As far as possible we are on good terms with nature at our place.
We haven’t used pesticides, weedicides or artificial fertilisers since we moved in.
To repay us, our various gardens are rambunctious fields of blooming trees, pretty flowers, fresh veggies and colourful fungus. We have birds, bees, other insects, and small lizards and skinks. Occasionally we’ve found blue tongues and stumpy lizards. Also rats, unfortunately.
I love gardens, but I don’t like making work for myself. So we buy organic, heritage and open-pollinated seed. The extra outlay of a few dollars here and there for these seeds is good economy over the long term, as nature then steps in and does the work, self-seeding new plants for no money and little effort on our part.
It’s quite a fun way to garden.
We have lettuces turning up in the most unusual of places, and if a tomato plant pops up somewhere uninvited, we simply stick a trellis around it and let it provide us with delicious fruit for free. The bees love to see borage appearing like magic, and any growing in an inconvenient place is pulled up and stuck in the compost bins, where they help its decomposition. This year we have a whole row of self-seeded parsley, just perfect for tabouli.
We improved our productive areas last year, after pulling out the remains of our backyard habitat garden. It had served us and our fellow creatures for over twenty years. We had already planted another habitat garden in another area, of course, when we saw it was dying off. Catering for our fellow earthlings is imperative. But we used the cleared space of the old one judiciously. We moved our bananas in there from an inconvenient area, set up veggie patches, planted a pair of orange trees and a grape vine, and put in two small native grevilleas and a couple of clambering thornless banksia rose against the fence. Comparing last year’s photos with today’s view is quite a thrill.
A little hard work to set it up, then hopefully nature can do the rest with minimal input from us apart from watering and feeding. Then we can peacefully enjoy it alongside the fascinating creatures that will share it with us.
That’s the kind of gardening I love.
Joni Page 