FlipFlopSchool

Hi Keith! Love your videos, your place is gorgeous. I'm a new homeowner on .2ish acres in the city in the midwest (6A), and trying to turn my lawn into a source of food, education, and community. This is all new to me but I've been rabidly reading, watching, and listening to permaculture content since the pandemic.

I put up a few pictures of the west and south sides of my lot as well as descriptions of what's already in the ground. My main question is this: Can you hit me with any ideas with things you'd consider doing with this space? I'm wide open to ideas and very willing to put in the work. I have access to unlimited mulch and mulched leaves.

I just got a pound of hardneck garlic bulbs today to plant a row and am thinking potentially where my cover crops are on the S side of the home, or in the annual garden (but planted more densely than it currently is). Also wanting to grow perennial veggies - should I start those in the vegetable garden, or should those be their own area, and why?

Pics of the land (with commentary): https://imgur.com/a/dXDYjj2

Thank you!

P.S. In your most recent vid on people leaving the cities to go rural, you left out the big benefit I see in the cities, which is that they provide a hub for culture (music, art, theater, museums) and are unique in bringing people of different nationalities, ideologies, etc. together! I know the internet allows for dissemination of information and some form of connection, but I'm not sure it's as fruitful a medium to really see one another as in-person. Not to say I wouldn't like more land and privacy to cultivate land haha, just have to rep city life as an insider!

Whoa, thanks so much for the feedback!! Man, I should've made the cardinal directions more clear. The cement wall is North, the sidewalk is West. The side that I want(ed) to have the orchard is South, and my backyard faces to the East. The area right by that gutter (to the North of the house) gets basically 0 sun in the fall/winter with the sun rising and setting on the opposite side of the house.

Pic 2 IS just to the right of pic 1, so it's the SW corner. Would you put fruit trees just a few feet from the redbud there (the freestanding tree in the middle of pic 2)?

Bummed as all getout about no fruit trees along the side of the house where the cover crop is (that's pic 3, the South side with full sun). You think even dwarf trees planted 7' away from the house would wreak havoc? Could I bury a cinder block wall a foot away from the foundation or anything wild like that? We already have a berry bush zone in that NW corner from pic 1, all those native berry bushes like part shade. Maybe that cover crop zone could have some tall things closer to the house (gogi, hazelnuts, etc) and then perennial veggies closer to the sidewalk? Idk.

I have a good feeling about working with the city on this with climate change and all, especially if the neighbors know my place as a bug/hummingbird/butterfly-friendly, people-feeding hub. Hoping the good vibes carry this one!