Kate Vereshaka

Hi!

We have a competition size tennis court (20m x 40m) that we'd like to convert into an annual garden. It is just compacted clay, dug out about 1.5ft below the surrounding land. After a rain, it will be around 1/3 covered with some tough grasses and weeds, but is generally mostly just a red clay cover, teaming with ants. Since the court is already enclosed, since it sits at the bottom of 3 small slopes, and since it is in close proximity to the house, it makes sense (according to my logic) to convert it to a veggie garden.

So far I've looked into hugelkultur, but being in a very hot Australian region with periods of drought each year, it isn't logical to have 5ft tall beds. I then looked into a reverse kind of hugelkultur where pits are dug and filled with organic matter. As we mostly only have access to eucalyptus tree logs which take forever to break down, it would only be possible to use very bulky mulch topped with manure, twigs etc. However, the more I read, the more evidence there is to suggest that disturbing the soil is always a bad idea and that it's better to build new soil on top of the existing layer. I also read that there are dangers when digging into clay soil for planting as because its so compacted, the water gets trapped there and can't escape. At the same time, I've read that this method is good for dryer regions as it holds the water and keeps the plant roots cooler. All in all, I'm pretty confused with all the conflicting info, which I understand is all true based on different regions and circumstances. I just can't find many examples or sources that are specific to my own circumstances.

One thing I know for sure is that nothing can be planted on the tennis court without a help from us, or without waiting a couple of hundred years for it to repair itself. I'm just wondering if anyone can give me some advice that would be specific to our climate and situation so that we can avoid making big mistakes?

At this point, the idea was to dig various sized pits and fill with mulch and organic matter, and have lawn mower wide paths in between which would be planted with living mulches/green manures that could be deposited on the beds after each mow.

Thanks in advance for any help!!!

Kate

Hi there! I've done my PDC course recently and my head is filled with all kinds of diverse information, but I haven't the faintest about some really basic things like "where should I position my garden on my property?". I haven't been a garden person, or even much of an outdoors person for a lot of my life, so perhaps I'm missing some really basic knowledge - apologies if this is the case.

I'm wanting to design a basically empty 1.5ac block of land in rural NSW Australia to include a food forest and some large veggie gardens to provide enough food for 3 families. The property is all sloping from East-West, and slightly from North-South, without any real flat area at all. It's not a really steep slope, but it's definitely not flat enough to build any kind of structure on. Sorry I can't be more specific...

So, in this scenario, where would I position things? Would the larger trees go on the northern side, or would it block light being up the hill? Where would garden beds best be positioned? If I was going to put in swales, where would they be best? Is it better to have them closer to the top only and plant the trees along them, leaving space for the garden beds lower down?

I know it might be hard to answer such general questions, but general answers will be way better than nothing.

Thanks in advance for any advice.