Thats the front and at the back

Behind the house, the garden is starting to grow too. The GIANT Allium, is Russian Garlic, given to me by a lady that I met on an Introduction to Permaculture course. It is enormous, each clove is the size of a normal garlic bulb. It has a milder flavour and roasted and eaten like an oniion. It is has been in her family for four generations, amazing. There are lots of varieties of heritage vegetables like this in australia, some of them have even become extinct in their original country. One of the many reasons why seeed saving is so important. The poatoes in their cages are doing well with all this rain.

My, My My, things are starting to take shape

Well it has been a strange old year, we have had so much rain in the last two months, the old timers at my work have been commenting that it is like the old days. Everything is jumping out of the ground. It has been a bit colder then normal, maybe because of the rain. The broad beans have only just started to pod up, and this time last year, they were harvested, and pulled out ready for the tomatoes. Made some falafel out of last years dried ones. Got some bricks off freecycle and as you can see the front gardens no dig beds are starting to take shape. Under the straw and chook litter is a layer of wet newspaper. Sunday night is my watering night so, will water everything in. Been eating lots of food out of the garden and we have only been here since march, and I work full time. Seems like a lot can be done in a short amount of time if you use organic and permaculture principles. Got those old terracotta pots from work, they were throwing them out, they make a nice edging.

No Dig Beds

Wire or Potato Cage Method with help from Diggers. Make a cylinder of chicken wire about 1m in diameter and support with 3-4 star pickets or strong garden stakes. Garden stakes were the cheaper option, as star pickets were $14 each and the hardware store didnt have them any how
. Prepare the soil at the base by digging it over well and adding compost or well rotted cow manure. As this is a no dig method, I put old carpet or newspaper or cardboard on the bottom and then a layer of well rotted garden compost. This has been mixed with chiken manure and sheep manure, so the potatos should go off!

.Add 4- 8 potatoes in the prepared soil and cover with pea straw and manure and a sprinkling of blood and bone

. As the plants grow add more straw, manure or compost so the tips of the potatoed are still visable. Repeat through season as the potatoes grow to however high the chicken wire is. I have lined my cages with plastic, cardboard old carpet to help reduce the light, the soil falling out the side and keep in the moisture.

Harvesting the potatoes
When the plant has flowered and the leaves begin to yellow you can 'bandicoot' under your potato plants and harvest new potatoes. These have a very thin skin and do not store well, but taste delicous
The main crop is harvested when the plant dies off. Dont water your potatoes any more. Leave the crop in the ground for 2-3 weeks when the plant has died off to let the skins thicken. You can then dig up your crop and store in a well ventilated but dark place. Save some potatoes for 'seed' for your next crop
Another No-Dig bed being started in the corner, I will plant potatoes in here this year but something else next year, probably another fruit tree