Suburbia…
-Chickens …still my number one. They’re multifunctional. Eggs, soil tillers, fertilisers, prep soil (they’ve killed my kikuyu that countless hours of digging didn’t manage in areas they’ve been in…bonus. And with the right ones if you want, meat. Homegrown, you know what goes into them. So you know the quality coming out. If you are allowed roosters then your supply is ongoing. Not allowed one here sadly. And they’re fun.
-Comfrey (non seeding) for planting around fruit tree drip lines and elsewhere, and useful for great fertiliser…dump a whole lot into a rubbish bin…add water…leave until broken down, smelly ++.dilute and use. I’ve also tried not using water and leaving to break down…not smelly til you dilute it to use it.
-Worm farm. With Kombushi, worms and chooks (and 2 dogs) I don’t do compost, but I do chop and drop instead. Plus add the rest with occasional horse Pooh if I go past any.
-perennial veges…cabbages, asparagus, scarlet runner beans, Welsh onions, other multiplying onions, trying yacon and Jerusalem artichokes….carbon biomass for the garden if nothing else, and a crop which hopefully I’ll like. Strawberries…runners keep on giving….One plant gave me 12 runners…let a few run for replacements, but keep the rest for strawberries. I consider my chard/silver beets perennial as they self seed anywhere. Choko/chayote. Chili Rocoto (orange red and yellow if they grow. Rhubarb.
-root veges you like….potatoes, kumera (sweet potato), carrots (experiment) and radishes
Annual veges…tomato, chili peppers, salads , hopefully beans green and dried, which I have far too many.etc
-berries, blueberries, grapes, strawberries,
Herbs for flavouring and starting to learn about medicinal uses, and expanding from pots to permanent places. And for tea making. Even have a camellia sinensis to try (real tea plant).
Flowers - poppy for seed, marigolds (herbal), love lies bleeding …just because! Granny’s bonnets, roses and bulbs because they were my mums and nanas.
Temperate/subtropical micro climates….feijoa, mulberry, 2 stone fruit (cut down to stumps when they sold the place and regrowing nicely but no idea what they are) plus some Asian apple I’m told…probably a Nashis, loquats self seeding…don’t like them so they’re going to make way for a food forest. I’d love apples but they don’t do well. I have a suitable cherry and a Meyer lemon, bearers lime, and a fig to plant.
I’m in the burbs. So limited cheap good fertiliser. Cheap bought compost killed my garden at a previous home. Lesson learnt. So fertilisers are important.
I have some basket willows in a bucket. But probably won’t find a home. Wanted to have a go at basket making. But everywhere is near water pipes or mains.i
If I get everything planted (it’s spring here) I’ll consider it a win. It’s one big experiment while hoping the 3 chooks don’t get out, and the dogs stop running through my gardens. I won’t start on my obsession with seeds (eyes bigger than your belly sort of thing). At the end of the day, increasing your resilience makes sense on many levels. Inflation hedge, but also redundancy, reduced work hours, sickness, natural disaster…hopefully not one that takes out your gardens.., retirement. And just to keep fit, healthy and be a bit more self reliant and know where some of it comes from. I’m also trying to get my 20 year old to eat more healthy. Basically plant what you like to eat, add in some experiments.
Water tanks…can’t forget that…I use rain water I collect to reduce reliance on town water and costs. At the moment it’s all a big mess with someone else’s junk stored here. Learn propagation and one plant becomes many. Do I really know what I’m doing…not really…but I want to learn. After I get into over abundance I’ll learn preserving, dehydrating, etc. Look at a root cellar. And stop worrying I’ll sort it , then need to move to be able to afford to retire. Otherwise I’ll keep procrastinating instead of going all in. Permaculture it is.
Oh…join a seed saving group…really cheap way to get started and learn.
