A little bit of Fizzy Farming

fizzyj · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 12:13 am

Well about time I shared a few pics.

Have just embarked upon creating a 6 bed rotating wicking bed system. Each bed will be around 4.5m by 1.8m and made with recycled tin from last years storms. The tin will be supported by cca(bad) pine posts.
Pictures of 1 afternoon of work on the first bed - maybe the rest of this bed will get completed next weekend.

fizzyj · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 12:14 am

First wall going in

fizzyj · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 12:15 am

Second wall getting screwed to the posts.

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Jaymie · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 6:30 am

nice

Food&Fish · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 9:20 am

what are you using as a liner

fizzyj · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 9:52 pm

black plastic as a liner - 1 piece.

Peasants · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 10:25 pm

That is very neat...it will be great planted out!

Faye · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 11:56 am

Humungous! :thumb:

Simo · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 10:50 pm

Very nice, how about some pics of how the orchard is coming along after the fire?

fizzyj · **Posted:** Thu May 26, 2011 12:20 am

If you want to see some burnt dead trees I can post them but that would be quite disappointing.

Out of the ~60 trees/vines/berry bushes. There are 3 living trees, 1 raspberry bush and some grape vines. Actually the grapes seemed to enjoy it all!

I guess the orchard in that location was never meant to be and will be moving to a new more sheltered(wind) location.

You can see behind the one bed above are some newly planted olive trees - 5 frantoio and 5 picual.

Simo · **Posted:** Fri May 27, 2011 8:15 pm

bummer I thought maybe they were starting to bounce back, all the best for the new orchard.

Have you thought of putting swales in before planting the new trees?

I see you have a bucket on the tractor so should be pretty easy and it will definately improve the yeild of fruit. Trees that don't mind damp feet can go between the swales and citrus can be planted on the dirt mound at the front of the swale to aid drainage and get better winter growth.

fizzyj · **Posted:** Sat May 28, 2011 9:53 am

Simo - you got a link for some examples of the swales?

Simo · **Posted:** Sat May 28, 2011 4:48 pm

Yep, these should get you started:

http://permaculture.org.au/category/ear ... es/page/3/

http://www.harvesth2o.com/swales.shtml

http://www.wikihow.com/Dig-Swales

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swale_(geographic_feature)

The top one will have heaps or links on swales, but basically you dig a trench along conture lines (say about 10m apart) through the paddock you are going to put the orchard in and mound the dirt from the trench along the down hill side. When it rains the water gets trapped in the swales (like a long thin dam) and can slowly leach down into the soil where it reaches the roots of the trees planted down hill from it, rather than most of the rainwater just running over the surface of the soil with out sinking in.

Ideal water saving technique for our arid environment with erratic rainfall.

dufflight · **Posted:** Sat May 28, 2011 7:30 pm

You can also dig and bury old trees. They are like sponges as they break down. Makes gardens you don't have to water for 30yrs.

fizzyj · **Posted:** Sun May 29, 2011 10:17 pm

Bed being lined with black plastic and part filled with water.

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