Helen's Garden Tour - 25th July 2015

Helen has gardened at her house for the past 13 years. The home was a run down rental when purchased with mostly kikuyu lawn. Helen set about establishing windbreaks with natives to shelter parts of the garden from the easterly and southerly winds at the exposed hilltop location. The front garden contains some fruit trees, natives and is the only dog-free area to grow vegies... also happens to be sunny and relatively convenient to the kitchen. A banana palm has fruited but didn't last year, possibly due to reduced availability of water.

Helen put crushed limestone in the car bay and main path to the door for several reasons. 

1. Dieback prevention - Any vehicle, Bicycle or pedestrian can spread die-back, and home gardens are just as vulnerable to this soil borne pathogen.

(from DPAW..  ...soil acidity is typical of the forested areas of WA and in fact the (dieback) pathogen is not present on coastal limestone soils since these are alkaline with a higher pH. This intolerance to alkaline conditions explains why many nurseries, especially those which have P. cinnamomi hygiene accreditation, will often have crushed limestone driveways and surrounds.)

A pdf with information can be found here.

http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/get-involved/n2n/schools/resources/phytophthora_dieback_teachers_guide.pdf

..having a soil full of healthy microbes, is also recommended, and Helen aimed to build the soil biology.

2. To help correct the pH balance, as the soil is usually acidic. (which affects plant growth and nutrition.)

3. As a permeable pathway, which lets rain soak in. Paving and fully sealed surfaces result in high water run off, and Helen is keen to keep moisture in the garden. As the front garden slopes away, erosion had been a problem in the past, but is no longer evident. (Due to a number of strategies.)

Part of the windbreak integrates into a wildlife corridor that extends along the side of the drive-way to the bushland at the back. This is frequently utilised by birds, bandicoots and lizards. 

Helen guided us around the back garden to view the previously occupied chook pen with a mulberry tree, some comfrey and wormwood plantings with discussion on some observations she has made. For instance, the chook pen is slightly sloped and Helen needed to put in small terracing because in their scratching for food the chooks started to level out the ground, pushing soil further down the slope. This would eventually block some access and cause other complications. The terracing resolved this issue, along with some bird wire over the soil near terrace edges, as birds can pick through the wire, and things can grow up, but chooks can't rearrange the soil.

Close to the poultry area is a “resource area’ which Helen recommends every garden should have. Somewhere to store pieces of timber or materials for structures, piles of manure or materials for composting. Also in this area is a bin used for decomposing green material in water for using as a compost tea.

Part of Helen's garden tour involved a brief workshop on pruning and tool maintenance. Helen has taken various pruning courses and talked a little about some of the tools and techniques that she has picked up over time. Some of the basics such as cleaning tools with methylated spirits and a rag so as not to transfer diseases from plant to plant. Methods of sharpening tools and the reasons to do so;  and some strategies for pruning such as starting from the bottom of the tree and working up through the branches - and the 3 D's - Dead, Damage and Disease.

There was also conversation over seasonal variations that Helen has observed taking place in her garden. For example, an apple tree has kept its leaves throughout  the winter this year. This is not an isolated occurrence to Helen’s garden. As a way of recording such observations our group can use the Permaculture ALBANY group forum to record seasonal observations. More on this later when it becomes available. 

Another interesting observation that Helen has made is not to espalier apricot trees.  This was advice that Helen had received but had decided to try with a tree in her garden. There are people that do it, but the growth pattern of apricots do not naturally lend themselves to this method, and it becomes a lot of work. What she noticed was that there was vigorous vertical growth but not much horizontal growth and it became a battle of wills until the Apricot was eventually removed. (This sounds heartless, but the branches wanted to grow where they couldn't be reached.)  If you want to try espalier, start with an apple tree!

To top off an interesting and informative tour we were provided with an afternoon tea of hot drinks, muffins and pumpkin scones – thanks to the assistance of Helen’s daughter and partner.

Thank you Helen for sharing your garden, stories, observations and know-how.