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You are here: Home / Archives for Permaculture Method

Intensive Fruit Orchard at Yandina Community Gardens

16/01/2020 By

Colleen, YCG President, was inspired after researching intensive orchards in small areas, as practiced in Europe and the US, to try this in our gardens. We submitted a grant application to celebrate the Sunshine Coast’s 40th Birthday celebrations, in May 2017, and the Sunshine Coast Council approved $700 to cover the costs of trees, netting and the construction of an espalier.

This is an example of espalier method with a fruit tree in Europe…

We wanted to demonstrate that growing a variety of fruit trees is possible even in an average back yard by planting them very close together and that espaliers usually associated with apples and pears can be applied to sub-tropical fruit trees such as custard apples and mangos.

The design for the intensive orchard followed the recommendations set out by the Dave Wilson Nursery in California (https://www.davewilson.com/home-gardens/backyard-orchard-culture).

Renate, a regular volunteer, researched fruit tree varieties that are suitable for our climate (low-chill) and can be grouped close together. We planted three groups of trees (apples & plums, stone fruit, and sub-tropicals) which will be kept pruned to “head-height” for ease of harvest and to encourage air flow.

Trees were sourced locally from Oasis Fruit Trees, Sunray Nursery, Coles Creek. They included a Sun Snow and Sundowner Nectarine, China Flat and Tropic Beauty Peach, Anna and Dorset Apple, Early Blood Plum, Fuyu Persimmon, Carambola, Bengal Lychee, Longan, and Feijoa. The Nam Doc Mai Mango and African Pride Custard Apple were planted against the post and wire fence.

 

 

Some of our Volunteers with our first harvest in November 2019

Funds were approved late June 2017 after volunteers had already dismantled and removed the old besser-block raised garden beds. We then planted a cover crop in preparation for the fruit trees that were planted during Spring/Summer 2017. West Indian Lemon Grass surrounds the beds.

Renate oversaw tip pruning of the trees and in October 2019 we were able to cover the peaches and nectarines with wildlife-friendly netting to enjoy a prolific and delicious harvest during November.

Nets are now off and when the rain returns trees will be well-pruned (back to head height) and well fertilised with worm juice, compost, and a bit of potassium ready for next year’s crop.

Filed Under: Permaculture Method, Sustainable Living Tagged With: apples, espalier, fruit orchard, Intensive orchard, orchard, plums, stone fruit

Wanted: Positive Changemakers

16/01/2020 By

Permaculture Educators program with Morag Gamble

The message is loud and clear. The Earth urgently needs care, repair, and regeneration. We need more permaculture teachers in the world – practical educators, designer & activists. Will you join us in the Permaculture Educators Program in 2020 & be a positive changemaker? It’s online, flexible, friendly, comprehensive, self-paced, global & with lots of support. Save $500 by joining before February 1. Remember, if you book through the Yandina Community Garden website, we make a donation to the gardens. Read more here: https://ourpermaculturelife.com/be-a-permaculture-teacher/

Filed Under: Permaculture Method Tagged With: Changemakers, Morag Gamble, Permaculture

Saturday, 14 December 2019, 9-11am, The Magic of Swales with Danial Lawton

14/11/2019 By

Optimal harvesting and retaining of water is a key element of Permaculture
design. Danial will explain how water can be effectively managed through design
of swales and level sill spillways.

Book here

About the presenter:

Danial Lawton permaculture consultant, a second-generation permaculturalist in his work as a permaculture consultant, educator, entrepreneur and permaculture philanthropist.
Set in motion with a permaculture design course at the tender age of thirteen in Tena, Ecuador, Danial followed up with a Permaculture Diploma in site development, site design, and research.
At university Danial crammed in a Bachelor of Environmental science with double majors in ecology; conservation biology and Land; water management, a Masters in Environmental management and most recently a Masters in Environmental engineering.
With 20 years experience in the Permaculture field, Danial has worked for international permaculture projects in Central and South America, as water systems manager for Tagari farm (PRI Australia) and later as farm manager for
Zaytuna farm (PRI Australia).

Within this time Danial has taught and facilitated a variety of Permaculture design and hands on courses through Griffith University, PRI Australia, Northey Street City Farm, Noosa Forest Retreat and many others.

Danial Lawton permaculture consultant draws on environmental science and permaculture principles to design sustainable systems worldwide and for local Australian clients and government organisations.

Filed Under: Permaculture Method, Recent Workshops Tagged With: Danial Lawton, earthworks, Permaculture, Permaculture in action, swales

Do you want to understand more about Cover Crops? Dave Clark explains how it works

17/10/2019 By

We are very fortunate to have Dave’s expertise in hosting many of the workshops at YCG and also volunteering his time in the Gardens, if you visit the Blue House you’ll be able to see some of Dave’s cover crop work in action. For the science behind this please read Dave’s article that follows:

We recently watched a presentation by Dr Christine Jones called Quorum Sensing in the Soil Microbiome, and strongly recommend it, however, in short:

The “Ah-ha” for us was photos of an agricultural experimental area where a paddock had been sown to crop in bare ground; no mulch, no cover crop. The area was currently in drought, and it looked very poorly. Adjacent was a paddock with the same crop and a 6-species cover crop looking somewhat better, but definitely stressed. In a corner of that field was a small area, about 100square m, where the cover crop mix had been expanded to 27 with the addition of a bunch of leftover seeds. This area was vibrant with crop and cover crop species growing vigorously and showing no stress whatever.

 

Back to the beginning: On this planet there are 550 Gigatonnes of carbon life forms (a GT is a billion tons) of which 450 GT is plants, 93 GT microbes various, and 7 GT of lifeforms we can see; insects, fish, birds, moluscs, animals and us. Of the total biomass of life on Earth humans total .01% by weight!

(Remember there are more microbes in a teaspoon of real soil than there are people on the Planet) We are embedded in a microbial world and they are embedded within us … there is no such thing as an independent life form.

 

It has been shown that animals which graze in a pasture rich in secondary plant compounds; tree leaves, forbs, weeds etc; have increased microbial diversity in the gut, increased ability to digest a wide variety of feeds, improved feed conversion efficiency and improved immune function. Likewise with us, people who consume 30 or more different plant foods per week* have healthier gut microbiomes and fewer health issues. The standard American Diet (& SAD is a very appropriate acronym) has been simplified to 5 basic foods and ours isn’t much better in some quarters. In the soil, plant pests and disease, low nutrient density and poor plant productivity are linked to to a low diversity in the soil microbiome.

 

This totally validates Permaculture’s long-held conviction that diversity in all things is of paramount importance!

 

A diversity of plants gives a diversity of root system profiles which give diversity in the soil microbiome. Thus it is for cover crops; diversity is paramount.

 

The Jena Biodiversity Experiment (Germany 2008) showed that diversified crops/covers support each other in times of stress (ie drought). More is better and there is NO competition. A diversity of cover crop plants can replace fertilizer with greater productivity. Soil carbon also increased with species richness and more plant species = more soil Carbon. In monocultures it declined over time. As well as more carbon and more nutrient availability in the soil, cover crop diversity created deeper soil. There is an 8 minute video on the Jena Biodiversity Experiment on YouTube.

 

A more local example recently was the Smith’s Wilith Farm in Atiamuri, NZ. They had ash soil with high sulpur content and extremely low fertility. Every known nutrient was required and they spent a fortune on chemicals to support their dairy. Three years ago after a workshop they changed their approch adding biostimulants then plant diversity and have created 6inches of soil since. Outcomes included CEC increased 50%; all nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorous increased although none were added; Total Organic Carbon level in the top 8” trippled; milk production increased by 300liters; cow fertility increased by 80% and somatic cell count (which relates to mastitis and the price, if anything, that the milk company pays you) halved.

 

Plant diversity improves animal nutrition, growth rates, milk production & conception rates while reducing dependence on vets and building soil.

 

All the above is due to Quorum Sensing! In the microbial world QS refers to density dependent coordinated behaviour that regulates gene expression in the microbe population and/or the host plant or animal. It depends on the numbers and diversity of the microbe population and it occurs in bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses. If we carefully exhume a plant from healthy soil and it has a mass of soil and glomalin (the rhizosheath, which forms around the rhizosphere or root zone) attached, this is QS in action.

 

Similarly microbiota in our gut can switch our genes on or off and many of the autoimmune diseases we (now) have are due to the genes we need for immunity having been switched off due to our oversimplified diet. Without diversity in our gut biome these genes cannot be activated.

 

Dr Christine Jones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8_i1EzR5U8

Jena Biodiversity Experiment, Germany

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3SvG2nBCTM

 

30+ plant based foods each week example:

 

Lemon/limes

Tumeric & Black Pepper

Ginger

Banana

Pawpaw

Passionfruit/Carambolas/Strawberries

LEAVES (young) of Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Dandelion, Moringa, Chicory, Broadleaf Plantain, Amaranth, Cranberry hibiscus, Farmers’ Friends (Cobblers’ pegs), Brahmi, Gota Kola

Spinach leaves – Sambung, Brazil, Lagos, Surinam, Okinawa, Tahitian

Herbs – try them all

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Onions

Eggplants

Capsicum

Chilli

Choko

Sweet potatoes

Pumpkin

Carrots

Celery

Avocado

Mushroom

Coco yam

Cassava and Taro root

Garlic

Olives, olive oil

Rice

Coconut oil

Chia seeds

Hemp hulls

Fenugreek seeds

Linseed/Flaxseed

Sunflower seeds

 

Filed Under: Fact Sheet, Permaculture Method, Recent Events Tagged With: biodiversity, Cover crops, Dave Clark, microbiome, nutrition, Permaculture in action

The Power Of Diverse Cover Crops

18/06/2019 By

We recently watched a presentation by Dr Christine Jones called Quorum Sensing in the Soil Microbiome, and strongly recommend it, however, in short:

The “Ah-ha” for us was photos of an agricultural experimental area where a paddock had been sown to crop in bare ground; no mulch, no cover crop. The area was currently in drought, and it looked very poorly. Adjacent was a paddock with the same crop and a 6-species cover crop looking somewhat better, but definitely stressed. In a corner of that field was a small area, about 100square m, where the cover crop mix had been expanded to 27 with the addition of a bunch of leftover seeds. This area was vibrant with crop and cover crop species growing vigorously and showing no stressYandina Community Gardens cover crops whatever.

Back to the beginning: On this planet there are 550 Gigatonnes of carbon life forms (a GT is a billion tons) of which 450 GT is plants, 93 GT microbes various, and 7 GT of lifeforms we can see; insects, fish, birds, moluscs, animals and us. Of the total biomass of life on Earth humans total .01% by weight!

(Remember there are more microbes in a teaspoon of real soil than there are people on the Planet) We are embedded in a microbial world and they are embedded within us … there is no such thing as an independent life form.

It has been shown that animals which graze in a pasture rich in secondary plant compounds; tree leaves, forbs, weeds etc; have increased microbial diversity in the gut, increased ability to digest a wide variety of feeds, improved feed conversion efficiency and improved immune function. Likewise with us, people who consume 30 or more different plant foods per week* have healthier gut microbiomes and fewer health issues. The standard American Diet (& SAD is a very appropriate acronym) has been simplified to 5 basic foods and ours isn’t much better in some quarters. In the soil, plant pests and disease, low nutrient density and poor plant productivity are linked to to a low diversity in the soil microbiome.

Diverse cover crops at Yandina Community GardensThis totally validates Permaculture’s long-held conviction that diversity in all things is of paramount importance!

A diversity of plants gives a diversity of root system profiles which give diversity in the soil microbiome. Thus it is for cover crops; diversity is paramount.

The Jena Biodiversity Experiment (Germany 2008) showed that diversified crops/covers support each other in times of stress (ie drought). More is better and there is NO competition. A diversity of cover crop plants can replace fertilizer with greater productivity. Soil carbon also increased with species richness and more plant species = more soil Carbon. In monocultures it declined over time. As well as more carbon and more nutrient availability in the soil, cover crop diversity created deeper soil. There is an 8 minute video on the Jena Biodiversity Experiment on YouTube.

A more local example recently was the Smith’s Wilith Farm in Atiamuri, NZ. They had ash soil with high sulpur content and extremely low fertility. Every known nutrient was required and they spent a fortune on chemicals to support their dairy. Three years ago after a workshop they changed their approch adding biostimulants then plant diversity and have created 6 inches of soil since. Outcomes included CEC increased 50%; all nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorous increased although none were added; Total Organic Carbon level in the top 8” tripled; milk production increased by 300 liters; cow fertility increased by 80% and somatic cell count (which relates to mastitis and the price, if anything, that the milk company pays you) halved.

Plant diversity improves animal nutrition, growth rates, milk production & conception rates while reducing dependence on vets and building soil.

All the above is due to Quorum Sensing (QS)! In the microbial world QS refers to density dependent coordinated behaviour that regulates gene expression in the microbe population and/or the host plant or animal. It depends on the numbers and diversity of the microbe population and it occurs in bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses. If we carefully exhume a plant from healthy soil and it has a mass of soil and glomalin (the rhizosheath, which forms around the rhizosphere or root zone) attached, this is QS in action.

Similarly microbiota in our gut can switch our genes on or off and many of the autoimmune diseases we (now) have are due to the genes we need for immunity having been switched off due to our oversimplified diet. Without diversity in our gut biome these genes cannot be activated.

Dr Christine Jones

Jena Biodiversity Experiment, Germany

30+ plant based foods each week example:

Lemon/limes

Tumeric/Ginger/Black Pepper

Gota Kola

Banana

Pawpaw

Passionfruit/Carambolas/Strawberries

LEAVES (young) of Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Dandelion, Moringa, Chicory, Broadleaf Plantain, Amaranth

Spinach leaves – Sambung, Brazil, Lagos, Surinam, Okinawa, Tahitian

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Onions

Eggplants

Capsicum

Chilli

Choko

Sweet potatoes

Pumpkin

Carrots

Celery

Avocado

Mushroom

Coco yam/Cassava

Garlic

Olives, olive oil

Rice

Coconut oil

Filed Under: Permaculture Method Tagged With: biodiversity, Cover crops

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