Yes you can!

Do the permaculture lists drive you crazy with plants you can;t find?

does the idea of sheet composting leave you cold?

Well that's OK-do what you can!

I planted clover around the apples trees but nothing came up at all ( the drought was really bad last summer). I think I see patches here and there-a year later-but as far as nitrogen fixing, this is a bust. So were the siberian pea trees( died) and...everyone tells me to avoid Russian olive like the plague.

So Geena and I took one of packets of pea seeds and spread them under each tree ( 2 apples 1 jujube 1 medlar, further down-berry bushes). just left them didn;t even poke them into the mulch,.  once they are growing madly-only a few tendrils now-we'll cut them and let them lay in place.Nitrogen. and practically free (I bought a variety going out of production, about a dollar for each large packet)

for guard plants ( I allow yarrow, other wild weeds that dig deep to grow in the area, put comfrey under each tree, which is growing well, a mulch and nutrient accumulator) I planted a patch of Jerusalem artichokes. they should spread and deer don't like them. And now, I have put in 3 horseradish plants, also unwelcoming to wildlife- ( several inches of sand and then several inches of compost on top) in the spots where the little cherry bushes didn;t make it. It should be spaced perfectly to stay in sun even as the apples grow larger.And somehow the whole area looked more alive when I was done. Interesting ( the flower plantings from 3 years ago, hellebores and daffodils etc, are going like mad this year. only thing added-compost and minerals.) I believe that rule about gardens "popping" as the soil comes alive-might be true! Certainly the daffodils, daylilies, and butterfly bush a few feet from the newer plantings, are looking spiffy. I haven;t even mulched  that area in years. We did dig out the iris-which-returned with a vengeance. if they bloom well, they stay.

I use mints and wild violets for cover in flower gardens-just rip out what you don;t like and throw in the compost pile-a separate pile if you worry about regrowth.

And there is grass. Despite what you have been told, cut grass is just fine as a mulch and fertilizer. the trick is to rake up very thin dry layers on your mulched areas. let it dry-rake it up. it might take a few rakings. It;s worth it. You won;t believe how fast it gets "munched up" by the worms and other critters.

if gathering newspaper and cardboard and covering is too much work, try spreading alfalfa or clover seed (cheap at our co-op) add some compost or organic fertilizer if you can...and then keep cutting the resultant growth all summer and letting it pile up. You will get improvement. the second year, you could plant right through it, or shallowly plow/cultivate it up-cutting the roots. I hope to remember some clover seed to put in my paths this year. Cut for the chickens, the compost pile, or cut and place on the beds as mulch.My little patches of alfalfa are still growing and will be used the same way.

for very tough soil-why not plant turnip or radish seed-cut the tops off  in a few weeks and let the roots rot in the soil? it'll leave open areas-. it will help.

so, it isn;t money that will make a food garden, or a forest garden-it's using your noodle, and what is generally waste around your place....coffee and coffee filters in the compost, not just veggies...newspaper and cardboard as free ground cover, weeds for the bugs they attract and the nutrients they accumulate...free manure from your horse of chicken or cow inclined friends...and watch it go!