Abundance - just not of grass..!

Veg patch :)

This year we have tried something different..we have used the circle/keyhole setup known from the Permaculture Mandala garden.. our designated plot, or rather the bit we have declared as veg patch is not big enough for a traditional mandala garden, so ours is a little un-traditional in shape. Also we don't have all our planned circles working due to other crops, beds which are currently in that space. But we have two operational domes, and these are working great, even though our circles may be smaller than what is the norm as well..

We can grow Pineapple!!

But this year has by and large been more experimental, and we have wanted to try out some "other" types of crop.. so we put in Pineapple crowns., and to our amazement they have actually taken.. I am very excited about the prospects of growing Pineapple!! How awesome is that?? I currently have four, that have taken, but have an extra three crowns which I will place under/around some fruit trees in another place in the garden.

Our tomato/cucumber plants in tyres.

 We have many tomato plants this year, and despite having sown then in situ a little early it seems we may still get some sort of yield from them. Next year we will do a more controlled seedling planting. We have already harvested cucumbers, which were really firm and sweet. So we will try that again next year. 

Our first swale :) or part of it at least

Having made the decision to employ Permaculture techniques to our veg patch has proven to be a tremendous learning experience, but also lots of setup work.. I know Hazel will probably disagree with that, but we are learning as we go, and though its been laborious, it has also been fun. We dug the beginning section of our first swale in the lower orchard part of our garden a couple of weekends back. This swale will catch our bathwater from the second bathroom, and it is our plan to plant strawberries, comfrey and perhaps goosberries on the ridges of the swales.. our plan is to be able to pass the planned fruit tree spots so that they too get fed with the bathwater.. but its early days yet, and much planning still needs to happen. :)

Boysenberry

On the orchard side of the fence we have planted two Boysenberry bushes, these will eventually cover the fence, and also act as a natural barrier/living fence here. On the other orchard fence facing the garden proper, we have lemongrass, and chives, but will also later expand with more comfrey and maybe even horseradish, and perhaps even some more Rosemary. Comfrey is very good chicken feed.. :)

Our lemongrass - still very young.

The living fence is a way of keeping out bugs etc, and that's why one should plant smelly stuff on the perimeter of the garden.. ideally.. :-P Also lemongrass creates a very dense root system which prevents the penetration of stuff like unwanted grass!! Which has really been a huge problem for us since day one... and we are slowly starting to get rid of it.. through manual labour, our own btw.. as we have since found out that moles love grassy areas. So if we can eliminate the grass in our veg patch then maybe just maybe the moles will disappear too.. *sigh*

Two sisters... :)

We ended up doing 2 of the traditional three-sisters (corn, beans and pumpkin), we did corn and beans together.. but will clear an area for the real thing next spring. :) We found that our corn plants were really healthy looking and strong, and our beans growing up the corn are bigger, and sweeter... :)

The Strawberry patch

The strawberry patch will be reclaimed in favour of a circle. And like I mentioned earlier we will be replanting the strawberries on the ridges of the swales. We will still be doing many more swales over the next couple of months, so there will be plenty of space for these little delights.

Raspberry

On our veg patch side of the fence we have a solitary raspberry bush.. we got a few from Carmen and Pierre over the mountain in De Hoop, but sadly out of the five, we have one survivor. We places shade-cloth along the fence which will also help separate the boysenberry bushes from the raspberry bushes in future.. and as the raspberry is of the cane variety it down not need support like the boysenberry will. :) I am very excited about these tow additions to our veg patch as the climate here is perfect for them. :)

Our Tamarillo tree

We have also planted a Tamarillo tree-ling in the one corner of the veg patch. This will eventually become a nice tree with edible fruit, under which we will create a food forest of sorts with more shade-loving things.
It will be interesting to see if it will thrive in our strange valley here.. :) as it was gifted to us by friends of ours near Lanceria up in Gauteng.. But for now it seems eager to grow, and has tripled in size since we planted it.

Brinjal - for the first time!

And last but not least we have our first brinjal plant ever! Yay!! I don't know where is came from as we didn't actually sow any brinjal seeds in any of our circles.. but this one plant has decided that that's where it is going to grow.. and it looks very good, so hopefully we will get a few brinjal from it.. very exciting stuff.. Its always such a pleasure seeing ones garden flourish, even if some if the plants are not in their proper places, or seem coincidental, and this year more than any of the last three years here, have we actually been more excited about planning and developing the veg patch into something glorious!!! at least in our own opinion.. hehehe..

Developing the veg patch from scratch - literally!

Mr. Rooster crowing for his breakfast

Time sure does fly sometimes.. it just struck me that we are in December!!! The photos for this post were taken in November... ahh well... been busy. *blink blink*..

Coming along

One circle planted/sown, the dome on the second circle. We have moved that now to a new location, and the second circle is also planted/sown and mulched.. also we have made two raised beds, the one has Mielies (corn) and beans, and the other has Raspberries. We have positioned them such that in time as the veg patch develops then we can extend them and maybe even join them somehow.. Father time will help us decide what is best, and how. :)

Nuther raised bed - for Raspberries... Yum!!

For now though we are enjoying seeing the lettuces coming up, we have some onions in and sweetcorn, and pumpkin (self sowers from last season which we are going to allow to finish before we put a dome on that spot), some tomatoes and cucumbers in tyres, some pineapple plants (exciting!), lots of strawberries (which we don't want to move just yet either), some beetroot, potatoes, horseradish, radish, comfrey, some herbs and a few other things. 

We are at this stage still exprimenting which we develop the new permaculture layout, but are already very excited to see the potential which is unfolding as we go along.. we will be turning the shadehouse, and extending a small section to excorporate a small fruit orchard for which we have some peaches and a plum. We also have some old apple trees, which we need to thin out, and then only keep one of two which we will help along a little.. Our Biogas reactor is now producing gas, and the effluent water from that we are starting to use on the trees and shrubs in our garden.. we also have a worm-bin going. The way things are now we produce very little waste, basically all of our organic waste goes either to the worms, the chickens or the digester. What ends up in the bin is packaging etc. We recycle all newspaper, and most of the plastic bottles.. so here's to going green! <3 I hope that in 2012 we will be able to reduce our waste even more.. :)

October 2011 - Getting our groove on with Permaculture

The infant stage of our new veg patch

Quite a lot has happened since the actual date of the last post.. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had gone on a Permaculture course over a weekend in September at the Outeniqua Trout Lodge which was hosted by Permaculture South Africa's Hazel Mugford. And she has a reputation of note, and comes highly recommended!! So we went to gain insight into what we were doing wrong, and what we could do to create the change we wanted to see in the veg garden.

Our first circle with it's keyhole

We had the previous year failed miserably to plant/sow anything, and had a huge mole problem.

We have since found out that the stones we used to create nice raised beds etc, were actually attracting the moles, so that was change No 1 - getting rid of all the stones in the veg patch. Having done this where we started with the new layout, we have seen that the new part is now mole-free. Yay!! 

Jan digging the keyhole

Problem No 2 - creating a layout that would work not only with the domes, but also for us, and still be kind of pretty. So we decided on a kind of S-curve in our patch to accommodate the septic tank and run-off, as well as a tree that we had planted last season. 

We will also be doing the raised beds that we were shown, using sheet mulching, cardboard and manure. So we have a very infantile start at this time, but hopefully in time and as we progress with the moving of the dome the structure will come into its own, and we will end up having a fabulous veg patch with good yields, and diversity. :)

Our permaculture adventure has just started, and it is indeed one which we will continue on in more ways than one. Having done the course has been a true eye-opener for us. We are still very keen to do a mushroom course with Hazel as well at a later date, seeing as we have quite a few wild mushrooms here around Autumn and would like to know more about them, as well as how to maintain a mushroom yield, and perhaps even develop that into a supply. Making the changes we want will take time and dedication to the cause, we are prepared and well equipped now to make them, and I for one am really excited to see and document how our veg patch and garden develop in time. :)

August 2011 - To veg or not to veg..

Checking the chickens..

To veg or not to veg that is indeed the question, or at least it was at this point in the game.. :-)

With the new tractor in place we were wondering just how to tackle the veg garden this year, but hubs insisted that we at least try to get some sort of crop out of it, or else we would proverbially die trying..lol. Last year was not so great due to an mole infestation, and of course this demotivated us from doing much at all, but we did realise that no matter what the garden would need a major overhaul this year. And so we tried tentatively with some new things and some old things too.

Our radish spiral

Little did we know at this stage that once we had met Hazel Mugford, everything would change. On a side note I was attending the Uniondale Crafts market and this is where we ran into Hazel and Naomi who also have a stall there. Naomi and her husband run the Outeniqua trout lodge down De Vlugt way, and Hazel and her partner and son stay on the farm too, and offer Permaculture courses... but more on that later.. :-)

Rosemary gone wild. :-)

For now we had to make do with a very dishevelled garden, and had to make a plan to at least get it into some workable order.. so we sowed lettuce, and some other sundry crop items..

And things were still not going according to plan.. the chickens weren't really happy (due to the fact that there were two roosters in the tractor), and the moles were still here disrupting the soil, and then we had what seemed like the whole Haarlem population of slugs and snails.. so we lost out lettuce crop to them, and everything else was just   blegh to look at.. and seemed like it was going nowhere.. the only thing we managed to enjoy was the radish.. but then again you don't need a degree in gardening to be able to grow them.. lol.

Everything really needed a rethink, we just didn't know where to start...

June 2010 in the Veg Patch



The Veg Patch all covered in snow



The Tyre garden covered in snow

Laika not minding the snow



The planting boxes filled with snow



March 2010 in the Veg Patch

Veg Patch under construction

In the same month we decided to overhaul the veg patch, and so Jan built boxes, and I took on the task of restructuring the raised tyre garden. The latter was sagging, and I felt it needed re-doing..

We had brought in the tyres to build a retaining wall up against the septic tank, and then to be able to use them as planters for herbs and other small greens. So I started stacking the tyres off centre of eachother, and filled them with sand/compost. The tyre garden serves a dual purpose since it also help to hide the septic tank. :-) When it came to replanting, we did herbs, and a whole lot of succulents and a protea. This part of the garden is still in development though, and it might change again in future, but for now it really works well.

Jan's new boxes

Jan built some new planter boxes, for things like spinach etc. We used all offcuts of wood that we had lying around, so in effect we recycled. We have also layered all our kitchen scraps in the boxes with compost, thus building them up and making good soil for the sowing season. The last few crops from the current season would be harvested now as well.

I know it looks rather sad, but the winters here are really dull, and we have not yet figured out the winter crop thing... I am hoping to get that going by next season... :-)

The veg patch from the field entrance



November 2009 Harvest

The Moon Box

The season started out quite well, and we had sown all manner of things in the veg patch. Things were really looking neat and productive. A small haven in the making... ? Hmmmm maybe, but we really had put in a lot of work up until now to get it to look like this..

We still at this point had out two eco-circles in place, and had also carted a whole lot of old tyres into this garden to create areas for things... recycling once again. :-)  The eco-circles did ok, but weren't very productive so after the season was over we decided to rethink out strategies for the veg-patch. The whole point of having a veg garden out here in the stick is to be able to provide enough greens for your family to eat over the season, and with clever planning, throughout the year..

The fence garden



The fence garden close-up

I will still be keeping the fence garden, but using if for stuff like Nasturtiums, and Salad Burnett, as well as other "easy" herbs, and maybe even a couple of berry bushes. I would love to have some Blueberries, and  Rasperries. We have Strawberries... many and they do really well in our area. :-)

We also planted a Lemon tree, this has gone from strength to strength, and after someone told us to give it Epsom salts, it seems to finally have realised what it needs to do. We hope to get our first lemons in summer 2011.



Our rhubarb

 The rhubarb will return year after year, and hopefully just get stronger for each season.. Its kind of nice to have all the summer things right at your backdoor.. :-) I have never really been big on gardening, but somedays, when I get stuck in, I can work all day. And that really makes one realise how important having a relationship with the Earth is....

We grow beetroot for pickling mainly, though they are just as good as raw food.. I love beetroot, they are one of my favourite veg.. :-)



Beetroot



We also harvested red and white onions, and a few other things which I can't remember right now. We also experimented with mushroom growing, and had ordered a do-it-yourself box from Mycophiles with King Oysters in it. These did quite well and we harvested quite a few. But the most amazing this we have discovered while living here is that we actually have edible muchrooms in our field... and some other less edible ones. :-|



Red and white onions



That is great since we can now harvest some of these as well. The White Parasols have a nice flavour, and even more so when dried. They dry quite well and are easy to add to stews etc for added flavour... :-)

White Parasol mushroom

Our King Oysters

July 2009 in the Veg Patch

The start of the hole for thr septic tank

We had by now also met a few of our neighbours, one of which was Anton. Being the same age as us, and having more or less similar interests, we quickly struck up a friendship, and of course when friends offer their help, then one does not decline.

Also knowing what back breaking work it would be to dig the hole for the septic tank, it certainly was a great offer in exchange for a beer ... or two. :)

So Jan and Anton dug, and I took photos... very nice spread of labour.. hehehe.. we chatted, and had beer, and generally solved all the problems of the world.

Anton and Jan digging

Little did they know that at some point they would hit clay, and this in itself was a nightmare to dig up.. after a long battle with the picks they hit bedrock... this hole just did not want to be dug. We compared the depth that they had managed to dig with the height of the tank, and decided that it would be fine to just submerge it 2/3 of the way... the drop from the spot where the pipe would be coming out the wall was enough, and the run off would also be fine. So they rested and had... a beer! :)

In the mean time the boys were carting up wheelbarrow loads of sand for the bottom of the hole.

Boys carting riversand

The septic tank was placed in the hole, and all the attachments attached according to the instructions. The trench for the run-off/overflow was dug also with Antons help, and we now had a functioning septic tank ready for a toilet..

April 2009 Garden



Front garden

 By now the little garden in the front of the house was taking shape, and we had lots of lettuce and a few other things. I found out that the ground here in this bit is quite stoney, so it does not work for root veg like Beetroot and Carrots..

I decided it might be nice to pretty things up a little, so I planted a few flowering shrubs, like Lavender and Daisies, and I also had a few Geranium/Pelargonium slips that Jan's mom gave me. These were put in and watered diligently.. soon we had a little colour in the front, and what has started out as a makeshift veg patch became a flowerbed.

Kitchen window garden

Under the kitchen window was another little stretch of earth, very poorly looked after, full of stones and so on. But here we planted a Hanepoort vine, and strawberries. Both of these took easily in the poor soil. Today this part is completely different, but more on that later in a different post. :)

The very beginning of the future veg patch

The future veg patch would be on the master bedroom side of the house as we had a nice piece of field there which was un-utilized. The previous owner had had a fruit orchard there, but sadly all of the trees had been chopped off at grass level, and there was nothing there now. A clean slate, or at least thats what we thought...

January 2009 Harvest

Our veg at the time

Since our garden was only in the front of the house, we had very little going on at that time... but we had Radishes!! I don't think anything is as fast or easy to grow as radishes..

We also tried to grow lettuce, and a few herbs, some beetroot and just basic stuff.. but soon decided that we need to think big..

The first bundle of Radishes