Bee friendly planting

Last week, Bees were placed on the US endangered list for the first time. The Bees identified included 7 species native to the US and surrounding islands. Although they are not yet considered 'endangered' in Australia, our Bees are in a dire position, with populations declining rapidly and consistently over the past decade. Bees are the most vigorous pollinators in nature, and significant decreases in productivity in commercial agriculture and backyard production can often be attributed to a lack of bees in the system (in fact, due to a collapse of Bee populations in some agriculturally intensive areas such as areas of Spain, people are now employed to walk the fields with sacks full of pollen and feathers to pollinate the crops to obtain a yield). Below is a list of plants (vegetable, fruit, herb & ornamental) mostly suited to the Canberra region to help boost Bee populations in your area, boosting your yield and contributing to Bees population security in Australia.

Seed Saving Workshop - learn how to save herb and vegie seeds

One of the most under appreciated factors in maintaining a sustainable agricultural system, whether industrial or backyard, is that of seed saving. Until recently, seed saving was a vital part of all agricultural practices, however, in the modern era most of our commercially available plant varieties have been patented by large multi-national corporations and are subjected to legal controls. Many of these new varieties occur as hybrids or genetically modified seeds that have an 'inbuilt failsafe', in that they are not genetically viable to save for the next generation of plants, thus insuring the consumer purchase seeds, rather than save their own favourable varieties, or even develop their own. As a result, the genetic diversity available for agricultural varieties has dropped significantly, and many of our heirloom varieties no longer exist. This does not just result in less interesting food, but it leaves the varieties we do plant on large scale incredibly susceptible to pests and disease, resulting in a huge increase in harmful petrochemical biocides (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides etc.) as well as climate change. For any of you interested, I highly recommend getting behind this great initiative from Canberra Organic Growers Society and Canberra Seed Savers.

Timeline Photos

R.I.P. Bill Mollison For those of you who don't know Bill is the co-founder of Permaculture He was truly a revolutionary, and one to be missed Thanks to his hard work and ideas Permaculture has become the self perpetual movement that it is today To a life well spent and thanks mate

Timeline Photos

Spring is here (my favourite time of the year) and it's time to make some things grow! Wicking beds are an excellent idea for backyard production systems. Wicking beds differ to contemporary raised beds as they contain a reservoir of water beneath the productive soil. This water is encouraged to 'wick' through the soil via capillary action meaning that water is delivered where it is needed, to the active root tips! And virtually none is waisted through evaporation, a great idea in a climate such as Canberra's where annual evaporation (1677mm) so vastly outweighs annual precipitation (629mm). With a couple of repurposed old bathtubs, less than $40 in materials and a couple hours of work, it is easy to turn what would otherwise be taking up room in a landfill, into some of the most productive systems in our garden. Can't wait to see these two bloom into maturity later in the season.

Timeline Photos

An interesting fact about conventional agriculture is that they only focus on primary, or 'macro-nutrients' such as Nitrates, Phosphates and forms of Potassium (known as the 'NPK Mentality') that may encourage growth in plants, however do not provide the other 15 elements essential for plant/animal health as shown in this image from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. As such, the mass produced plants found in most supermarkets are worryingly devoid of real nutrient value. This is why it's so important to eat plants grown in a healthy soil and the chain of events can be summarised as, Healthy soil -> healthy plant -> healthy consumer -> healthy community And what better way to ensure the nutrient density of your food than to grow your own!

ACT Permaculture Design & Consultancy

ACT Permaculture Design & Consultancy's cover photo

The design principles of Permaculture, as put forward by Permaculture's co-founder, David Holmgren