Backyard Farming Forum
Bringing food production home

hi guys.
some of you guys might know us from the BYAP forum, for those who don't we are in Perth Western Australia trying to utilise our tiny backyard (100-120 square meters) for really a trial to see what we can grow in builders fill and how to optimise the growing capability of limited space. i have a bit of a farming background so if you see wheat and canola crops come up don't be too surprised (never done canola but it could be fun...).

oh some pics so you can see what we have done, they're pretty old might have to get the camera out in the backyard soon.

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D&N

hey freebz good to see you here. I always forget how poor the soil is around Perth

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contentment

I think of Perth sand as a blank canvas, is is a vey good basis to build the soil structure into what can become a very good medium fo growing veggies. If you go to a soild supply place and look at their veggie mix it appears to be about 80% sand and 20% organic mater. The sand allows good penetration of the water and the organic mater retains the water in the sand to stop it draining away and provides the nutrient for plant growth. So rather then buy in a complete veggie soil you can save time and money by just adding the organic mater to the sand you already have.

Mitch seems to have good success in gutless Jandakot soil:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=40

And Peasants too:

viewtopic.php?t=527

See here for Mitch's composting tips:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=27

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Why did the chicken cross the road? ... To have her motives questioned.

yep theres at least 4 trailer loads of assorted composts/manures in the backyard alone. we have a compost bin that has been going for some time but as we don't leave much in the way of compostable waste the worm farm gets first feed and the composter gets whats left not much though. infact most of the vegies we are growing come from whats germinated in the worm farm even when you think theres not enough left to germinate (we get corn germinating out of the cob after cooking/boiling it)

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D&N

Hi Freebz..... we are near Jandakot. Know what you mean about the soil, though after many years ours is full of organic matter and lots of worms!

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Peasants

If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.
Cicero

our Aquaponics thread
https://www.facebook.com/mccarthy.park
http://www.mccarthypark.com.au

Gday Freebz

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Ben

Bender's Backyard
Bender's Aquaponics System

if you want to improve your dirt (sand)with a local product I use. Try these guys and check out there garden while your there
Eureka Organic Compost - Home Page www.eurekacompost.com/