Permaculture · Sustainable Living · Circular Farming
Touching the soil
changes everything.
For 10 years I've been transforming my garden with permaculture. Honest notes on rare seeds, cuttings and circular living.
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Delice des Vannes Medlar: Growing in Rocky Soil and the Secret of Bletting
I planted Delice des Vannes, one of the most refined medlar varieties, in a rocky spot. It hasn't fruited yet — the roots haven't fully taken hold in the stony ground. But the patience and beauty of this ancient fruit make it all worthwhile.
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Latest Posts
Aziz's Forest: How Wedding Favours Became a Garden Hedge
I took the leftover Euonymus japonicus seedlings from a friend's wedding favours and named them 'Aziz's Forest'. Today they form the strongest hedge in my garden — though I'm also battling scale insects.
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Euryops Pectinatus: The Yellow Daisy Shrub That Stole My Heart
A silver-leaved shrub still blooming in November, covered in bright yellow daisies — Euryops pectinatus has become indispensable in my garden.
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Butternut Rugosa: 10 Squash from One Plant and a Kitchen Guide
This year's Butternut Rugosa winter squash in the vegetable patch surprised me: 10 squash from a single plant. I got the seeds through a seed swap, harvested them this week, and now I'm exploring how to use them.
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Chestnuts Come to the Garden: Sarı Aşılama and Marigoule, a New Beginning After the Walnuts
Two chestnut varieties — Sarı Aşılama and Marigoule — were planted where diseased walnuts once stood. A first chestnut experiment at HE-QA Garden — time will tell how they settle in Sakarya.
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Ravika Fig: Still Fruiting in November, Fresh Harvest on Every Visit
The Ravika fig is one of those rare varieties that doesn't stop in autumn — still producing delicious fruit well into November. At HE-QA Garden, every visit yields 3–5 fresh figs straight from the tree.
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Symphoricarpos orbiculatus: Coral Berry, the Star of Autumn Floral Arrangements
Symphoricarpos orbiculatus — coralberry — adorns both the garden and floral arrangements with its vivid pink-purple berry clusters in autumn. A hardy, low-maintenance native shrub with real ornamental value.
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Rudbeckia hirta: Grown from Seed, Blazing Yellow-Red Beauty into Autumn
Rudbeckia hirta — Black-eyed Susan — is a wildflower that blazes with yellow-red flowers well into autumn, easily grown from seed and rewarding with almost no maintenance.
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Tagetes minuta: The Garden's Silent Guardian, Self-Seeding Pest Repellent
Tagetes minuta — sometimes called wild carnation or tall marigold — is one of the garden's most powerful natural pest repellents. Scatter the seeds and forget them; by autumn they appear everywhere: tall, pungently aromatic, and pollinator-friendly.
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Dasylirion longissimum: The Drought-Defying, Winter-Hardy Landscape Statement
Dasylirion longissimum — Mexican Grass Tree — is one of the most structurally striking drought-tolerant plants for the garden. At HE-QA Garden it sails through summer heat and Sakarya winters with no fuss at all.
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Mexican Petunia (Ruellia simplex): Purple Flowers That Explode in Autumn Without Watering
Ruellia simplex thrives on neglect. At HE-QA Garden it goes quiet in the summer heat without irrigation, then bursts back into vivid purple bloom as autumn arrives — a true set-it-and-forget-it perennial.
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Strawberry Tree Garden Observation: Flowers and Fruit at the Same Time, Bumper Harvest
Arbutus unedo is one of those rare plants that carries both last year's fruit and this year's flowers at the same time. This year's harvest was spectacular — large, delicious berries on a young tree.
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"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.