The Back Garden

There is going to be a big difference between our front and back gardens. For one thing, I will be master of the back garden, M. will be mistress of the front garden.

The back will be mostly vegies, herbs, fruit trees and (possibly) chooks; the front will be mostly native (and indigenous, where possible) plants.

Of course, the "front garden" is really made up of three different areas; and the back is made up of two, but that is the subject for another day.

Even though there are still a trillion things to do inside, yesterday I gathered up a 20 meter tape measure some stakes and a level and mapped out the back yard. I have worked out, more or less, how much room we have and have sketched out a rough plan for the garden. Here is the plan:

The red "X" marks the spot where the following photo was taken …

… so you can see what a fantasist I am!

The existing path will stay. At the end of the path will be a 7x3m greenhouse/glasshouse/hot-house, and tucked up in the left-hand corner (from this perspective) will be an open-air potting bench and compost bins.

Along the fence on the left-hand side of the path (again, from the perspective of the photo) will be a row of fruit trees.

On the right-hand side of the path will be five raised garden beds. The three furthest of these will be mostly annuals, in rotation; the two closest perennials and herbs.

The long rectangle in front of the fruit trees is a bench; and the spot where the "X" has been placed is on another bench, but this one will be covered one way or another, since it has to act as a privacy barrier. (Actually, the greenhouse is also a privacy barrier of sorts.)

The two fruit trees closest to the "X" will be in barrels. In a few years time the area they occupy (which is about 6m long and 1.5 to 3m wide) will be a chook house and run. I may even make it larger, and get a few more chooks, but council regulations may prevent us getting too ambitious in this direction.

It is also possible that the fruit tree closest to the potting bench may be replaced by a monster water tank, but since this is a couple of meters above roof height, and water would have to be pumped into it, I am not sure how practical this is. Still, it would be well-hidden, close to the glass house, and could gravity-feed all the fruit-trees and raised garden beds (and double as a back-up water supply in case of fire). So if we can work out a way to do this …

Below the glasshouse, on the far right-hand side of the path (just behind the spot where a fruit-tree stump still stands) we are thinking of putting a mulberry. It will have to be a well-pruned dwarf, otherwise our gutters will end up full of fruit! But, according to my permaculture book, they do well in moist spots, and this is a moist spot. In fact, I'd be hoping it would reduce the water that flows through the retaining wall into the garage every time it rains.

I will do posts on some of the individual elements of this design another time. But now it is time to get back out there!