Scraps' Outdoor Organic Babylon

[sargentscraps]

As I have just finished Uni studies and what not, I have finally got time to start the epic journey of building my big produce garden. I've wanted to do this for a long time now.....always had smaller gardens but never one of this scale.

The area I have in mind is north facing on a slope with access to a full day of sun. Just recently the area has been excavated thus my journey begins. I have sketched some average plans to give me and everyone else an idea of what I'm attempting...(pictures should be attached).

The excavator put in two terraces, as you can hopefully gauge from the pictures, the guy in the photo is standing on the top one. The top terrace is going to have 2 garden beds, a pergola for me to sit in and observe with table and chairs, as well as the entrance gate and a path with an archway at the top of the stairs leading down to the second level. On the second level will be the main growing area with 3 beds about 2.5m long each and about 1m wide, as well as lattice for passion fruits and climbers and what not. Now on the level below this that hasn't been excavated, so in other words it's just a gradual slope from the second terrace down to grass......will be a small orchid consisting of maybe 4ish large trees, haven't quite decided yet as I need some better advice from the right people, rather than my own limited knowledge.

The entire garden is going to be fenced with something along the lines of colorbond, cast iron, preferably recycled.....going to try and get my hands on some that people are throwing out. Its going to surround the garden probably about 40cm high, but a good bit of it will be dug into the ground to stop little bastards digging under. Then above that is going to be chicken wire to stop roo's, wallabies, deer and what ever else tries to get in.....and its reasonably cheap. All in all it will be around 6ft high.

The garden is also going to be irrigated from a pump connected to a timer from a tank behind the garden, this tank is massive.....couldn't tell you how many litres, but its got a diameter of at least 6M and is around 2M high....and its full. My idea/dream is to run the irrigation above the garden, most likely fixed to the fence on a sprinkler system...........I know it's not as efficient as drip irrigation under the soil, but it means I don't have to have lines running through the beds and I can have pot plants and other plants all around the garden that will get watered. The irrigation is the part I'm going to pay someone to do as my knowledge is very limited........asides from a good quality gravity system in the forest and I don't want to mess with the pressure of that tank connecting pumps, lines and what not up to it.

This garden isn't going to be tended to daily, that's why so much effort is going into making it be effective on its own, hence the fence and watering system. It is also going to have two compost bays that will be on rotation and of course the garden is going to be 100% Organic, I'm a big believer in organics, not gonna go into why, I just can't get enough of it.

Anyway I think I outlined the majority of what's planned, I'm aiming to get this up and running hopefully by the end of summer, but things always take longer than expected. If anyone has any suggestions/tips feel free to contribute, other wise just pop in every now and then, have a look and enjoy the journey......

Cheers Scraps

 

http://www.hostpic.org/images/31Garden_Design.jpg http://www.hostpic.org/images/34Measurements.jpg

 

 

 

http://www.hostpic.org/images/12slopes.jpg

Edited November 20, 2011 by sargentscraps

[uncle chron]

. Edited November 20, 2011 by uncle chron

[The Hash Nibbler]

Sounds like a grand plan Scraps =) , gonna be a heap of work, but a lovely garden when ya done, to enjoy for years. Looks like an awesome location too. Have fun. Peace. gh72

[smashed1]

hi scraps , looks great love the veiw , ill be watching this ,

[Naycha]

Welcome back, looking forward to seeing how the project has come along.

[billygoat]

Haha, that's a long time between posts. Reading the original post, is the tank topped up from a dam or similar ? As big at seems, may dry out pretty quick irrigating a garden of that size, particularly when it is establishing itself...

[crow]

Awesome sargentscraps.  Fantastic location.  Really glad you came back to update this and looking forward to seeing how it's going now.

[sargentscraps]

Yeah has been some time since I've been on here. Unfortunately haven't grown for a few years, been more focused on other things including this. 

Anyway here's some shots. 

 

Here's a photo from a year ago or so of the finished garden. The photos don't do justice to the productivity of the garden and how much is being grown, nevertheless it allows you to see the overall perspective. 

 

 

This is one from the bottom tier in the orchard section, there are about 9 fruit trees which are all substantially bigger now. Installed a net that encloses the entire section, pretty nice..unfortunately don't have a shot of that. Already harvested lots of apples, apricots and blood plums. 

 

 

And just a few shots of some produce. 

 

 

 

 

 

Five years on and I'm about to put the compost bays in, after that maybe the pergola dream will come to fruition. 

 

Anyway that's it for now. Growing your own is second to none, you learn a hell of a lot about what food is actually meant to look and taste like, and when I say taste, I mean taste in a magical sense. It's bloody unbelievable. 

 

I'm trying to close the loop even more so to speak, trying to look into getting a little seed bank together and learning how to harvest and store them for years to come. That way it becomes even more self sufficient. 

Anyway I'll leave it there.

 

Cheers!

Scraps 

Edited January 31, 2016 by sargentscraps

[Naycha]

Bloody awesome!

[crow]

Great work sarg, must be so rewarding enjoying all that produce.  And awesome that you've netted the orchard!