Backyard to food forest

JoshW

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Ripper progress on the greenhouse Andrew, I'm sure you will be reaping the benefits from that for years to come
 

AndrewB

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Greenhouse is pretty much done, just have a gutter to put on, but it was a bit wet to be doing that this weekend.
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Planted some chinese cabbage inside & beans, kale & calendular in a new outside garden bed.

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This weeks project will be making some more shelf space for seedlings & maybe starting on a chicken coop.
 

Marika

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Looks fantastic, your broad beans are happy :twothumbsup:
It’s coming along really quick!
 

Robbie

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Andrew its looking good your putting in a hughe effort but have you a large family or are you feeding the hole neighbourhood lol.
 

nzmitzi

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if you have any guttering left over, put some ends on them at a good length and use it to sit your pots in for watering. I find the hardest thing to get is those water bottoms for pots and I did this.... wow what a time and water saver. Mine are 2 metres long and not easily moved so I would make them smaller next time.
 

AndrewB

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Hi nzmitzi, the gutter I got was the perfect length, so no left overs. Another way to do that is to make a wooden frame & cover the inside of it with pond liner. I had a hydroponics system in a previous garden that I did this with & it worked great.

I had today off work, so took advantage of the sun & made a few more garden beds. I'm getting pretty good at making these things now :)

These are the largest I've made at 3 mtrs x 1.8 mtrs & 2.4 mtrs x 1.8 mtrs.

The larger one I have seeded with all sorts of bee attracting annual & perennials. The smaller I will leave to settle for now & will plant sunflowers, okra & jerusalem artichoke once it warms up a bit.

Grass was almost totally gone after a few months of heavy mulch on top of it. There were a few thick runners left, but they pulled out easily.
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This one has 2 peaches & a nectarine, they are mini dwarf varieties, so will be fine with the close spacing.
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Some signs of life already on some of the trees & others have buds ready to burst. I just hope they hold off flowering until the frosts have cleared.

Peach.
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Mulberry.
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And finally an overview of the lot. I think I'm done with the garden beds now, not much space left for more, still plenty of room for pots though ;)

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Bring on Spring!
 

Robbie

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I hope you left room for your chicken coop and the bee hive, over spring and summer its going to look awsome and the produce you are going to harvest is going to be a credit to your hard work happy days.
 

AndrewB

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I'm rapidly running out of room, but I have a few plans for the chicken coop that will be pretty unique. There is also a nice shady spot behind the greenhouse that I will turn into a run I think. It's not good for much else except mushrooms really. Plenty of spots for the bee hive.
 

JoshW

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Fantastic progress Andrew, that greenhouse has come up a treat.
 

DTK

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A long & tiring day today, so much digging!

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The soil here is a fairly heavy clay, not much organic matter or critters in it. I saw 2 worms the entire day & I think they were trapped from the recent rain. So I dug the grass up & added some good quality compost/soil on top, then mixed it all through.
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I concreted in some post stirrups & will be running wires to Espallier the fruit trees. The trees are spaced at 2mtrs.

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I needed a break after 9 hours, so I'll finish it off tomorrow. I have a heap of comfrey to plant around the bed as a chop & drop, then need to get another trailer load of wood chips to cover the path & mulch around the trees if the soil place is open tomorrow.

I've planted 2 peaches (Anzac & Golden Queen), 2 plums (Mariposa & Satsuma) & 2 cherries (Lapins & Stella) here. I also have a couple of apples (Fuji & Pinkabelle) & an apricot (Trevatt) that I think I'll put next to the shed, which is a nice sunny spot all afternoon.
A long & tiring day today, so much digging!

View attachment 4299

View attachment 4300

The soil here is a fairly heavy clay, not much organic matter or critters in it. I saw 2 worms the entire day & I think they were trapped from the recent rain. So I dug the grass up & added some good quality compost/soil on top, then mixed it all through.
View attachment 4301

View attachment 4302

I concreted in some post stirrups & will be running wires to Espallier the fruit trees. The trees are spaced at 2mtrs.

View attachment 4303

View attachment 4304

I needed a break after 9 hours, so I'll finish it off tomorrow. I have a heap of comfrey to plant around the bed as a chop & drop, then need to get another trailer load of wood chips to cover the path & mulch around the trees if the soil place is open tomorrow.

I've planted 2 peaches (Anzac & Golden Queen), 2 plums (Mariposa & Satsuma) & 2 cherries (Lapins & Stella) here. I also have a couple of apples (Fuji & Pinkabelle) & an apricot (Trevatt) that I think I'll put next to the shed, which is a nice sunny spot all afternoon.

Gosh Andrew, I think my back started aching just looking at what you achieved! I am keen to read more and to follow your progress!
 

DTK

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Got a good amount covered today despite the rain, what better time to mulch than when it's wet!

Also planted 2 apples & an apricot tree.
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Thought I should take a picture of the current soil I have as well so I can compare as time goes by. A couple of years of wood chips should bring it to life.
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Again Andrew, great effort. Hard work I am sure, but already looking great!!!
 

AndrewB

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Yeah it was a pretty good workout Dan, most of the digging is done for now. I plan to watch the water level in the back corner over summer & will dig out a good sized pond as it drops, but other than that, there isn't a lot of area left that requires more shovel work thankfully.
 
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DTK

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Thanks, it's been a busy few months, I wanted to get the basics sorted over autumn/winter- the Soil, Mulch & fruit trees in the ground so it could all settle in. Anxiously waiting for spring & summer now, when it will really take off.

i just ordered a whole heap of herb & perennial seeds from Eden Seeds in preparation, it's going to get very full, very quickly once the weather warms up!
Andrew, I am reading through this thread from woe to go. It is amazing to read and watch the development. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
 

AndrewB

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I added some more shelving space in the greenhouse today, 2 small 3 tier greenhouses from Bunnings & a shelf from Aldi. There are lots of seeds germinating at the moment & I was completely out of room.

I've also order a flowhive & a chicken coop, which should arrive next week

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AndrewB

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The Flow hive arrived this afternoon.

I have some Tung oil on its way for the outside, should look pretty nice. It was pretty simple to assemble, a few of the pilot holes could be bigger & some counter sinking on the external panels would improve it, but it's pretty solid.

Now I have to try & track down some bees. Victoria being closed makes things a bit tougher!

I also prepped the chicken area today & ordered 3 black australorp hens, they should be ready in about 3 weeks. Still have some fencing to do & a coop to builld when it arrives, but the timing should work out well.

hive.JPG
 

DivingTemptress

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Hi Andrew,

Great progress ! The rain and heat is slacking off here, so have not been logging in lately, too busy in my own garden getting my fall plants going. Am quite impressed by all you are doing.

Happy Gardening !!!

P J, the Dirt Diva
 

JoshW

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The Flow hive arrived this afternoon.

I have some Tung oil on its way for the outside, should look pretty nice. It was pretty simple to assemble, a few of the pilot holes could be bigger & some counter sinking on the external panels would improve it, but it's pretty solid.

Now I have to try & track down some bees. Victoria being closed makes things a bit tougher!

I also prepped the chicken area today & ordered 3 black australorp hens, they should be ready in about 3 weeks. Still have some fencing to do & a coop to builld when it arrives, but the timing should work out well.

View attachment 5134

That hive looks to be the bee's knees .

Where did you get your hens from and have the prices returned to reasonable yet? FB has banned the local poultry sites I was on to monitor the prices.
 

AndrewB

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I'm getting them through Doug Dyde's produce store on David st. I think they are $29 each from memory.

I'm ok with the price, because the service was great. A real old school shop, he was happy to share knowledge & offer suggestions, not just point at an isle like most places these days :)
 

AndrewB

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Chicken coop is assembled & in place. I have some fencing to do next weekend. I'm going to give them a run all the way around the fence line so I don't have to weed it & let them into the rest of the garden under supervision so they don't eat things to the point it won't grow back!
coop.JPG

The hive came up good with some oil & paint. Would be nicer if the finish was more consistent, but the various wood components are from different batches I assume, so stains differently. I need to figure out where to put it now. I have a lot of ants around that i'm worried about, so I'm thinking I may surround it with a pond/stream so it's isolated on it's own little island.
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Fruit trees are flowering. It's been raining, so no frost for the last week, but it's something i'll need to keep an eye on for the next month or so.
flowers.JPG

I have a heap of planting to do to increase plant diversity, but already the beneficial insects are moving in. I have dozens of hoverfriends flying about :)
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