Backyard Transformation - Part Two

Missed Part One? Catch up here.

What did nature do next?

The second sowing of green manure was wildly successful with most of the seeds germinating on the surface and sending their tails down into the ground. As it grew, we installed Everedge black metal edging, making a container to fill with different layers of soil improving material, and got serious about moving the pile of dirt and grass left behind by the mini excavator. Slowly and somewhat painfully, I loaded it into the wheelbarrow, sorted through it to remove the kikuyu and African Black Beetles, then unloaded it back into the garden. Not my favourite activity. Soon the first mung beans started to flower so it was time to chop and drop the green manure crop, releasing its nitrogen benefits into the soil.

Some millet had come through but because it looked a lot like kikuyu, I pulled anything grassy out by the roots and laid it on the surface rather than chopping it off. A welcome break from the wheelbarrow. The garden bed looked like a green massacre site for a while! The HOGS committee came to the fore with Treasurer Anita welcoming me at her farm to collect prize bull manure while Secretary Barb sourced buckets of chook poo. The yellow rose began to flower, offering encouragement to finally finish moving the dirt pile. I spread some volcanic rock and coffee grounds on the parts that hadn’t had it yet and covered the lot with sugar cane mulch. Then I booked a massage.

Now I’m looking ahead to creating an urban food forest, weighing my options around engaging a permaculture professional to help me design it or completing a PDC (Permaculture Design Course) and designing it myself. With the summer heat on our doorstep making it unsuitable for planting, I have a few months to keep improving the soil and getting clear on my vision.