[Scpg] Mediterranean Climate Permaculture Perth Australian / Suburban Lot transformation Australian TV

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

http://permaculture.tv/backyard-permaculture-australian-tv/

ABC's Gardening Australia weekly show is 
enormously popular and has been focussing on 
permaculture and organic gardening for many 
years. One of the best advocates of permaculture 
in popular media today.

Presenter: Joshua Byrne & Peter Cundall, 19/02/2005
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1305187.htm

In 2004, Josh Byrne set up a permaculture garden 
in his suburban backyard in Perth. I

Permaculture Location
· Select a sunny location
· Away from trees so there isn't competition from the tree roots and shade

Preparation of a Permaculture Garden
· Slash the weeds and drop them to the ground. 
Then sheet mulch it to prevent them re-growing.
· No cultivation is necessary. Feed from the top; 
straw, manure, minerals, let it feed itself. 
Essentially let the worms and the soil life do 
the cultivation. It's one of the best things 
about feeding from the top, that soil life and 
gravity will work it for us. It's so easy.

Philosophy of Permaculture
Permaculture is a practical approach to the 
problems facing modern society based on a 
philosophy of think globally, act locally, and is 
equally as relevant to an inner city courtyard as 
it is to a broad acre farm. It's all about 
finding creative solutions to living a more 
sustainable life by growing local organic food, 
reducing energy consumption, recycling our wastes 
and creating habitat for other life around us.

Josh's Permaculture Garden
The property is typical of many in Perth, just 
under a quarter acre in a quiet suburban street. 
The climate is classic Mediterranean. Long, hot, 
dry summers and short, wet winters. There's a 
slight west north west slope, with good northern 
solar access.

Designing the Site
Before you begin you should observe and note the 
summer and winter sun angles, prevailing winds, 
the degree of slope on the block as well as any 
views that you want to keep or screen out. When 
overlaid on a plan showing existing structures, 
vegetation and access ways, we create the 
framework for our design. You want to shade out 
hot summer sun whilst allowing in warming winter 
light. Windbreaks are also planted to shield 
strong winds.

The Vegetable Garden
The vegie garden is going in the front yard 
because it gets good sun all year round. It will 
consist of a main cropping area of 24 square 
metres divided into four separate five square 
metre vegetable beds for the purpose of crop 
rotation, with half a metre access paths between 
each bed.

Vegies need rich soil. To build up these garden 
beds add bentonite, blood and bone and organic 
mineral fertiliser. Bentonite is a swelling clay 
that helps hold water and nutrients. Apply this 
at 100 grams per square metre.

Dig all this in to about 20 to 35 centimetres. 
Next, apply a liquid soil wetting agent. This 
will help overcome the non wetting nature of 
sandy soils. You need to wash it in so it really 
sort of gets through the top of the soil profile. 
It may take several applications and a bit of 
time to really have its full impact.

The next step is to install the polypipes to run 
the dripline irrigation off. This is done after 
the digging of the soil so the pipes don't get 
damaged. Continue to build the soil by adding 
generous layers of sheep manure, lucern, more 
blood and bone and then more sheep manure.

The Hen House
Chickens are the perfect animal for a backyard 
permaculture garden. They convert food scraps to 
eggs, clean up weeds and fallen fruit, and of 
course are a great source of manure.

The trick is to set them up so they work for you 
not against you. They can be very destructive if 
let loose amongst your favourite plants!

There are many ways to house chickens. Josh 
decided to build a permanent chook house with 
alternating runs. The eastern run will be planted 
with fruit trees, in particular fleshy fruits 
prone to fruit fly, which the chickens will help 
control by cleaning up the fallen fruit and 
maggots. The southern run, which is shaded for 
most of the year, will double up as the 
composting and firewood storage area. Two metre 
high fences with sunken barriers all the way 
around will keep the chickens in and the dogs out.

The concrete floor in the main hen house is 
covered in 30 centimetres of deep litter for the 
birds to scratch around in and to soak up 
droppings. Woodchip mulch is a cheap option. When 
this batch needs replacing, it'll go straight on 
the compost heap. Using a deep litter in this way 
also helps reduce the build up of parasites.

The chooks will also need a perch to roost on at 
night and cosy nesting boxes for laying eggs. 
These chickens are highline browns. They're 
quiet, passive, non flighty birds that are well 
suited for the suburban backyard. They are 
fantastic layers.

Please note: Check with your local council for regulations on keeping chickens.

Verge Planting
Preparation for this area included removing 
unwanted plants and weeds, as well as some basic 
earth shaping to create an interesting profile.

Josh decided to transplant some mature Zamia 
Palms Cycas media and Grass trees. These were 
rescued from land clearing that would have 
otherwise seen them destroyed. Grevilleas 
including Grevillea preissii, which has a lovely 
soft, grey foliage are also planted along with 
Conostylis, which has a pretty little yellow 
flower, and of course the classic Kangaroo Paw. 
This particular one is called Red and Green 
Kangaroo Paw Anigozanthos manglesii.

Wetlands
In permaculture we draw inspiration from local, 
natural systems as a guide when designing. Josh's 
constructed wetland is modelled on the natural 
wetlands that occur in Perth that rise and fall 
with the watertable. There are three sections to 
this wetland: an open water section, a lined 
sedge bed and a dry edge section, with a total 
area of around 30 square metres.

Firstly Josh dug the hole and stablised it with 
old pavers, slabs and carpet that he salvaged 
during the clean up of the site. There'll be 
about 20 centimetres of sand on the base, which 
will give a water depth of around 80 centimetres.

In summer, as the level drops, the sides will be 
exposed but there'll always be some ponding water 
at the bottom. In winter, when it fills up, it 
will overflow and feed the outer sedges before 
soaking away.

Cover the liner with jute matting, which helps 
the sand cling to the liner on steep sides until 
the plants get established and the roots can hold 
it in place. Native wetland plants are available 
from specialist nurseries, and you can also ask 
for advice about species local to your area. Josh 
planted Lake Club Rush Schoenoplectus validus in 
the pond section. This tolerates some inundation, 
as does Jointed Twig Rush Baumea articulata.

When the pond section fills up and settles in, 
Josh will introduce local pygmy perch, gilgies, 
freshwater mussels and frogs. Once established, 
it will be low maintenance and self sustaining, 
only requiring an occasional topping up of water 
during dry weather.

Drip Irrigation
Josh has been using drip irrigation for years and 
is convinced it's the way to go. He set up an 
automated system that will irrigate selected 
parts of the garden as efficiently as possible. 
He's done his calculations and knows that one 
supply line will be adequate for each group of 
plants because they're relatively small areas.

Running the supply lines along fences and the 
edges of pathways reduces the chance of them 
being damaged. If you need to cut across an open 
area that you're likely to be digging in, bury 
the pipe a little deeper and consider putting it 
in a protective sleeve.

For grouped plantings, run parallel lengths of 
dripline along the garden beds and connect one 
end into the polypipe supply line using a 
punching tool and dripline connectors. When 
installing dripline to individual shrubs and 
trees, create a spiral around the base 
corresponding to the canopy. Make sure you keep 
the lines even to ensure uniform watering.

Grey Water
With all the water restrictions, grey water re 
use is in fact vital all around the country.

Some people worry about what kind of grey water 
is the best? Which is the safest? Well, grey 
water from the laundry and from the bathroom is 
usually safe to use as it's a lot more diluted 
and we tend to use safer products that are close 
to our skin. The problem with kitchen waste water 
from the dishwasher or the kitchen sink is that 
it contains a range of greases and fats. These 
can clog the soil leading to problems. Often the 
detergents are stronger, quite alkaline and 
caustic, and can really damage soil life. It is 
important to follow some simple rules.

The trick is to install a system so you can 
divert the grey water out to the garden and 
distribute it safely to your plants. You need a 
filtration system if you're going to put it 
through drip irrigation. Rules are in place 
because there is a low risk of disease transfer 
with grey water re use. The best practice is to 
put it beneath the surface and cover it with 
mulch.

Grey water shouldn't be used to irrigate 
vegetables because there is a risk of bacteria 
and diseases that could make you sick. The risk 
is low, but it is there. However grey water can 
be used on ornamental plants and fruit trees.

Recycling Organics
Chooks are at the top of the food chain. Along 
with their staple diet of mixed grains and free 
range foraging, Josh gives them the deluxe food 
scraps; pretty much anything you'd be happy to 
eat. They're not big fans of onion or hot and 
spicy food.

Rather than just letting this stuff rot on the 
ground put it into cone type composting bins 
where it slowly breaks down ready for later use. 
Sometimes these bins can get a little wet and 
sour. If this is the case, simply add a couple of 
handfuls of lime, and some manure and some dry 
material, and fork it over to aerate.

Worms are the next willing workers in the system. 
You can feed them chopped up vegie garden waste, 
shredded envelopes and toilet rolls as well as 
kitchen scraps. The castings that these guys 
generate really are valuable, so use them wisely. 
For example you can use them to make a liquid 
feed to fertilise your vegies. One handful to 
nine litres of water can be applied fortnightly 
to help them along.

The bulk biomass that's generated from the 
garden, such as vegie crop material, leaves, 
weeds and shredded tree prunings, all goes into 
composting bays. Josh uses this to build up his 
vegie beds and around his fruit trees, to build 
up soil structure and provide nutrients.

Home Nursery
By setting up a well organised home nursery area 
you will be able to produce loads of plants 
cheaply and easily.

The key features of the set up are an undercover 
work station with a potting bench, a trough for 
washing pots and storage areas for pots, trays 
and tools. An old whiteboard comes in handy to 
jot down notes, and a pin up board is perfect for 
pinning up envelopes full of seeds. A shade frame 
is good for protecting new plants outside, and a 
general purpose bench can be used to harden off 
plants after being under shade.

There are a number of ways to propagate plants, 
the simplest being from seed, taking cuttings or 
by division. Hand watering is the most efficient 
way to water but be sure to use a gentle misting 
nozzle so you don't blast the seeds out of their 
pots.

One of the best things about growing your own 
plants from seed is that you can use non hybrid 
stock that remains true to type. In fact, the 
only way to keep these wonderful heirloom 
varieties alive is by growing them in our own 
backyards, carefully saving the seed and then 
sharing them with friends and neighbours.

This is suburban permaculture at work, and it's a 
living and evolving example of the kind of things 
that we can all do as gardeners to live a more 
sustainable life, regardless of where we live.

Information contained in this fact sheet is a 
summary of material included in the program. If 
further information is required, please contact 
your local nursery or garden centre.
Copyright Restrictions: This fact sheet is for 
private and domestic information purposes only. 
It may not be copied, reproduced, sold or used 
for any other purpose without the express 
permission of the ABC.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.permaculture-guilds.org/pipermail/southern-california-permaculture/attachments/20100706/f5c0f100/attachment.html>