Planting Perennials

The challenge this month on Aussie's Living Simply is to plant a perennial. Perennials are considered to be the mainstay of permaculture, as they provide food and other products with minimal tending. They don't need to be replanted every year, and usually once they're established, only minimal fertilising and watering, and the occasional pruning.

It came at a good time for us, as I have several fruit trees, vines and plants awaiting planting. Yesterday, before our trip the the beach, we planted a lychee, plum, macadamia and 2 mandarins, as well as transplanted one more mandarin from a position where it was not happy. I still have 3 grapes, 2 kiwi fruit, an olive tree, and 2 blueberries to plant. The picture above is of our orchard area, and future food forest! We're getting close to having all the fruit trees I can think of to plant right now, although I'm sure we'll squeeze in a few more when I just can't resist. It is getting pretty crowded though.

So far, on our property, we have:

Citrus:
Mandarins:
1. Honey Murcot
2. Imperial
3. Hickson
Oranges:
4. Washington Navel
5. Valencia
Lemons:
6. Eureka
7. Meyer

Stonefruit:
8. Peach - Tropical Beauty
9. Plum - Yellow Flesh
10. Apricot - Morepark
11. Nectarine
12. Peachcot

Others:
Apples:
13. Tropical
14. Golden Dorset
Mulberries:
15. Black
16. White
Others:
17. Fig - Black Turkey
18. Persimmon - Non-astringent
19. Black Sapote (chocolate pudding fruit)
20. Macadamia
21. Macadamia - H2
22. Mango - Bowen

Hmm, only 22? Seems like there should be more than that.

We also have about 4 passionfruit vines, several lilypilly's, and of course the blueberries, grapes etc that I mentioned above. Eventually, I plan on adding some understory plants in the orchard area, as well as lots of edible groundcovers for the chooks. For now though, we're working on a windbreak of natives at the back (as the neighbour is clearing her land for subdivision), and one or two more fruit trees that I'm sure will jump into my car at the markets...

Four Sources of Water

Permaculture theory (as stated by Rosemary Morrow in her book, "Earth User's Guide to Permaculture, yes you're going to hear a lot about this book over the next little while) states that you should always have at least 2 sources of water, just in case one is lost or contaminated. This can be any combination of tanks, bores, dams, or town water. If your only water source is tank water for example, you should have two smaller tanks rather than one large one etc. Well, our new 5000L water tank arrived yesterday afternoon, bringing us up to 4 water sources - 3 tanks and town water backup. I've mentioned before that though we have a mains water connection, we intend to only use it in an emergency. Since we moved, mains water has only ever been used to top up the new house connected tank when it was first installed (via the automatic top up that was installed, and was turned off as soon as handover was completed). We now have over 50,000L in water storage, and after the recent rains, both main tanks are at half and three quarters full. Another good rain, and they'll be full.

That's where this new tank comes in. We'll pump into it regularly (it's not connected to a downpipe) when the tanks are nearing capacity, giving us some extra storage space. It will be used entirely for watering the front garden, and will save a lot of carting buckets back and forth. I'm hoping to set up some drip watering systems to make watering even easier (and more water efficient).

As you can also see in the photo, the front garden is starting to take shape. Besides the tank, you can see the black compost bin in the bottom right corner, that is about 1/4 full now, with a pile of grass next to it for covering food scraps with. it's hard to see, but the climbing peas are about 18 inches tall now, and starting to flower. I'm hoping we'll get a harvest in before it gets too hot for them. Weeds abound in the rest of the front yard, but in the next few weeks they will all be mown down then smothered with lots of mulch. Then I'll be able to get started, albeit a little late, on my spring planting.

On a good gardening note though, the strawberry harvests just keep getting bigger and bigger! I need to pick them more often, as you can probably see, some of them are getting rotten spots where they're lying on the damp ground too long. I had to chuck about a dozen really rotten ones to the chooks, but most of these were salvageable, and have now been frozen for the next batch of strawberry jam. Organic and homegrown this time!

I love days like this, where I actually have some sort of tangible harvest from my garden. This is the last of the Roma Tomatoes, the mickey's (aka Noisy Minors) got the rest. But I'm sure they enjoyed them more than I would have. There are a few more side shoots from the broccoli at the back that we had for dinner. Never have I actually enjoyed green leafy vegetables before, but these are yum. I had the mulberries for desert, more ripe this time, and starting to get sweet. The strawberries are about 2-3 days growth. If I get this many every few days, about a punnet full I think, then I'll have a giant pot of my own organic strawberry jam in a few weeks time! I cut them up and they're in the freezer now, along with the tomatoes.

Gardening wise I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. I want to get into spring planting, but there is a lot to organise first, which I shall post about more in the next few days/weeks as it gets moving. I have plans to move my vegie garden to the front of the house, where it gets plenty of sun, and is protected from the westerly winds, which can be quite nasty at times. It also works in well with the permaculture zones, being essentially Zone 1, close to the house and easily accessible. I actually bought Rosemary Morrow's "Earth User's Guide to Permaculture" yesterday, and have been voraciously devouring it. This of course is probably part of the reason for my overwhelmed feeling.

I've tried to read about permaculture before. The idea intrigues me, but Bill Mollison's books were just too theoretical for me, and I couldn't get through them. This book is far more practical, and I'm already finding myself referring to it as I try to plan something. I think I will have to work through the exercises she lists in each chapter, and try to get an overall permaculture plan for our block. Hopefully there will be some posts about that in the future too. (Ever notice how I talk a lot about possible posts that often don't ever eventuate?) There is just so much to it, and so much of it is so useful, but it takes a lot to take it all in.

In other news, my kiwi fruit plants arrived today. 2 plants, male and female, both very tiny. I've been reading up on them, and apparently they grow VERY extensively, and are very strong plants, so I'm going to need somewhere to put them. I'm really wishing right now that I had a pergola out the front, as it would be a perfect place for them. As they're deciduous, they'd give us some nice cool shade in summer, but let in the warm sun in winter. Some planning to do there too...

And as an update to yesterday's post, Roley the rooster has been returned to the breeders we bought the eggs off, and they are going to attempt to find him a new home. Hopefully Jumpy will settle down now that he's the king rooster, and not take after Roley.