THE BUILD
Watering Systems
I've seen plenty of videos on watering systems but this bloke (Aussie retired military veteran in SE Qld) has a pretty no bullshit approach to his garden. He’s got tonnes of good videos too, worth subscribing. This isn’t the automation side of things, but it’s a good look at a simple solution to set up the plumbing side. I understand the necessity of the automation when you’re away travelling for a long time but ALSO here’s the same guy explaining why he prefers to water by hand
GREENHOUSE
So, greenhouses are good for cold climates and tropical vegetables. They do mitigate a little SOME pests, but, just as you get bugs inside the house, they do get inside greenhouse also and due to the abundance of food, generally thrive in there. I’d say a greenhouse would be useful for propagating for seed (seeds need higher/consistent temps to germinate) and to keep a few key essentials going year long. The low-commitment option is a small pre-fab one from Bunnings (about the size of a wardrobe cupboard) or the hoop house i previously sent you.
FRUIT CAGE
As previously discussed, fruit cages are really just a good way of preventing pests like birds and wallabies into the crop. This issue hasn’t really come up for you or me before but if you do intend on growing a high yield, partly self sustaining garden I understand that this might be handy.
THE PLANTING
Right Plant for the season
Gardenate is the best website/app I’ve found for Australian gardening. It gives you the season you should be planting every crop you could imagine and also tons of other info like spacing and companion plants. You can make a sort of journal of what you have planted and what you intend to plant and it will send reminders too.
Crop Rotation
Before you start planting out each bed its good to have a basic outline-timeline of what is to be planted next in that same bed. Different plants need different nutrients and leave different nutrients too. Also pests can build up if they have a constant access to the same plant year in year out…particularly subterranean ones.
Companion Planting
Companion planting is simply knowing what plants work in a symbiotic way with each other in the same garden bed. Basil and Tomato is the most commonly known one but theres tonnes more, also similarly…there are plants that should never been planted together.
DAILY WORK
Picking fruit/veg early.
Preventing them to ‘go to seed’ is ESSENTIAL daily practice. When a plant believes it has generated a fruit that could provide seed for the next year, It will go to the next stage of its life cycle and focus all it’s energy on growing potential seeds for next years crop rather than creating fruit. This video explains it pretty well.
Pest Control
Basically, as you have probably noted, a well managed garden isn’t super attractive to pests. Knowing when to plant/when to harvest is 80% of the battle. I think you’ll quickly see this guy gets massive yields and a constant perennial supply of essentials veggies without much caging/greenhouses.
COMPOST
There are people who’ve dedicated their entire life to creating the perfect compost system, elaborate and delicately balanced systems that take hours of weekly work and testing. I think keep it simple and sustainable is the best idea, Costa's version is great. I think currently your compost is heavy of the ‘green waste’ matter and getting fairly low brown and almost no maintenance and management. Looking into a system where you can make “compost tea” is the next step from here.
