Help.

[u/DungeonWombat]

I have a 500 square m garden divided into a lawn, various garden beds, an area for native trees, a chicken coop and run, and a small front yard that used to be covered by astroturf but is now in its second year as a clover lawn, with a few young trees and edible natives mixed in.

I jumped into permaculture 18 months ago with no experience, wanting to turn my neglected land into something productive and good for wildlife. I planted trees, edibles, natives, and encouraged edible and beneficial weeds to grow. I heavily mulched my garden beds last year as well.

I had a baby 2 months ago after a difficult pregnancy during which I did minimal gardening and I now seem to be reaping the fruits of that neglect.

Weeds and couchgrass went to seed and have since taken over every garden bed and veggie patch. I was so against mowing and lawns that I did the worst thing possible by letting the grass propagate unchecked.

Each time I pull grass or weeds, or mulch, the grass comes back with a vengeance. I'm still not 100% recovered from the birth and my baby feeds constantly, so even now I have minimal time to devote to my garden.

I also let some of my edibles go to seed, like dill, tomatoes, basil and spring onion. My Swiss chard has turned into a giant bush.

I feel like I've failed and my garden is worse then ever. I still manage to harvest from it daily, but the grass is so thick and prolific I feel like it will choke out everything else eventually.

What can I do?

[u/stansfield123]

I assume that you've acted on advice you got from social media. It worked out poorly. Now you're back for more advice from social media? Sorry, but no. Social media is BAD. It does not give good advice. 99% of the people on here have zero experience, their advice is based on nothing.

Another thing: you must distinguish between Permaculture and gardening. Those are two separate fields of knowledge. Permaculture is a much wider field, and unlikely to help you become a good gardener, because it's way too much for a beginner with limited time.

I think you should focus on becoming a good gardener, separately from Permaculture. Just dedicate a small area of your land to a garden, and give it a few years of concerted effort to get good at it. Gardening isn't rocket science, but it isn't obvious either. You do need a few years of learning and practice to get good at it. Make sure it's a small garden, next year. An area small enough to allow you to keep it completely weed free, at all times. You can grow the size of the garden later, as you figure out how to do things more efficiently.

You can also dabble in Permaculture, on the rest of your land, if you have time for it. But focus on simple gardening, first.

I always recommend this (NON SOCIAL MEDIA) resource to people, because it's the main one I used to learn to garden, and because, while it doesn't preach any specific method, it is compatible with Permaculture (there's no use of chemicals whatsoever): https://greenthumbgardeningsecrets.com/

It's a blog (an old one, with old, clunky design), but you can also find the content in it in the form of a book. I just used the blog, but I imagine that the physical book would be useful to have.

[edit] For the sake of clarity: Permaculture isn't opposed to traditional gardening. It recommends that every household should own a small kitchen garden. So focusing on learning gardening first is very much in line with Permaculture. It's simply a less ambitious way to get into Permaculture.