Perimeter planting around the chook clock

About a 600mm strip around the edge is designated the perimeter planting. As per Linda Woodrow's book 'The Permaculture Home Garden' I have taken a three row approach. Whilst I have purchased a few tubes to start it off I am hoping to do more of my own propagation from seeds, cuttings and divisions over the next few years to get enough plants to go right around the chook clock. Must be patient...

The outer row has been started off as lemongrass. This is primarily to act as a barrier to keep the lawn grass from invading what will be vegetable garden. I do have some doubts over how successfully lemongrass will grow in this climate...particularly as I have planted it in Winter...and we had a light frost this morning... Oh well, have to wait and see!

The second row is comfrey, partly a second line of defence against grass creep, partly because the comfrey will send deep roots into the soil bringing up nutrients so that when I harvest leaves for use in the compost or as fruit tree mulch, they will add an enormous amount of goodness to the soil.

The inner row is a mix of herbs and flowers; thymes on the South edge which is slightly higher and dryer, mints on the lower North edge and oreganos to go around the sides. There's also, or will be, rosemary, lavender, sage, borage, wormwood, curry plant, tansy, a couple of climbing roses on the gate posts and, of course, some of my never-ending supply of alyssum. Some are edible, some are insect repelling or bee attracting, some just look pretty (after all the chook clock does have prime position in the centre of our backyard and we look at it from our lounge room window), and some appeal to the collector in me...why not grow every type of thyme/mint/oregano I can lay my hands on? I've got space...

Can't wait 'til they all grow a bit and bed in the whole structure.

Vermin-proof fence

 

 
 

 

 

 

Rabbits Can No Longer Enter The Orchard. The ugly temporary fences protecting the apples are finally gone...raspberry canes are free to flop around in the fresh air...suffocating chicken wire collars have been removed from all of the fruit trees. We started this particular project last August so feels Good (!) to be done. On a technical note we have buried the rabbit wire about 20mm deep and then 20mm out to stop burrowing under the fences. We also buried wire like this under the gates.

Foxes Will Not Enter The Chookrun. So says the trench digger (moi) and fence builder (he with the new tools). So much energy, effort and time has gone into this project that I will be very affronted if a wily fox thwarts our considerable efforts to thwart him. I wonder how many nights it will take without incident after we get the chooks before I can sleep freely? Again we buried 25mm cage wire down and out in a trench although it was slightly deeper this time as foxes are reputedly wilier than rabbits.

And, finally, No Goblins Shall Enter, or other folk of the Fairy Kingdom, though my girls may have some objections to that one.

What did you plant today?

 

 

I, (well, we actually, thanks Grandma & Poppa) planted peach, nectarine, blueberries, blackberries, persimmon, fig, pomegranate, almond, Pierre de Ronsard climbing roses, acacias, southwoods, Japanese maples, oakleaf hydangeas and several other herb/cottagey tubes in chook clock perimeter bed. Big day!

Sweet strawberries in six months...

 

The Summer petunias have been pulled out of their prime spot near the deck, a bit of horse manure and compost dug in, and 20 strawberry runners planted, half from a friend's garden and the other half, Cambridge Royal, purchased bare-rooted from The Diggers Club. They were given a light mulch of pine needles to acidify the soil and increase the flavour, although I am convinced any edible strawberry that comes out of my backyard will be exceptional due to flavour enhancing excitement and anticipation. Companion planting includes lettuces, borage, spinach and alyssum; borage because a website told me it will improve flavour; lettuce and spinach because a book told me strawberries like them and why shouldn't they be happy?; and alyssum will help attract bees and look pretty (plus I have grown an awful lot from seed so am now pretty much adding a plant or two whenever I plant anything else!)

The chickens are coming...the chickens are coming...

We have been making small but steady steps with this chook house/vegetable garden extravaganza . Getting the perimeter fence up felt like a big leap forward. It is almost finished. Close enough that I feel confident enough to put an arrival date on the chooks. 4 weeks away...max!