A Very Special Guest, Exciting Garden Updates & Community Connections | Huw’s Garden Journal #12
From welcoming a renowned permaculturalist to some major progress and a growing community focus, this week has been a whirlwind of inspiration, action, and weather!
Goodness me it has been a week!
We have had all weathers, and the weekend couldn’t have been more divided between the t-shirt weather on Saturday (anything over 8 degrees Celsius in the sun is my threshold) to a full waterproof outfit and two hours of drying off next to a radiator on Sunday.
But that is the nature of gardening, and whilst I do identify as a fair-weather gardener, sometimes there are days where you just have to soak it up quite literally.
Before I forget….
CHANGE OF DATE: This week’s livestream will now be Friday 8pm UK time rather than Thursday as I had to make a change! So to confirm my next Substack livestream is this Friday 8pm UK (3pm EST) - can’t wait to see you there!
Now for the journal!
A special guest
On Sunday morning I welcomed a very special visitor to the Garden - Josef Holzer. Some of you in the permaculture world may have heard of his father Sepp Holzer, whose book was the first ever permaculture book I bought back before I was a teenager.
Since 2009 Josef Holzer has been responsible for developing the Krameterhof farm (pictured below) which is a world-renowned permaculture project in the Austrian Alps. Holzer Permaculture Solutions Ltd is an engineering office he set up in 2020 for hydro-geology and forestry focusing on holistic land cultivation, and works on projects around the world.
Image - Josef’s home from above, credit to Krameterhof Farm
It was an absolute honour to welcome him and show him about, accompanied by Joris Niggemann who attended the same Richard Perkins Regenerative Agriculture course I went on at Henbant Permaculture Farm back in summer 2023. Joris is also working on a fascinating project to do with micronurseries and propagating trees from seed.
After many exciting discussions, something very cool is in the pipeline for later this year…all I can say for now is stay tuned!
Some highlights (in pictures)
The Huw’s Garden Diaries will be back soon now that Sam is well on the mend, and boy do I have a lot to show you! In the meantime I thought I would head around the site showing you some of the highlights at the moment, both up close and afar!
The Overview
The land has changed quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. It really feels that finally - after 3 years being at the site, that everything is quickly coming together, and the only major work left this side of summer is finishing the additional nursery terraces, the handmade swales and syntropic rows, and planting up over 3,000 trees and shrubs to finish the main shelterbelts and windbreaks in the top field.
We will be running a volunteer day to help cope with the number of plants that need to go in before mid March, and if you are interested in helping out and are close to Aberystwyth then do send me a DM here on Substack of email info(at)dyfiplants.co.uk as we will be planting across a few days.
The image above is from Monday when the tractor came to plough the windbreak and shelterbelt rows, and returns later this week to power harrow it ready for planting. A daunting task, but I cannot wait to finally take a step towards making this land more productive and biodiverse.
Our Ladies
Just a little pic of two from our lovely flock of hens enjoying their daily bouquet of garden greens. I mean it’s the best use for kale right? The chicken compost setup I created back in December is looking good, and I hope to do the first compost harvest in the next month or so. I cannot wait for when the biomass volumes from the site can enter the system - and neither can Hennel or her friends!
The Shed
Our shed is almost done! Using local larch, it was originally it was going to be one of those glorified OP (overpowered) compost bay systems, but with the chickens being our composters, I felt this would be better having fewer bays and act as some important storage space to free up some polytunnel corners! The roof will also be our largest rainwater collection surface!
Thanks to your support, projects like this shed and the windbreaks make a huge difference to our permaculture project. I am incredibly grateful.
Dyfi Plants
We have got to the stage where we’ve lost count of plants! Sales begin next week as I take the first batch of plants to Tymhorau in Machynlleth on Wednesday, and our inaugural market stall will hopefully be the 12th of April at Lampeter Market if all goes to plan!
Some of the plants we will have available to sell at the first market include in no particular order multiple types of mint, perennial kale, wild garlic, strawberries, sweet peas, pea packs, three cornered leeks, oxeye daisy, thornless bramble, silvanberries, rhubarb, calendula, elder, small-leaved lime, goji, crab apple, guelder rose and bee balm.
As time progresses many more perennials will quickly join this list, and we will also be opening the site for booked visits from May on set dates if you wish to visit the nursery, gardens, and buy some plants. Info will be available on the website when it launches. For now you can join our mailing list for updates.
Seedlings
In the last couple of days, inspired by the warmth of Saturday, many seedlings have started emerging from their modules. Below is an image of the first of the Alma Proust 2025 sown seeds sprouting.
To join the list of recent seedling popping up, I also have calendula, cardoons, chillies, peas, and field beans all showing in the last two days - IT’S SO EXCITING!
On the theme of popping up, the crocus have also made a wonderful appearance (below). We have a few different patches around the garden, and they are so easy to forget about, but when they’re open and you happen to glance down, you just have to stop for a moment to appreciate their beauty.
And this brings us perfectly onto this week’s ‘what to sow’ list, which is gradually growing as we edge ever closer to spring!
What to sow
DONT FORGET: If you ever are in the garden or at home wondering what to sow, then just search the URL ‘sow.today' for the most recent list.
The 3 crops I would prioritise sowing this week include:
Onions (from seed)
Summer Cabbage (get them underway early, and harvest with time to succession plant a second crop)
Korean Mint (What a fantastic perennial herb from flowers, beneficial insects, and the kitchen! Super hardy too!)
And I would say in the UK it is getting close to the last opportunity to sow peppers to ensure a long enough growing season! For the full list of what to sow this week, click the button below:
A thought
This growing season why not oversow a few crops (such as beans, courgettes, and kale) to share with your local community? A big part of permaculture is the idea of sharing the surplus - and yes that means permaculture also advocates producing an abundance, or overabundance which can then be shared with others!
I wasn’t expecting that when I announced that for every 10 plants Dyfi Plants sell, we will donate 1 to a community growing project, just how many projects would get in touch to say they would love to be on the receiving end - and our website isn’t even live yet! It shows that there is such a need for edible plants and whilst Dyfi Plants will try and do everything we can to cater for the needs, nothing beats supporting the project just down the road from you!
You could also share some perennials such as rhubarb divisions, currant cuttings, or a clump of mint. Plus new gardeners would always benefit from this too.
Thank you so much for your time today, and I look forward to catching you again soon!
Huw
PS - Don’t forget the livestream date change!
PPS - The Permaculture Garden comes out in almost 2 weeks! Please consider pre-ordering. If any of my videos have helped you with your growing, then this book conveniently features my absolute top advice for a thriving garden that I hope makes growing food as accessible to as many people as possible. It would also be a PERFECT gift to your local community garden to help guide on creating a resilient and productive space that fits your needs.
Crocus the first flowers to show here. Keeping an eye on flowering this season to improve things for early pollinators next year. Impressed by your work rate and speed of progress as always! Regards, John.
Hi Huw, I’m a member of a small social garden in Dolgellau and we would love to be added to your list of beneficiaries - I’m more than happy to collect. We’d also love a group visit at some point.