BEFORE and AFTER farm garden transformation!

We're coming up to our fifth lambing season! Can you believe it?

 

The paddocks are looking lush and fantastic. We have stuck to our goal of not having to irrigate AT ALL and I feel so fantastic about that! What a journey this has been so far, researching, finding out all sorts of new information, learning new skills. 

 

Just recently we hosted another workshop here at the farm, mentored by that amazing and supportive team at NRM - Natural Resource Management. They are fully onboard with a our goal to regenerate this land without chemical fertilisers, fungicides and pesticides and have given us SO MUCH good advice and encouragement. We've also found great help from Ardent Seeds, who are developing seed varieties especially for Tasmanian conditions. Invaluable! 

We've planted several different varieties of clover, for instance, which come into flower at slightly different times and some with very deep roots, up to half a metre long!

 

So, BEFORE and AFTER:

Below is the view looking down at the valley. The first week we arrived it was SO DRY! And those huge tree stumps had to go. (some were 2 metres diameter!) I wanted a garden bed but it took over 18 months to figure out how to do it and what would be suitable. Burning out the stump roots took over a week, of stoking the fires inside with extra wood,. Our neighbour pushed them all into a huge bonfire with his excavator. Then the task of bringing up many tonnes of soil to flatten and smooth the area, then to put down cardboard mulch, topped with a thick layer of silage mulch and FINALLY to plant out the planned bed of silver birches and the understorey plantings of native and exotic bushes, such as native mint, Golden Diosma, scented thyme, irises, Genista Cuphea 'Stardust', Escalonia and many others. 

 

January 2018 facing the valley

Winter 2020 facing the valley

 

 

 

 

February 2022 facing the valley

 

Special considerations when planting:

What goes in the hole -

When planting, we dug a large hole, twice as big and deep as the root ball, then filled it with layers of silage, a handful of Dynamic Lifter pellets, some Nutrisoil and dirt, making sure it was all wetted as we went and that the crown on the tree/plant was level with the dirt. This made sure the roots had goodies straight away and could find their way down deeper into the native soil. 

 

Staking for strength -

Because we're on top of a hill we face very strong winds at times, especially in winter, so staking the trees was hugely important in order for them to grow straight up. We used up to three stakes from different angles, depending on the tree.

Ongoing maintenance -

The fabulous thing about this fast growing bed is that it is relatively weed free. Very little work to do! The thick mulch has already broken down into the soil once and so I piled on another layer of thick cardboard and silage again this summer. The mycorrhizal cycle has been established, which means the fungal communicators are active, enabling the plants and nutrients in the soil to interact. Yay!