We have an area set aside where we  are starting to grow our own food …. vegetables and fruits. See this YouTube website:

Urban Agroecology: 6,000 lbs of food on 1/10th acre – Urban Homestead – Urban Permaculture. We do not have a website that gets 2,000 million hits  a month but it is significant for us amidst everything else we do. Below is some technical details on permaculture.

Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered around simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. The term permaculture (as a systematic method) was first coined by Australians David Holmgren, then a graduate student, and his professor, Bill Mollison, in 1978. The word permaculture originally referred to “permanent agriculture”, but was expanded to stand also for “permanent culture”, as it was seen that social aspects were integral to a truly sustainable system as inspired by Masanobu Fukuokas natural farming philosophy.

A pineapple plant.

When you use a pineapple, the leafy top can be cut off and if  planted in

the ground, it will grow into  a  new pineapple  plant. Some  of our

pineapple plants are third generation.

This was an earlier system for growing herbs and small vegetables eg.

tomatoes in beds of compost 300 mm deep. The  planted beds were 2.00

metres long by 1.00 metre wide. Each bed was  lined with heavy duty black

plastic which was  slit here  and there  at about 50 mm above the bottom.

This meant the beds would never be waterlogged. The rich black  compost

holds many times it weight in water. The beds only need to be  watered

about once every three weeks  or so. This system of New Earth Garden

plots was a successful way of growing things as we were on tank water

and not town water. All shower  water, wash-up water and washing water drained

  down to large underground sullage tank. This could be  pumped out once a week

on the New Earth Garden plots  and the garden. As Harriet didn’t want

to bend down to ground level, we have replaced the beds with

raised garden beds which just been constructed, filled with soil then

compost. These are especially relevant seeing that we  now have abundant

bore water from September 2015.  See the photos below.

Greek basil as a 1.00 metre high … we use  the lovely tasting leaves in

salads which we constantly have in summer.

Tomato plants growing a  New Earth Garden plot.

Paw paws grow abundantly as young plants in the compost from the black

seeds. They then can be readily transplanted into the garden. They grow

quickly bearing much fruit. I always remember how it was when we went

on one our overseas trips to China in October in  2011. The  paw paws

were in fruit and  were  growing yellow on the tree. We had a bucket of

paw paw fruit to eat in week.  Some of them were going black  which we

had to throw out.

A Cauliflower  at full  growth in one of the  New Earth Garden plots.

03.11.15: Raised garden beds which just been constructed, filled with soil then

compost. They have just been planted and watered. There are lettuce,

tomatoes, rhubarb etc. and herbs of many kinds  …. a work in progress with

paving being added for paths and a big bed being built behind these front beds.

… A big bed has just built in November 2015. It has to be filled

with soil, then a layer of compost, the planted as per the front beds shown above.

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See the next post: Post 8: The Dry Australian Bush Garden Room

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