Going it from Seed

I've been seed saving for a couple of years for those plants that you can sow direct but have never really had the space for a nursery.  So now that we're on five acres, its time to get serious.  We are going to get a proper shade house before Christmas but in the meantime, I thought I'd get started at the side of the house.  We've been given a number of seeds and cuttings from the fabulous people in our local growers network, and along with some seeds from Green Harvest, I got cracking.

Our Spring Bounty

With the move, we've missed a few seasons of eating fresh veggies from the garden so it was a real thrill to head down with a basket and a knife and bring back a variety of things we could use in the stir fry.  To this loot, we also added kale and rainbow chard and had a fantastic meal.

Its nice to be back....

Nature's tenacity

A lot of what we planted was bought in or moved up from Sydney during Autumn and when plants are deciduous, you never know if you've screwed up or whether they are just tucked up and will be back in Spring.  We bought two pecan nut trees and somehow one of them got separated from the rest of the trees that were going into the food forest and so it missed out on being watered for a couple of weeks.  The one that was watered looked good, even into winter, but the one that missed out looked dead as a door nail.  But we planted it anyway and guess what...

Water water everywhere

Living where we are means living on rain water tanks, which I really enjoy.  One thing I love about the life we've been choosing to lead is that we are more connected to where things come from, straight from the source.  Rather than thinking that things come from the supermarket or the fridge.  So I like drinking and washing in rainwater and appreciating when we have it and when we won't.  It helps to treat it as the precious resource that it is and not take it for granted. 

But as we are also growing fruit, nuts and veggies, we needed more tanks that would collect water to be used on the property.  Fortunately, the double garage was yet to have a tank attached to it (and its uphill from the veggie patch), so that was an easy fix.  I can say that because I watched Shaun and the guys roll it into place rather than actually doing the hard work myself.  I did offer, but they thought I might be a liability with a heavy tank on a steep slope.  Strange.

We also put another tank above the food forest on the opposite slope.  That is simply a holding tank so that we can pump water up to the top of the slope from the dam and gravity feed it back down into the food forest.  So hopefully, after all this, we are now as set as you can be in Australia for water.

Welcome visitors

Shaun's folks visited recently and lent a hand to get some stuff done.  There's always lots of grass and weeds to be cleared and they weren't afraid to get stuck in.  While they were at it, they also cleared a new spot for the bench.  Perfection.

And there it is

The first tomatoes of the season... hello Spring!

Then add a little rain and....hello zucchinis and rocket!

The dogs seem impressed at least

Aquaponics begins...

Shaun has been researching every word ever written on aquaponics and thinking through all the ins and outs of the site we plan to use for our test site.  He grew up raising fish, so this is just up his street. We love the idea of the mutual benefit of growing fish and plants together, with one providing what the other needs and visa versa.  So he's found some cheap tanks and got cracking today with the leg work.

The Constant Gardener

With acreage in Australia often comes lantana.  And whilst we aren't plagued by it, there are several sections of the property that are giving it a red hot go.  Despite our two cocker spaniels, Cleo and Toby, having developed a taste for lantana shoots, its not going to go away without some serious elbow grease.  So my wonderful husband has been doing this back-breaking work for many days now, and though it doesn't feel like it to him, he's making real headway.  I don't think the previous owners had been at this gully for many years, as Shaun was finding some roots to be as thick as his arm. The upside though, as we've been discussing in our local growers group, is that the soil underneath lantana is very fertile, so once its all out, we'll have to try some productive ground cover in this spot, something that doesn't mind a bit of shade.

The Girls break new ground

Shaun has been working hard in my absence and has finished the fencing for the new veggie garden, so we'll now have four to rotate the chickens through.  We'll have three planted out at any one time and when one season's crop finishes in the fourth, we'll let the girls in to go over it, fertilising and turning in what's left of the organic matter to improve the soil before we plant again.

The garden that Shaun has just fenced in has been left unmown so lots of delicious treats have been growing for the girls to munch on. Since Shaun opened the gate, the girls have been going to bed later as they can't seem to tear themselves away from all the good stuff.

We have put weed mat under the wire fencing, which is dug into the ground.  This stops the wire from rotting but also acts as a temporary visual barrier to keep our two cocker spaniels from charging and scaring the girls.  We've started growing kiwi fruit, peas, lemon grass, passion fruit and cardamin up and against the fence so once a green barrier is created, we can bring the "not so attractive" weed matting down.

Here or there

In gardening, a few meters can matter.  Something might grow well in one spot and not another, so its always a matter of taking an informed guess and then seeing what happens.  Then if it fails, move and try again, looking for just the right microclimate.

We chose this spot for our Asian greens that get some sun, but has dappled shade from the mandarin tree as well.  Even in the winter, we thought this would be the best spot to try and sometimes, you get it right first time ......