5 acres blank canvas New Zealand

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself Here' started by KateNZ, Jan 17, 2017.

  1. KateNZ

    KateNZ New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2017
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    1
    Gender:
    Female
    Climate:
    Temperate
    Carterton, Wairarapa, New Zealand
    Hello Permaculture friends

    We have 5 acres of flat land and we want to plant a food forest on 1.5 acres to start with.

    The land is currently covered in grass and I'm keen to find the best way to get rid of the grass ready for planting our fruit trees and legumes. We have 30 trees in pots waiting to be planted.

    I'm thinking that geese might be our best bet to start with. Any thoughts?
     
  2. jannie

    jannie New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2017
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Gender:
    Male
    Climate:
    temperate
  3. jannie

    jannie New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2017
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Gender:
    Male
    Climate:
    temperate
    We are over the hill in Mangaroa.

    We have 7 acres of 5 degree sloped paddock previously been used for stocking cows and baleage. This summer is the first season in over a decade it's been left to nature.
    Getting the grass under "control" I would say is futile. I ended up taking the ride-on and cut paths into the paddock on contour, based on some plans I put together for "final" ahaha I'm sure to regret saying that grazing cells. Each cell covers about 1500 - 2500sqm. This gave me an idea on those "edge" I think the edge effect is absolute where you want to start, (Excluding zone 0 and 1 which I think is relatively "easy").

    Without having a source for compost\ hay there is no zone 1 in my opinion unless you are fortunate to have some soil \ compost lying around (or you can go external and buy some but that cost money). I would rather pay 300$ on trees instead of getting a cube of compost.

    I expect wind would also be a problem where you are? Because of the 160km\h gales it's a first that I need to get under control, a bit of a pain because that will take time to do it naturally I expect even with fast growing species of tree, lurcerne \ legume etc. 3-5 years. Tree lurcene does very well and fast enough to protect everything from it's top and lower, so perennials inter-planted would be "protected" and or ground covers.

    As you; I've been reading on how to get the grass sorted, tractor (chicken \ pig) is an option but at the moment I can't outlay $$ for fencing.
    Thus I've resulting to trenching , i.e. swales it keeps me busy while I'm pondering how to solve both Northerly and southerly 160km\h winds without reducing precious sunshine. I would not suggest getting bigger trees than 6feet \ 2m. These tend to get snapped right off even at a girth of 5cm \ 2inches?.
    I think that's where the legume shrubs really helps. The hares have "coppiced" some lucernes and they come out nice and busy so they will be great windbreaks. If you have the money for netting \ fencing I will totally recommend this, the grass, rye, oat and other forms an impenetrable mat where we are of around 10cm \ 5 inch ?
    Even with good rains when everything "seems" wet only the grass and roots get wet, the water doesn't make it down further.

    In terms of NZ I read that the feijoas makes great windbreaks interplanted at 1.5m spacing. In a paddock of 100m shelter belt that's 66 trees and at market price of anything between 16 and 24$ per tree it's extremely costly. I'm aiming to work with my wallet :) from the ground up. Tree lurcene (3$ each) or a walk and collecting seeds, it's considered a pest and pretty cheap, so is propagating rosemary and other wind tolerant herbs.

    In terms of that grass. I dug some swales and just 'flopped' over the grass, it quickly builds a relatively good swale & bank, I've also stuck in some poplar \ willow cuttings to try out creating a "living" fence. Willow grows well and we have plenty of it so it makes for a cheap solution but it will take another season to see how that is going.I expect even creating a medium bank on the swale about 50cm high would end up deflecting the wind.

    The good about the grass is I've started mowing some to get biomass as my comfrey is newly planted ala TradeMe. 10$ for 6. (I have a mate in Carteron which have plenty for free and I could put you in touch.) The effect of the cut grass is quite nice, I get biomass for compost BUT I've recently moved all my cuttings from winter and other seedlings & saplings into the compost "den \ pit" , the decomposing grass keeps the plants warm during the colder evenings and they have really benefited from it. (I'll have to use this until I get a greenhouse that won't blow away :)
     

Share This Page

-->