Nexus - 0201 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Growing food in the big city PERMACULTURE M own food? If not, then now’s __ in a back yard of only 6 x 8 metres the time to start. It's spring, with a lousy southerly aspect, the days are getting longer and _ pollutedsoil,inarentedplace | didn’t warmer and starting from scratch expect to be in much longer than a you could be harvesting the first year. Actually | decided | wouldn’t produce in less than two months. even start teaching permaculture in Did | hear a groan ... you’re not Sydney until I'd done it myself under counting up your excuses now are these most impossible circum— you? .... anyway I’m not listening, stances. Three months later | was I've heard them all before: “I’m only the proud forager of a little food renting”, “I'lldoitwhen|movetothe oasisthatboasted about 20different country”, “It’s too polluted in the city”, “|'ll probably be moving house again in six months”, “My backyard’s too small”, “What! Spend the restofmy YOu can construct and weekends digging and weeding?”, plant out a whole garden | don’t have a green thumb, every 9, Reenter day, are pot plant | ever haddied on me”, “I’m too busy’... doesn’t matter how bad It was comments like this that your soil is, you can really spurred me on when | first started teaching permaculture in make one of these gardens Sydney in 1984. I'd recently moved anywhere, on sand, rock from a farm in the hills of the NSW and even concrete. Mid North Coast where I'd been growing vegies, fruit trees, babies and free range eggs for six years, and found it hard to believe that types of vegies and just as many “alternative” folk in the city were so herbs. The garden continued to reluctant to give gardeningago.Not flourish and produce heaps of just city folk, there’s a lot of people © yummy food forthe eighteen months out on their dream farm that still [lived there—| even hada surplus to A re you growing some of your see just how much food | could grow permaculture at ‘TAFE several evenings a week, and making herbal cosmetics for my weekly market stall in Paddington, plus teaching the odd permaculture course andworkshop, getting a consulting group and association happening, and in my spare time organising a national conference! | must admit | do have a slight tendency towards work-a-holism, but what's the point in being bored and sitting around complaining about the world’s problems? Another confession — | couldn't have done it ~ the garden that is — without good old permaculture design and sheet mulching. The beauty of sheet mulching is that it cuts out most of the arduous work usually associated with gardening, like digging andweeding. It also means less watering. You can construct and plant out a whole garden in less than a day, and it doesn't matter how bad your soil is, you can make one of these gardens anywhere, on sand, rock and even concrete. The process is easy, you simply collect a pile of newspapers or old underfelt, wet them and lay them on top of the ground, on top of the grass and weeds, and that forms a weed barrier. Then you need a thick layer of mulch on top of the weed barrier to grow your plants in — at least 15-20cm, more if it’s on concrete. The mulch layer can be stable sweepings, straw, hay, lawn clippings, compost and abit of animal manure. {| generally use a few different materials to make sure the plants get a good range of nutrients. Every garden I’ve made has been ‘in less thana day, and it doesn’t matter how bad OS) gs Se eee types of vegies and just as many herbs. The garden continued to flourish and produce heaps of yummy food for the eighteen months | lived there —| even had a surplus to give to the neighbours. Apart from harvesting, which is more fun and less work than going shopping, | averaged about 30 minutes a month on actual work to don't grow their own. Allexcuses andcomments aside, there | was in Sydney, | found a house torentin Petersham one block behind Parramatta Road—talk about pollution! The garden there probably had some of the heaviestlead fallout in Australia, and the soil was so bad even the couch grass had problems. It was an exciting challenge, after having 170 acres at my disposal, to keep the garden going: watering, mulching, sowing seed and setting seedlings. Honestly | didn't have time to do much more, working regular hours supervising a council tree planting project, teaching NEXUS 22 You can construct and plant out a whole garden