August in the Garden – Permaculture Food Gardening Australia – Subtropics and Warm Climates

August in the Garden- Permaculture Food Gardening Australia – Subtropics and Warm Climates by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, self-sufficient living consultant, and healthy food advocate. August in the garden… A happy, exciting, and busy time ahead! Well, we still have one month to go but I can already feel the spring 😀 Birds are singing and building new nests, duck families are emerging and Mulberry is showing new growth. I hope that my article helps you to plan and organise your garden, and brings you one step closer to growing an abundance of food to become self-reliant sooner than later. Note: this is all based on my experience and… Read More

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July – Permaculture Food Gardening Australia – Subtropics and Warm Climate

July – Permaculture Food Gardening Australia – Subtropics and Warm Climate by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. We are pretty much in the middle of our subtropical winter. It feels to me like this is the perfect time for reflection. Reflection and appreciation about what is important to us and what we can do to maintain, or improve it. Strolling through the garden while enjoying the warming sunrays, meditating, sitting around the fire, enjoying the time with your loved ones, with the garden, and with yourself. I personally think that the garden is a perfect place to reflect, meditate, and create while feeling… Read More

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June – Permaculture Food Gardening Australia – Subtropics and Warm Climate

June – Permaculture Food Gardening Australia – Subtropics and Warm Climate by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. June is also a good time to extend the growing beds or to build new garden beds. I got two favorites. Very easy to build and super effective! See below. Take it as a guide. You can use any kind of materials for the walls: timber (not treated), metal sheets (galvanised are best), rocks, bricks, and so on. Also, the herb spiral next to your kitchen window might be a good project for winter. You can watch the video of how we have built it here:… Read More

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May – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

May – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. We are in the middle of the subtropical autumn. The very first “cold-weather” greens and veggies are ready for harvest. Others are starting to compete with each other and with the self-seeded ones which are also trying to claim some space in the garden bed and around, and I love it! Food everywhere 😀 This happens when you allowed them to go into seeds last season. They are simply popping out everywhere and the only job you have is either harvesting or replanting to create more space in the… Read More

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April – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

April – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. April is the month when we start to feel Autumn, and we love it! The lower temperatures make gardening so much more enjoyable. The first winter seedlings are emerging out of the soil, and you can watch them grow, or at least some of them. Let’s have a look at the jobs that we usually do during this month. General jobs in April Sowing, planting, harvesting I am pretty sure that I forgot about a few, but if so, I will update the list during the month as I… Read More

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Permaculture Gardening – Keyhole Garden

Permaculture Gardening – Keyhole Garden recommended by Ewa Bekiesch – certified Permaculture designer and educator, sustainable living consultant – Permaculture Haven An amazing all-in-one solution. Great for any size of the garden. Perfect for small-size backyards and gardening with kids as it can be built at a different height depending on your needs. The keyhole garden is a combination of a compost bin and a raised garden bed where both complement each other perfectly. The compost bin is functioning like any other compost bin and should be treated like that. However, no need to remove the compost Think about keeping the right balance of TWO parts of brown material: ONE… Read More

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Hawaiian Pink Guava – Psidium Guajava

Hawaiian Pink Guava – Psidium Guajava Who doesn’t love a quick-growing fruit tree that bears delicious fruit within a couple of years after planting, contains lots of nutrients, and benefits your health? Guava is one of them! I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the blossoms and fruits forming just about years after planting the tree in my food forest. The plant was about one year old when I planted it into a slightly raised garden bed. There are many different guava varieties. I have been growing three of them, all delicious and easy to grow, but today, I will concentrate on the Hawaiian Pink Guava – Psidium guajava. General… Read More

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Longevity spinach – Sambung – Gynura procumbens – Perennial Spinach

Longevity spinach – Sambung – Gynura procumbens – Perennial Spinach by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer and educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate Longevity spinach, Gynura procumbens, is one of the plants everyone should grow. It is not only tasting delicious, and grows super quickly so can be used as biomass in your garden, but it also has many health benefits. According to Tan HL et al, “Gynura procumbens (Lour.) Merr. (Family Asteraceae) is a medicinal plant commonly found in tropical Asia countries such as China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Traditionally, it is widely used in many different countries for the treatment of a wide variety of health… Read More

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Permaculture Gardening – How to Prepare Garden Beds after Harvest and before Planting

Permaculture Gardening – How to Prepare Garden Beds after Harvest and before Planting It is definitely worth it to give your garden some love. The garden will love you back and the gifts you receive are priceless. I personally think that naturally homegrown food is one of the most valuable things which lead to a healthy and happy lifestyle. Our food forest is nearly six years old and needs only a little attention. However, there are always some jobs to do in the annual garden, which is zone one and zone two at our place. Taking care of the garden beds will ensure ongoing success in terms of growing food.… Read More

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Sustainable Gardening – Pest Prevention and Management

Sustainable Gardening – Pest Prevention and Management By Ewa Bekiesch – Permaculture Designer and Sustainable Living Consultant There is no pest in a permaculture garden. Insects are very important as primary or secondary decomposers. Without insects, dead animals and plants would accumulate in our environment and it would get very messy. Some insects aerate the soil, the others pollinate blossoms, control other insects and plants or leave pests. Insects are helping us in creating the topsoil which we need to grow plants. When you spray chemical pesticides in the garden, you are not only putting your health at risk. You are killing the beneficial little creatures which are part of… Read More

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