Where I should put new raised beds?

hey welcome back to the Food Forest uh I thought a fun video today would be to help you guys decide where I put my new raised beds so I'll show you a couple spots where we're considering and then let me know what you think where would you put these things okay so here are the raised beds in question these are um exactly two hockey sticks long that is how we measure things in Canada actually believe it or not uh so these are two hockey sticks long just for reference and we got five of them uh found these like all the wood and everything at the side of the road and uh we can essentially have a couple options put two together end to end as you can kind of see how one side is open so that would make these beds four hockey sticks long and then we've got one that's got a board on the on the one end there so here are where our current annual garden beds are uh this is uh in the backyard so we've got uh annual garden bed RS that we've mix matched in some perennials people who watch the channel often will will know a lot of the beings that are in here we've got grapes we've got uh cherry tree here um what do we have comrey we've got sorl that's gone to seed we've got B bomb lemon bomb mint we've got good King good good King Henry in here as well for perennial edible crops we've got Tomatoes planted in here jewel weed fennel uh lots of raspberries kale going to flow elderberries in the back so a very complex and fun bed I really like these we've got dedicated annual beds here where we've got some oro oro growing we've got Egyptian walking onions more tomatoes and we essentially mulch with the comfrey so we chop and drop comrey throw that down as mulch and we grow spinaches and tomatoes and that sort of thing in here we' got a compost system back there and one of my original thoughts I guess I should Orient you as well South is essentially right through that giant Pine so we've got a wall of larger trees behind here that shade out the early morning sun but then this area gets decent sun in the midday I dump my um horse manure um any compost that I find wood chips kind of back in here next next to the shed um so one of the areas I was thinking of was essentially along there and along here just to kind of maintain continuity I think that kind of aesthetically is the nicest leave open Pathways for mowing when I want to get things down a little bit sorry about that dog barking we had a neighbor walking by on the street there always interested in what we're doing back here cuz it's a little um interesting anyway so they super they were super excited to learn about about um you know Mi mix matching all different tree plants and annual plants so that was super super fun to take them around the property quick and a little bit interest in the community and what we're doing here so uh back to the video we've got a potential area next to the garden beds here um my only small concern with that is that I might lose access to being able to easily drop off horse manure um we've got a load of compost here here that the city gives away actually so we have to drive a little bit um but one of the municipalities near us gives away compost for free um from the the yard way so we made sure that we got a hold of that and I'm looking now at our chicken run setup and I'll go show you that uh if anyone is new to the channel I think you might find that a little interesting and the south side of the chicken run is an area where I had considered putting the beds and again that Pine Tree in the back is the South so this is kind of you know towards the north of that lots of sun aspect here on the south side of this grape trellis and chicken setup so let's go explore that and let me know if you think that this is where the new rais bed should be this here is the front side of that uh that area and this used to just be I don't know traditional landscaping and we kind of transferred it into more permaculture multiple layer Style where we've got trees we've got a couple different walnuts we've got Oaks growing in there raspberries is a bit of a a lowlevel herbaceous layer we have hydrangeas that we kept cuz my wife likes them we've got um Autumn Olive or um Yes actually that is Autumn Olive not Russian olive so we've got Autumn Olive planted there as well and I know it's a little bit problematic in some areas it's not really so bad here uh we've got grapes growing up this trus as well raspberries on the back onion and garlic always everywhere you can see that I enjoy sitting out here with the chickens we built this um kiwi and grape kind of uh pergola style trellis over top the idea was that any fruits that I don't get uh will fall down and become forged for the chickens and you see that a lot of raspberries had and they've seeded in and spread romal from the side so this is kind of a real fun little chicken playground that we've got set up here we've got this netting that is falling over a little bit I'll pick that up um we're getting our chickens in 2 days actually so that's exciting we've got um more walnuts on the south side and uh this this netting lets us expand this chicken run to give them a lot of areas to browse and have fun the potential garden bed sites might be a little bit to the south of this this is all raspberries and the garden beds might serve as a nice kind of Border something to hook that fence around and then the chickens can get all in and underneath the raspberries pecket them get access to free brows and food and because we leave it kind of wild with grasses um and that sort of thing there's lots of insect activity down in and underneath there and on top is this gorgeous kiwi so this is a cold hearty kiwi this is not like a normal tropical kiwi you can see it's doing absolutely fantastic and I was seeing that it's loaded with kiwi fruit so these are like small little grapes uh grape sized kiwi it's a fur like hairless smooth and um this thing is going to just be amazing food for the chickens and for us so this is option number two kind of back here ignore my ugly shed I always tell you I'm going to deal with that and I always got lots of other fun stuff to do but look at the rampancy of kiwi combined with raspberries and chicken manure just rampant absolutely gorgeous okay option three is all along this sale so this is a kind of a a bedon contour it's planted out to hazelnuts and Jerusalem artichokes there's a giant Hazel that there that's doing really fantastic on the south side where the water kind of gets held up up on rains and snow melts and sits right up against this low Edge and you can see how much that hazelnut has really really loved that and again this one here as well there's actually a second Swale down in here that you can barely see because it's just so rampant that's what happens with your selles over time is they're harder to see because they're just super rampant we've got an edge of dayy to kind of stop the grasses from creeping into the Jerusalem artichoke that worked really really fantastic actually and then these day Liles are fully edible as well so the idea would be on the on the uphill side to put the garden beds here as well South is there there's a little bit of sun um competition that kind of Shades these out so this is probably the third best Sunspot of the option so far so this is another choice we've got hazelnuts we've got a mulberry got cherry trees so I really like the idea of having garden beds somewhere where there's going to be some interest in perennials as well option four you're looking at it now this is probably the ugliest spot of my whole property and I'm broadcasting it to YouTube there is a um hot tub that we have not used since I became kind of permaculture aware and aware of the chemicals and everything that we're putting on our bodies that is just been sitting there for about 7 years now and on the back hill side here there's a bit of a contour issue originally I thought this is a great spot because again south is behind me so this is full sun it's very difficult to mow um my kids kind of will mow uh as infrequently as possible because we kind of do like the grass to grow a bit here and provide habitat for insects and all that sort of lovely stuff but I thought this is a nice area where if I put beds in here I turn this annoying space into a functional space I'd already started planting out some Rosa roses we've got some um uh Olive cherries or otherwise known also as Goomy berries planted in there as well and then we've got some pmen trees we've got a little Nursery of Oaks and Maples in the back and then I can run Tomatoes up this trellis or sugar snap peas we've got sore in there so we do have a semi functional area that I'd like to get more functional this could be another option for where we put our beds kind of option four here and then as part of option four I don't want to have to necessarily dig into this hill in order to level my beds out cuz that's a lot of work and I'm really against a lot of work when possible so I thought it's a little flatter kind of here and then across there and then I could turn that back hill I could sheet mulch it turned it into um like a wildflower Hill right up and against the back of this house hide that really really ugly lattice back there um that I had planted Rosa roses and they're they're going to eventually kind of block that out um but for now you can still you can still see the the trellis can see we've got some some more roses in here but it's going to take some time for those to get up we've got Sage planted in there as well and then that gy so that's the other option the thing that I like about that as well as a potential option is that it's right next to the pond it helps continue the Landscaping out here that I haven't really messed around with besides adding some you know hostes and nicer things back here um but it's kind of nice when you come out to this Pond if you maybe have access to some snacks in the form of annual beds and tomatoes and speaking of the pond like look at these seabuck thorns they have just thrived in this Space 3 years and they're pushing probably 15 to 20 ft tall and this is the time of year at the pond where if you take a good look you can sometimes see dragonflies uh scooting around eating everything but this place is just filled in beautifully I'll do a follow-up video um more detailed on the pond maybe in a little while but you can see I do have you know things like free planted in the side here we do have a electrical cable that comes down the side here that I can't dig much I planted out uh like service berries and these Persimmons to help me never dig there again kind of Mark the area where I wouldn't dig so this is option four option kind of like 4 a would be to just go a line straight across this hot tub and you know grow maybe peas up this back area and cover this hideous part of my property really really nasty I don't really like this place at all and then another last option would potentially just be at the side here now this is the back side of the house is concreted in I've got it's acted as a storage space for all my ugly stuff that I want to hide from the road in the front of the house uh in the past but you can always get a car back in here if needed and then raised beds there might be okay I going to put you know normal beds here but if anyone does Park I don't want any kind of run out run off into edible food so it would definitely have to be raised beds lining this with raised beds could be an option I don't really know if that's a decent one the sun the sun aspect is nice just seems kind of random to maybe have beds scattered throughout and then this is the kitchen here so I do kind of want to think functionally in terms of permaculture zones you know walking out of the kitchen grab having some food that's maybe right there that's kind of really handy so just in summary this is looking back into the backyard option one would be on the other side of the truck next to the other rais beds option two would be behind this Guild here and Chicken Run potentially here potentially just there something back there uh option three would be up and along these jerusem artichokes and again south is that way over that pine tree right through the crack of those trees so South is over there this is option three maybe the worst South aspect because midday Sun um you kind of get early Sun and then you get blocked out until the sun comes around the other side of these Cedars and then you'll get a little bit of a slice of sun coming in so that's option three option four is right below me here this little area here so let me know and I guess option five would be right along the side there so let me know what you think what would you do if it was you where would you put those rais beds again remember they're two hockey sticks long so thanks for watching leave a comment below I'll leave you with a little zoom out of what the pond is looking like as of the beginning or I guess the end of May by [Music] p