Hello there, my name is Mo, 21, wait, now 22 years old (time flying) and im trying to do some suburban permaculture. So far i've got a front yard planted out with a few things; few olive trees, lemon, fig, kumquat. The fruit trees are fairly new in the front yard. I planted out some raised beds about 6 months ago with a first attempt at ever gardening. Its now got a 4 huge cherry tomatoes that are growing nuts, and some corn. Beans and peas keep getting eaten by bloody slugs and snails. i set up a beer trap and it killed like 40 of them in one hit the other night. Have harvested some garlic, some lettuce, a few nice strawberries, and have just started picking some cherry tomatoes. At the side of the house i've got some lavender, cacti, sage, rosemary, thyme and a small aquaponics herb patch which is growing parsley, basil, mint, spring onion and viet. mint. aquponics grows fairly quickly. In the back ive got a chicken run which goes around 2 peach trees and 2 orange trees as well as a lemony smelling bush thing. I think i added blood and bone at the wrong time and the peaches' flowers crapped themselves and I lost all chance of fruit this year. I've got a nice old plum tree that ive picked some fruit off. Got a big aquaponic system in the backyard that i am pretty darn close to finishing. I dont have any chickens at the momment as my housemates puppy got to them when they got out recently. Ive currently got some quails that im raising. My aims are to grow more stuff. I want some really big yields. Ie i want so many tomatoes that I have too many to eat, and can them up into sauce. I just don't think i planted enough this year I wasn't sure what to expect. I also want to grow some more fodder plants for the chickens/quail. I want to buy an incubator so i can get a little backyard meat farm going. Oh yeah im a pretty mad composter ive got 4 composts. Ive got 2 of yer standard round ones, ive got a barrel that i kick around and ive got a big bin that i made from pallets that i found around a factory. Ive got a diy rainwater tank as well. It needs to be re attached because all the crazy rain has caused it to be full heaps.
Sounds like a good farmette you've got going there. And a big back yard. How big is it? YOu remind me i really must put in more cherry tomatos and SOON!
big backyard? not really. the whole property is 475 sq metres. i'll post some photos up soon. I thought you could grow tomatoes as a perenial in north qld? Ah yes, more future aims: Bee keeping, some kind of mushroom patch, maybe play around with other livestock like meat rabbits or muscovy ducks/goose (whatever they are). I also want to see if I can grow wheat. Get rid of all the lawns and plant them out with raised beds. Hate lawns!
Give it a bit more practice and you'll come to LOVE composting! I have some plastic bins - but I wouldn't bother buying them any more since Purple Pear shared his really neat way to make a big heap from tomato stakes. If you go to Members systems and look for Purple Pear he's got a link to some photos and a description of it. I made a similar one using star pickets and fence palings. It holds about 3 compost bin fulls for about the same price as a plastic bin.
heres some photos of what i've done the front garden... tomatoes beans corn doing well aquaponics herb garden... haha it aint pretty, but it does the job. made it from stuff i found on the side of the road... a compost bin planted some peaches...growing well, apart from the fact that they didn't fruit this year aw well always next year. mint growing like mad! i don't really know what to use it for... chicken run.. might be able to make out the oranges chicken coop... currently chicken less the aquaponics system that im building. (its all connected) and my little quail operation thats about it for now.
I hope you let your quails out sometimes cause that box looks small. I know you haven't a lot of room in your garden but please consider the quality of life of your animals. Sorry i had to say that as I don't like seeing animals treated as nothing more than meat. What is aquaponics? Thanks for showing us your pictures. I had some ideas for mint i was going to share but I have rack my brain to think of the thing. Well of course there is mint tea. You drink ordinary tea, black and sweet with a mint leaf in the top. You can make mint sauce for lamb. You can make a pure mint tea for hot days in the garden. Make it sweet and iced. Actually for hot days in the garden i like nothing more than to have a home grown sweet cold drink. Someone else suggested planting mint through the lawn to make it smell nice underfoot. Its a very tough plant. Some middle eastern recipes use mint. And maybe you can google mint recipes and see what you come up. I am sure there are lots of good things. I want to get some pepper mint and make icecream. I might even try it with this mint. Home made icecream is good and i think its worth having an icecream maker if you like icecream and you grow your own food.
Ill let the quails out once they are fully grown, they will escape otherwise and the dog will get to them. The dog wont see them as anything more than a chew toy. Many people keep them in small spaces anyway and have not reported many ill effects. Aquaponics is the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture. When you do aquaculture so shrimp/fish/whatever aquatic farming you tend to have a lot of effluent from the fish which you can't do anything with except flush it. Aquaponics harnesses this fish fertiliser and pumps it into beds containing a medium for plants (ie stones/pebbles/clay balls). Its just an efficient way of growing fish and plants in a closed loop system. Its got its advantages and disadvantages but im enjoying it so far. ill see if i can make something minty.
