Category Archives: permaculture

Apr 09

Blue Tongue Lizard

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We had a visit from a classic Aussie critter the other day.

Look who popped in and was found lurking in the bathroom

This is the second Blue-Tongue Lizard we’ve found in or around the house recently and is testament to our committment to avoid the use of chemicals around the house wherever possible and to grow a wide variety of plants on our block. Consequently, we have a wide variety  of happy creatures sharing our backyard, from lizards, to chooks and wild birds to frogs and insects (although the chooks, lizards and birds don’t mind a nice feed of frogs and insects when they can catch them!).

The great thing about Blue-Tongues is they love a feed of snails and slugs! So that just makes me love them more :-).

 

 

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Feb 01

Rebuilding a Garden Bed

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I originally posted this in The Good Earth segment of the Wonderful World Media Network site where I have a monthly gardening show that is broadcast live on 3WBC community radio in Melbourne.

These pictures show the construction of a new compact Garden-bed rebuilt after the installation of a 25,000 Litre tank which wiped out the existing garden bed.

  • First, the excess topsoil from the old garden bed is removed
  • Organic material is added including blood and bone
  • The drip irrigation system is installed and
  • Mulch laid over the whole bed after seedlings are planted

The bed is doing extraordinally well although it is a bit congested. If I was doing it again I would mulch first and then part the mulch to plant the seedlings. Much easier.

After six weeks we were harvesting zucchini and the cucumbers are ready as well !!

There is still a bit of work to do around the bed and the tank, so this layout might change in the future. But that’s one of the joys of the garden, the continual evolution and change.

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