Permaculture course - 2005

In 2005, I completed a Permaculture course in Adelaide and designed the small property we now live on in the Limestone Coast in South Australia. I love to learn,design,create and share what I am passionate about and what I discover.

I have been fortunate to have worked with many elderly people during my life that have shared their gardening tips and tricks with me.

My garden is an experiment as much as anything. We have 5 acres of land which was once a quarry. The site is on a slope and half of it has been scalped by machinery. It has a combination of soils and surfaces spread over it including sand, clay, limestone, bedrock and the lovely red terra rosa dirt.

My main experiment is to grow the gardens and revegetate it only on rainfall. 

We are fortunate to average 750ml a year, but that is an average since 1923. In 2006, we only had 485ml, and was the year I began planting.  I have hedged my bets and planted shrubs and trees in the well draining areas that only need 200-400ml per year, similar to Adelaide; and indigenous species and vegetable gardens and orchard where the soil is richer and deeper. 

Looking down the hill in the photo, the red terra rossa soil is now the vegetable garden. The house sits on higher ground to the left. The vegetable garden is watered from its own rainwater tank which gravity fills from the overflow of the two rainwater tanks for the house.