavor is genuinely good.
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A Paradise in 500 Square Meters: Permaculture's Three Numbers and the Third Ethic
I want to share a vision I teach in my courses: a small garden can feed an entire family, a tiny fraction of the world's land could feed everyone, and we could leave the rest to Gaia - if only we take Bill Mollison's third ethic seriously.
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Is the Dutch Farming Miracle Real, or Just Dependence Wearing a New Face
Lately everyone tells the same story: a tiny country, a giant agricultural export, glass greenhouses, robots, artificial intelligence. But we're always shown the storefront. I wanted to look at what's standing behind the glass.
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Golden Delicious Apple: The Least Troublesome Variety in My Garden, the Only Tree I've Never Seen a Worm In
Every apple variety in my garden struggles with worms to some degree, but I've never seen one in my Golden Delicious. Is this just luck, or does the variety have a trait behind it? Let's look at both its history and this observation together.
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Artichoke: A Perennial That's Both Beautiful and Nourishing, Refusing to Give Up Even in Drought
The artichoke is one of those rare plants that offers both visual beauty and real nutrition in the garden, and on top of that, it's a perennial. It struggled a bit in this summer's drought, but came back with fresh new shoots in autumn.
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Electroculture: I Have a Copper Antenna Too, But Let's Check the Science First
After seeing an Instagram post claiming a copper wire antenna makes plants grow 30-40% faster, I dug into both the history and the current scientific evidence on electroculture. I also have an honest plan for the copper wire I already own.
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Casuarina Equisetifolia: A Windbreak Tree Growing Patiently in the Garden
Native to Australia and looking like a pine with its needle-like branchlets despite having no relation to pines at all, Casuarina equisetifolia is growing slowly but steadily in the garden, and it brings real value to a permaculture system.
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Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth: A Trailing Beauty That Self-Seeds Every Year
The story of a self-seeding amaranth variety with long, trailing velvet tassels that returns every year on its own - identity, permaculture value, and how to grow it.
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Honeysuckle: The Bee-Loved Fragrant Vine
A guide to honeysuckle, prized for its fragrant flowers and its benefit to bees - identity, permaculture value, and how to grow it.
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Self-Heal (Prunella Vulgaris): A Small but Versatile Garden Plant
Self-heal, botanically Prunella vulgaris, is a small plant spreading on its own in my garden, notable both as a ground cover and for its traditional uses.
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Soapwort: A Natural Cleaning Plant That Foams with Water
Soapwort is a plant that genuinely foams when mixed with water, traditionally used as a natural alternative to soap. We planted it in our garden both for its looks and for this use.
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Amaranth (Black Cockscomb): A Plant That Grows on Its Own
Amaranth now grows on its own in our garden, no planting needed. Its flowers are stunning and the seeds are technically edible, though we haven't tried them ourselves. What we love most is that it keeps coming back with zero intervention.
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Oleander: It Bloomed Despite the Bad Soil
This oleander barely survived for years in the worst soil in my garden. This year the plants above it started casting shade, and it finally bloomed properly.
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Atriplex halimus: Sea Purslane, PFAF's Forgotten Plant
It entered my list from the PFAF system and I understood why later. Atriplex halimus is edible, drought-resistant, salt-tolerant and soil-improving. One of permaculture's forgotten treasures.
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Lespedeza thunbergii: The Nitrogen Master That Drapes the Slope Like a Bridal Veil
Every year it resurges from the base, covering the entire slope with pink flowers by late August. Lespedeza thunbergii is both a feast for the eyes and a gift to the soil.
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Chrysopogon zizanioides (Vetiver): The Fragrant Grass That Holds the Soil
I planted it on slopes to prevent soil erosion. But vetiver is not just an erosion solution, it is also highly valuable for its medicinal and aromatic properties.
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Egyptian Walking Onions: The Forever Onion of Your Garden
Plant once, harvest forever. Egyptian walking onions are self-propagating perennials that practically take care of themselves.
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Improve Your Soil with Jerusalem Artichoke
Plant it once and benefit for years — it improves your soil and enriches your table.
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