Ok I WAy underestimated how much shredded paper, lawn clippings and compost Id need. I want the beds to be raised so I need way more. Next door neighbours had a phage (no idea how to spell it) full of grass clippings starting to compost ---I just grabbed ANy organic material I could...however Ive barely done ONE garden. Start slow Donna! I took a photo a few days ago- it already looks different with the layers. The garden beds come out further and are more raised now and where the wheelbarrow is- is getting dug so the paths are lower- to add the top soil to the beds- also fence is stained.
Anyway we have in Kiwifruit (male and female-the small cocktail one) and passionfruit along one fence wall, a choko my grandfather gave me, a grapevine for another wall. Close to the brick house we have tamarillos and then small trees around a mandarin, grapefruit, fijoas (x3) a peach, guava and a white currant and a couple of olives. In a few years this is going to be really productive-fruitwise. This season we'll get herbs and a few vegies and soil getting built up. Currently the top soil is really shallow and then clay.
As we put in more mulch, more annuals, herbs, vegetables, more legumes etc can go in. Lupins have sprouted- we'll see how they take- but they can be for chop and drop mulch around autumn and over winter. I also had the idea of getting some of the firewood that got wet and is growing fungus to put that into the mulch- to feed soil micro-organism population.
The plan is a deck or courtyard like outdoor eating area---we are still playing with ideas...perhaps a pond in the lower lying area. Im thinking of getting those big concrete slabs to be a solar mass- and be suitable for a table and chairs to be on. Probably a pergola structure with a grapevine which is deciduous so no leaves to let in winter sun shine.
The side of the house is for a slim line water storage unit - for water from roof and solar panels on the roof as we can afford it and composting operations also around the side. Ive collected pamplets of local ones when I was at the Eco show in Taupo in October-bit by bit
Ive told my son he can get a few chickens WHEN he's ready to understand they are food after they stop producing food and I dont think he's feeling that. I would like some onsite diggy around/ and fertilising creatures. Ive been checking out chicken tractors etc on trademe website but we're not yet ready to bid.
Ive gotta get on with having a good look at National party's ideas about changes to the Resource management act for a class I have to teach this weekend.
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On a big scale, we could set up a quite a number of permaculture gardens around Palmerston North by getting loads of cardboard and newspaper from recycling sources, grass clippings from lawn mowing contractors, compost created from leaves from the tree s leaf-fall in Autumn combined with horse manure from the stable. Plants can be grown off site until the gardens are ready, and then they could be planted into gardens. For raised beds we can use recycled creates to create the wooden structure. Anyone with me on this?
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