EDIT 29/10/2023 Please note this garden is now open on SATURDAY ONLY
We began our garden in 2017, and most of the back lawn has now disappeared to make way for edibles and a rain garden, and most vertical spaces used to maximise growing space in the sun.
The vegetable patch includes 5 wicking beds and 3 large in-ground beds. Our chickens have access to one of the 3 beds each season as we try both crop rotation and chicken rotation. The chickens clean up pests, fertilise the soil, and help compost the garden prunings we throw in their run.
We’ve so far squeezed more than 30 fruit trees in, using dwarf varieties in pots or espaliering on walls to save space, plus some native rainforest bushfood trees. There is a strawberry wall garden and blueberry collection.
We compost using a tumbler, various bins and a worm farm, with extra scraps from other households through the ‘Sharewaste’ app.
Native stingless beehive, insect hotel and lots of habitat for ground fauna.
Water management includes a 10 000 L rainwater tank and drip irrigation system, a large rain-garden ‘creek bed’ planted with native species to absorb storm water on site, and a habitat pond for frogs and native fish in the front garden.
A herb wall was recently added and plans are underway to build a greenhouse.