Humble Permaculture Beginnings ......

 Early development stages of starting a permaculture garden in our small back yard....we started in February by pulling out old steps and re-using on the other side... and adding retaining walls to get the actual structure right ... removed the lawns by mulching and set up 4 additional raised garden beds on the top section of the yard.....planted mature fruit trees...added two pear, an apricot and an orange tree to join the two lemon, mandarin, lime, loquat, plum, fig and 3 apple trees.....fenced off a large section around the chook pen and had new gates put up in place of the old farm gate at the back.



The old steps and concrete gone

new retaining walls and plantings



This was the big mess from February when we had the additional retaining wall built

I'm pretty happy with what we have achieved in 3 months to get from the picture above to the vegie gardens we have now... my man and I put in a lot of hours moving 20 cubic metres of garden mulch over the top of cardboard (I kept the boxes from when we moved in) to get rid of the back-lawn.  We removed the clothes line and installed a wall-mounted unit alongside the garage/utility area to free up more gardening space.

Three months later we now have four additional metal raised garden beds and things are taking off.

I have planted passionfruit vines and kiwi fruit vines along the fences as I need to try and create a more temperate climate in the yard as it was very hot during summer with little protection for the vegie gardens...hopefully the fruit trees will also take off and provide a bit of shade in the afternoon.

A herb spiral planted out with chamomile and various flower bulbs
also can just see one of the 3 new smaller raised garden beds waiting to be filled.



 The three water tanks were already here when we moved in and they water the garden and flush the toilets inside...It really connects you to the garden when you can keep tabs on your water usage and you love to hear the rain fall and fill up your tanks !!. 

Potatoes look like they are going well...loads of broccoli already and cauliflower coming along,
rhubarb, brussel sprouts and silver beet down the end bed and artichokes at the back near the citrus trees.
 

The herb garden seems happy in this spot along the wall ...the big plant this end is Chia...see how it goes.

There's carrots, beetroot, cabbage,  garlic, kale, snow peas, sugar snaps, lettuce
spinach, broad beans, capsicums and chilli . 

 There is still such a long way to go and so much to learn....the compost bins and the worm farm are slowly creating the much needed goodies to put back in to the soil...the beehive should be here in a month or two....we hope to put in a little water feature to encourage native birds and beneficial insects..I'm trying to create a food forest in the back yard and hopefully be almost self sufficient for fruit and vegies.  It's a couple of years away but I'm really enjoying the journey. 

If anyone has any good tips please share them.....I'm still a beginner.