Permaculture · Sustainable Living · Circular Farming
For 10 years I've been transforming my garden with permaculture. Honest notes on rare seeds, cuttings and circular living.
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The relationship between mistletoe and its host tree cannot be described in a single word. Parasite or partner? Science hasn't given a definitive answer — but what we observe in nature suggests this relationship is far more complex than we think.
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Five years in the garden, four years of harvests every autumn. Feijoa Apollo thrives in Sakarya — aromatic, delicious, and one of the rare fruits that needs almost no attention.
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Every October the same scene: the south wall of the house covered in ladybugs. Because I don't spray pesticides, my garden has an army. What are they doing, why are they here, and what happens in spring?
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Four years growing it, now finally fruiting. Kurpfalz medlar barely needs bletting — but codling moth takes most of the crop. The honest reality of growing medlar in Sakarya.
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For two years it barely grew indoors. This year I moved it to a semi-shaded outdoor spot — it exploded. The secret to Alocasia macrorrhizos: the right light, humidity, and pest control.
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I bought this Queen Palm from a nursery on the Mediterranean coast two years ago. It spends summers showing off in the garden and winters in my greenhouse. The price of tropical beauty in Sakarya.
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Four years of waiting, no fruit. This year, two tiny purple olives appeared on the branches. The honest truth about growing Halhalı olive in Sakarya: don't expect a harvest, but do expect beauty.
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After 3 years in a pot, the lemon finally went into the ground this spring. Surrounded by cardoon and pampas grass in a wild garden bed. This is the story of this year's most dramatic corner of the garden.
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I collected Aloe arborescens cuttings from a roadside in Kaş and rooted them. Now the real question: can they survive winter outdoors in Sakarya? A field experiment begins.
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Every autumn, mushrooms appear overnight in the garden. Learning to identify them is both fascinating and potentially life-saving. A beginner's guide to common autumn mushrooms, with safety rules.
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Black kale grown from saved seed, harvested all winter long. It gets sweeter after frost, and makes the best stuffed cabbage leaves.
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From garden to bathroom: grow your own luffa and make a natural bath sponge. The fully biodegradable alternative to plastic sponges, and surprisingly easy to produce.
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While the last yellow flowers of autumn bloom, delicious tubers are ripening underground. Jerusalem artichoke is one of the most effortless plants in our garden — once planted, it renews itself for years. We use it both cooked and pickled.
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A trimmer accident that stripped the bark of my pomegranate led me to discover air layering. By summer's end, beautiful roots had formed. I now use this method every year on jujube, magnolia and silk tree.
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One of the first fruit trees I added to my garden, the Halina jujube exceeded all my expectations. Easy to care for and perfectly suited to the Sakarya climate.
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The pampas grass I added for landscaping puts on a spectacular show every autumn with its massive feathery plumes. But I should be clear: this plant is invasive and aggressive. I'm growing it until the other plants establish, then I'll decide what to do.
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I first mistook this blackberry's name for a raspberry cultivar, but research showed it's actually a patented blackberry developed by the University of Arkansas. Thanks to its primocane trait, it fruits on a new cane every year.
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I planted Cornus kousa after finding it listed as an edible plant on PFAF, and got my first fruit this year. It turned out very seedy - but its ornamental value in the garden is beyond question. Origin, taste, care, and cold hardiness, all here.
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I planted this fragrant Mediterranean shrub in my garden. From its origin to my experience in Sakarya, from fruit taste to cold hardiness - everything you need to know about myrtle.
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The fruit on our che tree (Maclura tricuspidata) ripened this year, and we started picking and eating it. It tastes somewhere between mulberry and fig, with a sweet, juicy interior hiding under that bumpy red skin.
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This plant I found and brought back from a nursery in Sweden is Eryngium yuccifolium 'Magical Silver Globe' - a multi-purpose perennial with silvery, globe-shaped flower heads. Its deep taproot lets it stay standing even through drought.
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I initially mistook this vine for Apios, but its real identity turned out to be Chinese Yam (Dioscorea polystachya). The bead-like growths in the photo aren't dug from soil - they're aerial bulbils forming at the leaf axils. It's an interesting edible plant, but one that also needs careful handling.
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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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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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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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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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We had a big disappointment with Chandler walnut. Once the trendy cultivar of its era, Chandler is now planted everywhere, but in our region it keeps getting sick and there's almost no harvest - anthracnose, stink bugs, and humidity are all working against it.
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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 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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Vaki and Viki came to our home in June and were our house mascots for a while, but they grew so fast that we had to move them from the house to the garden. Now, as a pair we believe to be one female and one male, we've reached the stage of planning to collect their eggs and raise ducklings.
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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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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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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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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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I thought this plant was Black-Eyed Susan, but the fact that it branches so much and blooms so profusely was the real clue - it turns out to be Rudbeckia triloba, a much more floriferous member of the same family.
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I first mistook this yellow-maroon flower for Black-Eyed Susan, but the leaf structure and flower pattern actually point to Coreopsis tinctoria. It's a true annual that self-sows from seed.
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When I saw these deep red, trumpet-shaped flowers, I suspected it might be Weigela. I don't know the exact cultivar name, but the flower structure and foliage point quite strongly to this genus.
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Since fernleaf yarrow entered my garden, it's become one of the corners that asks for the least water and complains the least. With its flat, plate-like golden-yellow flower heads, it's both a visual and a practical win.
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I brought this pepper plant from Germany - I know it as 'gul biberi' (rose pepper). Every winter it looks like it's died back to frost, but come spring it resprouts from the same root, and when it ripens it turns into a red, hot pepper.
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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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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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With its large purple-pink berries and intense aroma, Alphonse Lavallée grape is one of the most spectacular fruits in our garden. Late August harvest, its flavor comparable to nothing in the store.
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This young conifer I've recently added to my garden is the weeping Nootka false cypress - its scientific name has changed hands among botanists more than once, but its drooping, almost weeping branch structure hasn't changed at all.
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I still haven't managed to move my intensely magenta bougainvillea from its pot into the ground - Sakarya's winters are tough on this tropical beauty. I've seen it grown large in a few gardens here, but for me it's still an ongoing experiment.
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This orange-yellow honeysuckle climbing my garden pergola is Lonicera tellmanniana - a hybrid that brings North America and China together, and now it's putting on a show in my own garden.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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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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I finally tasted this year's fruit from my Peter's Honey fig - a golden-skinned, honey-sweet variety that genuinely impressed me. A post spanning the fig's thousands-year history all the way to my own garden experience.
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Commonly called the strawberry tree, this dwarf, slow-growing Mediterranean tree stands out with its bumpy, strawberry-like red fruit. Its most fascinating trait is that the fruit takes a full year to ripen from flower to fruit.
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The carob tree I planted five years ago, a classic Mediterranean species, is still growing slowly here in Sakarya. The answer to whether we'll ever see fruit is hidden in this tree's own biology.
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The 'Hasanbey' cornelian cherry cultivar stands out from wild cornelian cherries with its larger, sweeter fruit - I harvested it in the garden just last week, and it's a variety with real historical and garden value.
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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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The bay laurel I grew myself from seed is classically thought of as a Mediterranean-only tree, yet it thrives in my garden without any trouble. It's a remarkably versatile tree, opening doors from the kitchen to soap-making, from history to permaculture.
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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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After years without fruit, I grafted a 'Chico' scion onto my jujube tree. This season the graft finally produced its first fruits - a patience-rewarded story from the garden.
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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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The story of a hardy grapevine we brought from a garden in Tekirdag, known for its pink-mottled berries - identity, permaculture value, and how to grow it.
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The story of a grapevine traditionally grown in the Tokat region for its leaves - and how it surprised us this year with pleasantly sweet fruit.
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A guide to the Yagli Ordu hazelnut, one of the Black Sea region's main crops - identity, permaculture value, growing tips, and the serious damage caused by the brown marmorated stink bug in recent years.
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A guide to the Red Globe grapevine, which gave a generous harvest in our garden this year - identity, permaculture value, growing tips, and harvest observations.
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The story of Apios americana (American groundnut), brought to the garden years ago and finally blooming this year - identity, permaculture value, and a growing process that takes patience.
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A guide to the Black Sea lemon, thriving in an urban garden for 5 years and giving abundant fruit except when hit by early frost.
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A guide to the Laz apple, a native heirloom variety from the Black Sea region - identity, permaculture value, and how to grow it.
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A curious persimmon species whose skin stays greenish-brown even when fully ripe, with a distinctly fuzzy texture: Diospyros oleifera. Identity, permaculture value, and how to grow it.
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A guide to the American persimmon 'Meader' - smaller-fruited and different in flavor from kaki - identity, permaculture value, and how to grow it.
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A marsh frog that showed up on its own soon after the pond was built, known for its harsh call and now breeding there - identity, permaculture value, and observations.
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A guide to the koi fish living largely on their own in our garden pond - from veiltail whites to colorful patterned varieties - identity, permaculture value, and care.
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A tropical water plant known for its mosaic-patterned rosette leaves, but not cold-hardy: Ludwigia sedoides.
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A guide to water hyacinth - eye-catching lavender flowers, but a plant that needs constant management due to its explosive growth rate.
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A guide to the water lily, the eye-catching centerpiece of the garden pond - identity, permaculture value, and how to grow it.
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A drought-tolerant, nitrogen-fixing shrub known for its silky pink powder-puff flowers: Calliandra surinamensis.
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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, 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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Acer palmatum 'Emerald Lace' is the opposite form of Seiryu in my maple collection: a weeping, dwarf cultivar. A detailed look at its leaf structure, color, size, growing conditions and landscape use.
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Acer palmatum 'Seiryu' is one of the pieces in my maple collection. A detailed look at its leaf structure, fall color, size, growing conditions and landscape use.
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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 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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Satsuma, also known as Rize mandarin, is seedless and very juicy, and it has fully adapted to our garden. Even after seeing -10°C, the shrub survives without dying.
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Kumquat is a dwarf citrus that fruits reliably every year in our garden. It's currently in full bloom, here's what the plant is like and my own experience with it.
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Goji berry has been growing in our garden for years, but the yield has always been low and the taste never matched expectations. An honest look at a berry that tastes more like pepper.
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In one corner of my garden I'm trying an English-style naturalistic planting approach, working only with perennials and planting nothing new. Right now it's in its dry-season phase.
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Cudrania tricuspidata, or Che, normally needs a separate male and female tree to fruit - but mine has a male branch grafted onto the female cultivar, so a single tree does the job. The fruit is still green now, but ripens into something that looks like a red raspberry.
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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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While other peaches fall to monilia and leaf curl, the Black Sea peach stands strong. Small, aromatic, local and resistant. A story about why heirloom varieties matter.
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With its green to pink-red color transition, intense sweetness and juiciness, the Fuji apple is one of the most loved fruits in our garden. The complete opposite of Granny Smith but side by side on the same property.
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Nothing like what you buy from the store. The garden-grown Granny Smith is sour, aromatic, browning quickly when cut. Fruits even in drought.
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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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Whether fruit or vegetable remains debatable but its healing power is undeniable. From stomach ulcers to blood sugar, from dental infections to immunity, Momordica charantia is a medicinal plant with thousands of years of history.
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Ripening in mid-August, drought-resistant, with large and delicious fruits, Black Butte blackberry is one of the most productive fruits in our garden. Grows without irrigation and yields abundantly.
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This rare variety from Breda, Netherlands, is one of the world's largest medlar cultivars with fruits reaching 5-6 cm in diameter. A variety I definitely want to add alongside the medlar already in my garden.
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I propagated them from seeds collected from the Sapanca Richmond Hotel garden. Nearly 10 years have passed. Chamaerops humilis, Europe's only native palm, is one of the most resilient plants in the garden with its compact form.
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I propagated them from seeds collected from Washingtonia robusta palms along the Derince coastline. It has been 10 years, they have grown taller than me. One of the most beautiful legacies I am leaving for future generations.
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Feijoa, a subtropical fruit, has been growing trouble-free in our garden for 7 years with the Apollo variety. Indispensable for its magnificent spring flowers and aromatic autumn fruits.
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By late summer artichokes transform into dead sculptures. I don't cut them, I wait for them to scatter their seeds. In autumn new shoots emerge from below, the cycle completes.
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With its golden yellow petals and dark black center, Rudbeckia hirta is one of the longest-blooming plants of summer. Drought tolerant, bee-friendly, perennial.
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With its deep purple leaves and smoky fluffy flowers, Cotinus coggygria is the most dramatic plant in the garden. It offers a different beauty in all four seasons.
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While nature falls asleep, mimosa takes the stage. When those yellow pompom flowers open in January and February, the garden suddenly comes alive. Acacia dealbata is one of our focal trees.
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Those silvery blue round leaves, column-like height and eucalyptus scent spreading through the whole garden. Eucalyptus gunnii is the most impressive tree in our garden.
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I have four colors of roses in my garden. Each a different character, different scent, different story. Growing roses requires patience but rewards you abundantly.
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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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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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Pink Satomi and white chinensis... These two Cornus kousa varieties growing side by side in my garden offer a different beauty in every season.
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With white-cream borders on its grey-green leaves and finely cut leaf form, Acer palmatum Butterfly is the most refined tree in the garden.
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Pink, purple, white, yellow... Echinacea brings color to the garden while being a medicinal plant with thousands of years of history. Perennial, easy to care for, bee-friendly.
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When I first saw this yellow flower growing wild in Sakarya highlands, something stirred in me. I said one day it would be in my garden, now it multiplies every year.
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When I first saw it on the branch I had no idea what it was — that strangely shaped green lump startled me. Turns out it was a cypress cone. There's a lot you don't know about this tree.
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With its russet skin, buttery flesh and unique aroma, the Bere winter pear is one of the oldest and most valued residents of our garden.
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Golden flesh hiding beneath a black skin... Black Amber is one of the most impressive Japanese plum varieties you can grow in your garden.
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Our ungrafted, root-grown Li jujube bore so much fruit this year that the branches can barely hold it. Rare, delicious and incredibly healthy.
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Bringing color to those dark corners where sunlight can't reach, heuchera offers a beauty more striking than flowers — through its leaves alone.
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Creating the most striking corner of the garden in midsummer, the crape myrtle carries a special beauty both in its blooms and its unique bark texture.
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The American persimmon, a fruit most people have never heard of, has quietly begun bearing fruit in my garden. A perfect choice for those seeking alternative crops.
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This magnificent tree growing in our garden for years is medicinal, edible and extremely valuable from a permaculture perspective.
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Plant once, harvest forever. Egyptian walking onions are self-propagating perennials that practically take care of themselves.
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Plant it once and benefit for years — it improves your soil and enriches your table.
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Yellow-purple roots, harvested in 90 days, long winter storage. A must for every garden.
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This rare variety from Italy has been in my garden for two years. Early-fruiting, productive and incredibly delicious.
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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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Seasonal planting calendars, rare plant introductions and permaculture tips. Once a week.
