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For 10 years I've been transforming my garden with permaculture. Honest notes on rare seeds, cuttings and circular living.
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Acer Palmatum Tamukeyama: A Japanese Maple That Keeps Its Color Through Summer Heat
One of the Japanese maples in my collection is Tamukeyama - with its cascading, lace-like branches and deep red foliage that doesn't fade through summer, it holds a special place for me.
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Red Gem Goumi: The Cultivar With a Cherry-Like Flavor From Kiev
Another addition to the goumi family in my garden: Red Gem. Unlike Big Gem, this cultivar has a clear selection history behind it - and the flavor reflects that.
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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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Tiger Eyes Sumac: A Compact, Non-Aggressive Variety That Puts On a Riot of Color
I added Tiger Eyes, a dwarf sumac variety, to my garden - from what I've seen, unlike wild sumacs it doesn't spread aggressively, and on top of that it puts on a genuine riot of color throughout the season. Let's look at the story behind this interesting mutation and its garden value.
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Italia (Muscat) Grape: The Aroma That Solved My Garden's Variety Puzzle
My garden has a few different grape varieties - Atasarisi, Alfonso, Red Globe, and a fragrant Italian type - and I wasn't sure which one a particular cluster belonged to. The berry shape and that signature muscat aroma solved the puzzle: it's Italia.
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A Plant Guild Built Around a Lemon Tree: A Multi-Layered Design in an Urban Garden
In one corner of my garden, I've built a plant guild centered on a mature lemon tree - surrounded by everything from a yucca to an evergreen conifer, fragrant climbers to colorful flowering perennials, all layered together. In this post, let's look at both the logic behind this design and the permaculture concept of a 'guild.'
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The Praying Mantis: The Garden's Most Ruthless Hunter - and That Ruthlessness Works in Our Favor
While walking through the garden, I came face to face with a praying mantis - calmly biting off its prey's head first. The sight is a little unsettling, but this ruthless hunter is actually one of the quiet heroes of our garden ecosystem.
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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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Violette de Bordeaux Fig: A Compact Tree Hiding a Huge Flavor
I added another one to my fig collection: Violette de Bordeaux. Despite its small, compact size, it's a variety whose rich flavor outshines many others - and one that thrives even in a pot.
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Hardy Chicago Fig: A Reliable Variety That Defies Harsh Winters and Fruits Every Single Year
I added another variety to my fig collection: Hardy Chicago. As its name suggests, it's remarkably cold hardy, and the best part is it fruits reliably every single year - a variety I'd confidently recommend even to someone just starting out with figs.
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Sultane Fig: A Small but Flavorful Variety From My Collection, Tasted for the First Time This Year
I tasted the first fruit this year from my Sultane fig - small in size, but genuinely delicious. A post spanning this dark-skinned French variety's history all the way to my own garden experience.
Read more"Keep the cycle, the future is in your hands."
— HE-QA Garden
Permaculture for me is not just a gardening technique — it's a life philosophy. To repair the soil, keep the cycle and leave a richer nature for future generations. Every seed is a trust, every cutting a hope.
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Letters from the Garden
Seasonal planting calendars, rare plant introductions and permaculture tips. Once a week.