Six years ago we moved onto a weed infested rubbish tip. After a month we had planted a vege garden, fruit trees, nurse trees and natives.

 

After six years it looks like this.

 

In a coastal environment, the keys are wind protection and enhancing sandy soils.

 

This was the same corner a year later.

 

Wind protection is great for annuals too. This is a different fence line four years ago.

 

That fence line now looks like this: apples, plums, grapes, guava, Jerusalem artichoke, and a small annual vegetable garden.

 

The opposite corner of the section looked like this four years ago. Note the peach tree in the bottom left corner.

 

And now.

This area needed attention five years ago.

And today: feijoas, apples, olives

Reverse angle shot with firewood storage area in lower right corner.

In front of the house where there was overgrown grass, lupine and pampas lilly of the valley – and a large pile of rubbish – there is a grisselinia hedge for privacy and eventually wind protection.

This beautiful, super-abundant suburban permaculture property from scratch in six years has been included in David Holmgren’s RetroSuburbia project as the only case study outside of Australia.

A one-off tour/workshop on this property will be offered Sunday 12th February 1-4 PM.

Space is strictly limited.

Register: theecoschool at gmail dot com

 

Peace, Estwing