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Owned by Paulo
A community to learn how to grow food, create beautiful native gardens, and find balance through every season. Includes local meetups in Fort Collins.
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1.6k members • $15/month
18 contributions to Mandala Garden Club
7d •
New video posted with Q&A
In this video I talk about container gardens, in-ground gardens, hugelkulture and some book recommendations. Responding to a few questions posted here. Hope you enjoy it! The books I recommended in this video: - Permaculture, Sepp Holzer - Restoration Agriculture, Mark Shepard - The Permaculture Garden, Huw Richards - Permaculture, A Designer's Manual, Bill Mollison
2 likes • 6d
@Sarah Melocco yes the cardboard is more for weed barrier specially in ground. Not necessary for raised beds or containers. Fo your containers I’d just add a 1 or 2inch layer of straw on the bottom to help with drainage and just follow a soil mix of 1/3 top soil, 1/3 compost and 1/3 coarse sand. Top it off with a handful of worm castings and that should be all the fertilizer you need.
0 likes • 2d
@Vennessa M you can find them online, from local nurseries and my favorite local source is Kathy from Rocky Mountain Soil Stewardship. She has a worm farm off of Vine and Taft and you can also buy worms from her. (970) 391-1598. We will be visiting the farm with the garden club when the worms wake up later in the season. Although they might be awake now with this weather 😁 Garden straw is preferred since it’s generally weed free. Also sold in garden stores or online.
Dec '25 •
START HERE: Welcome to the Mandala Garden Club!
Your quick guide to getting the most out of this community Hey friends, I’m Paulo, and I’m so glad you’re here. This club was created to bring together gardeners, growers, nature lovers, and anyone who wants to reconnect with the seasons and build a meaningful, beautiful, resilient life. Whether you grow veggies, natives, ornamentals, fruit trees, or you’re just getting started… this is your home. This post will help you get oriented in under 2 minutes. 1. Introduce Yourself Jump into the Introductions thread and tell us: - Where you’re growing - What kind of garden you have (or want to have) - What you’re excited to learn this season We’re all neighbors here, even if we’re spread out across the world. 2. Grab Your Free Resources Inside the club you’ll find: The Kitchen Garden Course, a simple ACTION plan to get your garden started 3. Join the Conversation Post photos, questions, plant IDs, project ideas, or things you're working on. This club works because we grow together, not alone. No question is too basic. No garden is too small. No mistake is too embarrassing, we’ve all made them! PLEASE BE KIND AND NO SELF PROMOTION. 4. Local Members: Join the Meetups If you're in Fort Collins or the Front Range, keep an eye out for: - Garden tours - Seed swaps - Community work days - Workshops and seasonal gatherings These are a huge part of what makes this club special. 5. Stay Connected Check your notifications so you don’t miss: - Weekly posts - Seasonal garden guidance - Local events - New videos and resources If you miss anything, everything stays organized inside Skool. 6. Our Guiding Principles We follow the three permaculture ethics in everything we do: 1. Care for the Earth 2. Care for the People 3. Return the Surplus These aren’t rules, they’re the spirit of how we show up here. 🌼 You're Here. You're Part of This. Let's Grow. Thank you for being part of the Mandala Garden Club.This community is built on kindness, curiosity, and a shared love for the land.
0 likes • 8d
@Marie Legrand Welcome to the club! I can feel the excitement of the growing season upon us. Take advantage of the resources here, the community and our meetups. Ask as many questions as you can so we all learn and co-create. Looking forward to helping you with your new garden!
0 likes • 4d
@Lisa Wentz-Kinnison welcomed! Your garden sounds like an abundant adventure! Small spaces can be the most productive when planted intentionally. I’m really looking forward to hearing more about your setup and experience gardening in our climate. Post questions here in the community so we can all learn together!
Feb 2 •
Planning for spring
At our meetup, some folks asked me about soil amendments and dealing with compaction to be able to start a new flower garden. I'll be diving into this and more questions live here in a few days. What’s one garden decision you’re feeling unsure about right now? Big or small. There’s no rush to resolve it, sometimes naming the question is the work. Feel free to share if you’d like.
0 likes • 5d
@Marie Legrand did you get a chance to see my video? I have some input on this question. It’s a great questions. Thank you for sharing!
2 likes • 4d
@Amanda Morris yes so the drainage is what’s gonna be the biggest consideration. On a 2ft depth you should be ok filling it as lasagna as well. So start with bigger logs, then twigs, then veggie scraps, then dry leaves, water everything thoroughly and then add your soil mix. The soil layer should be ideally 12inch deep. Really no need for cardboard if you have a concrete bottom. Again, pay good attention to drainage and moisture level on the soil because galvanized beds can get extra hot during the day.
Jan 15 •
Q&A
Hey everyone, I’m opening this space so we can post questions and we will go through them on the next live Q&A. Some of you have posted some questions already and I also received emails, so thank you! this will hopefully keep us more organized. Keep the questions coming!
2 likes • Jan 30
@Karen Kloss this is great! Yes it’s amazing how much we can feed back to the soil when we compost at home. Worm composting is one of the best ways to have rich nutrients for your garden. I will talk about this more in detail in our Q&A and at the meetup tomorrow. Also, have you met Kathy from Rocky Mountain Soil? She has a beautiful worm composting farm on W Vine St. we will probably visit her farm with the club when the worms wake up! Planting fruit trees is great, I always recommend planning for a succession with a “guild” of plants that support the fruit tree establishment in the long term. This is another great subject to make a video on, so expect that soon here in the community.
2 likes • 4d
@Natasha Shabalin composting in our climate can be challenging. Most important is to pay attention to moisture in the mix, the bacteria that does the actual composting process is aquatic bacteria, so it needs water to live, if the mix dries out, the bacteria dies and the composting process happens very slow, think years. The quick fixes: make sure you’re adding enough nitrogen (green stuff:veggie scraps chop at 2-3inches) that’s the part that usually carries the water into the mix. The brown stuff (cardboard, paper, sawdust, dry leaves, etc) is what locks the nitrogen into the mix. So both green and brown balance out the mix. But, again in our climate the water from the greens is usually not enough so what you can do is water the mix regularly and turn it. How much water is enough? Do the squeeze test: grab a handful of mix and squeeze it, a drop of water should run slowly down your hand, if it drips too much, you have too much water, if it doesn’t drip, too little water. That level of moisture should always be constant. Make sure that the container has enough air flow as well. One of the biggest issues with the rotating compost bins is the material, it’s plastic and it’s black, if it’s in a sunny spot it can get too hot and dry out the mix, so try to move it to the shade and let the bacteria’s process create the temperature for the mix to cook.
8d •
New content available
Hey Garden Club! I've added the remaining lessons for The Kitchen Garden course from 10-19. Go check it out and post questions. I'd love to see where you are at with your garden and continue to learn together!
0 likes • 6d
@Sarah Melocco yes, so just multiply HeightxWidthxDepth = Volume in cubic feet. Then at the store they sell bags which are usually 1.5 cubic feet or sometimes 2 cubic feet. So just buy as many bags depending on the Volume you calculated. That would be for containers. For raised beds, since it’s usually more volume you can convert it into cubic yards so you can buy it in bulk. Good place to order bulk from: Crystal Landscape
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@paulo-munera-9405
Permaculture designer and garden coach helping families and beginners build simple, low-maintenance gardens with confidence and joy.
Active 1d ago
Joined Dec 1, 2025