Aiming at solo self-sufficiency! VIC/TAS

[Cassandra]

Hi! I'm Cassandra. I've joined the forum to learn off everyone, support others and to hopefully build up a network of like-mindeds. Currently I live in an apartment in Melbourne (I have a mortgage). I work as a travel consultant for a travel agency near the city. My aim is to be a work from home travel consultant living on my own patch of land where I can provide more for myself and live lighter on the planet. I am originally from Tasmania, so am researching either moving back there or somewhere here in VIC. Love to connect with like-minded people, especially other solo women so I know I am not nuts to do this solo haha

 

[ClissAT]

Hi Cassandra, welcome.
Yes you've come to the right place!
If we can't answer your question straight off, we'll hunt it down.
Not sure how many other solo women are here... apart from me.
Used to be a few but their lives fill up quickly once they get to gardening on a bigger scale I think.
So we hope to hear and see a lot about your gardens.

 

[AuG]

Welcome another newbie here. Im a solo woman aiming for some sufficiency. I am a pretty terrible gardener so far, but the have had some success even in very poor sandy soil. I am in WA but quite near the bottom so we might have similar climate temperatures. It has been snowing here this weekend. I'd love to learn from like minded people as well. Independent living inland has proven a challenge, but also endlessly interesting with so much to learn.

 

[ClissAT]

Hi AuG, welcome.
Sandy soil isn't all that bad once you know a few tricks to deal with it.
Check out your local permaculture group who will have all the lowdown on making it work for you.
Also by 'searching' 'gardening in sandy soil' on both YouTube and google, you should come up with plenty of possibilities to keep you amused for years!

In my childhood we lived on a beach and my father grew our veg in pure sand.
His father before him had a small crop farm on sandy soil so our family was used to it.
My father made a bucket of compost, (yes compost has been used for well over 100yrs!) burried the whole bucket in the ground (easily digging the hole) and popped some seeds in the top layer of compost which grew like triffids!
At the end of the season it was my job to pull up all the buckets!
They were tipped onto a particular patch of ground where root crops were grown.
We always had watermelon, corn, tomatoes, pumpkins, sweet purple and white potatoes, lettuces, beets, carrots and onions, with other things sometimes.
There were lots of different fruits also.

 

[Universalpuzzle]

Cassandra.. while you wait to move.. do you have a balcony or garden? .. after years of living in rentals I have experimented with multiple gardening ideas.. I found that ‘Dutch Buckets’ do work, basically it’s outdoor hydroponics.. but I disliked paying for the nutrients. I had no success growing in pots as they kept drying out.. BUT I did find that using the ‘Ebb and Flow’ system did work.. and I am going to continue to use this for seedlings etc.

As for tasmania.. are you aware for the planning changes for land? Please be very careful and CHECK with the council, that the land is for residential use. NOT rural resource.. you may think.. oh it must be ok as it’s between two other houses.. BUT they did a blanket planning on the whole of tassie and a lot of people were caught out.

 

[Cassandra]

Great info about Sandy soil. I had wondered if that would exclude coastal options. Thanks!! Cassandra

 

[Cassandra]

Cassandra.. while you wait to move.. do you have a balcony or garden? ..

Yes i do! I've started pretty small and am growing tomatoes lettuce and herbs currently. It's my first try since i moved in and i only get morning sun. So let's see what works!

Wasnt aware of any specific land laws as yet but was intending on checking STCA before buying.

Thank you!

 

[Universalpuzzle]

If you only have morning sun.. use foil to increase the light.. but don’t have the foil directly on the plant or it will cook them.

 

[Mark]

G'day Cassandra and thanks for joining SSC we have a lot of people becoming members of our forum at the moment so please forgive the time delay in promoting you to Premium but I have to do this manually in order to keep spam under control. Remember to interact via posting or creating threads to get and retain your Gold status and this enables other privileges such as the ability to enter competitions. I hope to interact more myself with you and others in the future. Cheers

 

[Cassandra]

Thanks Mark!! Much appreciated