A Blank Canvas

Developing a new property from scratch is both an exciting challenge and a daunting experience.  This blog post summarises a brainstorm session of Food Garden Group members that recently took place during a visit to a rural property where new owners are starting with a blank canvas. It may assist others in the similar circumstances.

(photo by Kellie J)

Many thanks to everyone who came to this brainstorm event.  Your many and varied valuable comments made this a great session.  You will find most of them in the text below.  I decided not to specifically focus on Nick and Kellie's property in this blog post, but to mention points that would be relevant to rural properties in general.

People on smaller urban properties may find that many of the points mentioned below also apply to them.


In General

• Goals - Set yourself realistic goals, based on the time you have available, the amount of money you can spend (on fences, irrigation, livestock, plants, netted areas) and your energy levels.  Develop a step-by-step plan, and then, instead of starting many things and never finishing anything, work through your plan step by step. Avoid early costly mistakes resulting from doing things too early, too fast, or with too little knowledge. 

• Put it all in a map - Starting with what is there at present, envisage where new things might best be located. Point discussed below might help with that.  In general, put nearest to your house what you will access most frequently. Permaculture talks about zones around your house, based on frequency of use. 

• Talk to your neighbours - They will know many things that otherwise might take years to find out.  If you are nice to them, they may become an important asset to you, and introduce you to others in the local community.

Nick and Kellie (centre) showed us around their property

Your local climate

• Get a compass and determine where North is.  Try to predict how far the shade of your house, outbuildings and trees will reach in the middle of winter.  A sunny food garden in summer can become a cold shady under-productive area in winter, if put in the wrong spot.  Make sure your animals (chooks, pigs, whatever) can soak up winter sun in their allotted areas.

• Consider the aspect of the land and what this means for drainage.  Are there down-hill areas where trees create wind still spots where you can expect mist and frost to accumulate in winter?  Even in the middle of summer, this can be predicted.  Your neighbours' local knowledge may be helpful too.

• If you haven't been very long at  your property, your neighbours and the angle of trees on your property may be able to tell you where prevailing winds come from.  Windbreaks of trees and bushes will be a great way to soften the impact of wind.  See planting of new wind breaks and making existing ones more effective an early task, as they will take some years to become effective.

Assess what is there at present

• Dig holes and see what you find.  Is the soil on your property the same everywhere?  Are there heavy-clay or sandy or rocky or muddy areas?  Look at what plants grow where at present, and how healthy they are.  

• Consider whether in the past crops were grown on the property.  You can, for instance,  sometimes still see where rows used to be, or the occasional plant or tree that is still there.  Perhaps the soil in that area was improved for that purpose (rocks removed, fertiliser added etc.), and you can make good use of that.

• Are there persistent or wide-spread weeds at the property?  Make it one of your first jobs to remove them, or, at the very least, make sure they don't go to seed, so they don't spread any further.

• Are tree roots invading areas where you would like to establish a vegetable garden or orchard?  As a rule, tree roots go at least as far from the trunk as the canopy, often further.  Dig a hole and see whether you find any roots.  If you grow things right there, the tree roots will compete with your crops.  It is good to have compost heaps in the shade, but if that shade comes from trees and bushes, they may invade your compost heaps, and benefit most from your compost.

Water 

• If you have one or more dams on the property, you may think you will have plenty of water, but this is not always the case.  Older dams may be shallow and full of debris.  Some dams leak.  Monitor water levels after rain.  Is there a good down-hill spot for a new dam? You can never have too much water.

• Consider opportunities to access more water.  Check whether tanks overflow when it rains.  Could a bigger or extra tank be a good investment?

• Ask neighbours whether they have a bore and what the quality of the water is.  Bores can be a great source of good quality water.  Allowing bore water to settle in a dam can be a good way to filter out organic material.

• If your property borders a creek or river, this may give you in-principle access to a lot of water.  However, a permit system may be in place, and you may have to apply, and sometimes pay.  You may immediately be 'in hot water' with your downstream neighbours if you take too much water without consultation.

• Have your water tested for salts and minerals.  It is good to know what you are dealing with.

• Consider placing a new tank well above ground level and gravity-feeding water into your food garden for irrigation.  This way you won't need a pump, if you are happy to use low-pressure drip irrigation, rather than sprinklers.  

• Types of irrigation, and their pros and cons, are discussed here.  Dam water especially, but tank water too, can have lots of organic material in it that clogs up irrigation systems, so be sure to have good filters.  It may be worth filtering dam water, and then allowing it to settle further in a tank, before using it in your food garden's irrigation system.

• Get your irrigation in place before planting, because, once you have planted, you will probably need to irrigate. Putting irrigation in place before making beds and paths also means that you can put it under-ground.  Advantage of this is that pipes are not exposed to UV and you don't trip over them when walking in your food garden.  If putting irrigation pipes or hoses under-ground, consider putting them in plumbing pipes or similar to protect them from wayward spades and forks.  Alternatively, put pipes under paths (you are less likely to dig there).

• In a bush fire, having the right setup and enough water, can save your property, your life and that of your family. Early on develop a bush fire emergency plan for you, your family, your animals, and your property.  For more info see https://www.fire.tas.gov.au .

Your veggie patch

• There is nothing worse than having to go for a 5-minute muddy walk to your veggie patch on a cold dark evening, just to get something you need for your meal.  Locate your veggie garden near your kitchen.  Make sure the path to your veggie patch is dry, even after heavy rain. 

• You have all this land, and so much space, but that does not mean that you need to have acres of veggie garden. A not-too-large, securely netted, or caged area that combines vegetables, berries and fruit trees, may be a great start to making your property productive.  

• Food Garden Group member Mandy constructed a 30 metres long by 10 metres wide cage that she is now gradually filling with raised vegetable beds, berries and espaliered fruit trees (see here on this blog).

• Be aware that rats, snakes, rabbits, possums, birds, wallabies, and other native animals are all potentially interested in your food garden.  Once in place, mow and weed around the perimeter of your food garden, so you always have a clear view of that perimeter, and can see where it may have been breached.  Mandy's 'cage' (see above) neatly takes care of this without much work.

• If you would like to know more about what to put where in a food garden and how to protect it, have a look at Starting a New Food Garden and A Wildlife-Proof Garden on this blog.

Your orchard 

• Don't feel the need to have a big orchard simply because you have a lot of land. Start a separate  orchard if you find that you have the time and money to set it up and maintain it properly.  You could initially just incorporate a small number of fruit trees in your vegetable area, and leave development of a separate orchard for later.

• Are there neglected fruit trees on your property at present?  If so, consider pruning them and protecting them for at least one season, to see what they produce, if anything, and whether they are worth keeping.  These trees may become the core of your new orchard.  Alternatively, they may not be worth it. Many growers now have dwarf varieties or espaliered trees.  Netting or cages for them will be smaller.  Maintenance will be easier.  Picking will be less arduous. If the existing fruit trees are old and tall or damaged, consider starting anew with dwarf varieties.

• New fruit trees can cost a lot of money.  Make sure you put in place proper protection against wildlife, or you may find that your investment will be destroyed.

• Many people with larger properties have a large collection of berry bushes and fruit trees, but there is one aspect that is often overlooked at the time of purchase: the time it will take to harvest and process all that fruit.  If you know you will have the time, great!  If you are not sure, like with everything else, start small, and expand when you see you can cope.

Animals on your property

• Chooks kept under fruit trees and berries is a very effective way of keeping soil-born pests away.  However, many fruit trees and berries root shallowly.  Their roots will be exposed, and they will suffer.  In many cases keeping chooks or geese or ducks under fruit trees or berries has not worked.   Mandy's cage (see above) has chooks around, rather than in, her garden.  Others have chooks around raised veggie beds and mesh on the borders of the beds to keep them out.  In areas where there are birds of prey you will need to have mesh on top of your chook run to make sure that chicks or even chooks are not airlifted out one after another.

• Livestock can provide meat, dairy and income. If properly managed, they can create healthy weed-free paddocks.  Don't underestimate the amount of work involved in keeping livestock happy and healthy, the amount of paddock needed for rotation of livestock, and the amount of time needed to collect manure.  

• Goats do a great job breaking down and keeping tidy overgrown areas of land.  However, they need strong and high fences.  You will waste many hours chasing goats if your paddocks are badly fenced. Sheep are far less clever, but can jump higher than you think.

• Is there evidence of wildlife damage on your property?  If so, this will only get worse once you start planting new things.  Avoid disappointment by protecting against wildlife before planting crops, bushes and trees.

• Let animals do your mowing.  Hire out paddocks for agistment, or grow hay and sell bales, but make sure you can go away for a weekend, without risking crops or animals.

Willing Workers

• Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is a hospitality service operated by a loose network of national organisations that facilitate home-stays on organic farms.  Under this scheme visitors to Tasmania can provide help at rural properties while being on holidays.  If used for well-supervised tasks that require minimal skills, WWOOF workers will be useful, but do not over-estimate what WWOOF workers can do for you, when developing a property.