Outback Permaculture Garden -1-

 

 

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Harvesting water-chestnuts

 
Klaas and Britta

Transforming the lawn area
The large lawn was the first area we changed. Even with constant watering and regular fertilizing the lawn grew poorly and did not really serve a purpose at all. Over time we covered more and more areas using sheet-mulching. Additionally to what can be seen on the photos we covered the area between the pond and the banana-circle and planted strawberries, chamomile and garlic around stepping stones that formed a path to the duck lawn.
We also covered a large area behind the mango tree up to the banana-circle. There already was a lemon tree, we also planted a guava tree and a starfruit tree, with strawberries, comfrey and some herbs underneath. All these plants grew well together and seemed to benefit each other.

Creating ponds
The first reason for building the pond was to have a tranquil place to sit at in the evenings. We grew water lilies in it which looked nice and which we also harvested and used for compost, when they had grown too dense. Waterchestnuts were planted in pots for easier harvesting, before they were placed in the pond. Occasionally we let the ducks in the pond for a swim. Native rainbow-fish took care of mosquito-larvae.
When the pond was dug we used the excavated soil to form small mounds with little swales between them. As the soil consisted mainly of clay and shale at first we planted mainly pigeon peas and lab-lab beans, which were slashed regularly so Nitrogen would be released into the soil. After a short while the soil was thickly covered with dried leaves and thin branches and soon we could plant tamarillo, lavender, lilies, melons, rosellas, Pinto's peanut and - close to the pond - bamboo.

Ponds and ducks
A fence separated the duck area from the rest of the garden. Their time in the pond was closely monitored to maintain the balance in the pond.
It was very important to us that the children would stay close to nature even as they grew older. They both had a lot of input into our garden with many suggestions and wishes as well as active help. The times when we had young animals were of course the best.

 

 

 

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