From lawns to food Forest in 90 days

How to change your lawn into a food forest in 90 days

Transformation premacultue by Paul Taylor from Trust Nature

www.trustnature.com.au

Below are pictures from a project which run by Paul Tayler & taken place in late 2012 and early 2013 in Northen NSW, Australia

The intention is to reduce lawn and landscaping management by using the space and effort to produce organic food for the owner’s consumption as well as to produce in excess for local Farmers Markets.

The system will be developed using specific opportunities for appropriate design to develop select areas over about 5 acres of a 40-acre property. Much of the property on the outer zones is forest, environmental management and grazing.

The first part of the project is to turn lawn and landscape areas immediately around the house into long term productive systems. This will include raised bed areas for vegetables and annual production and multiple mini food forest areas that will include fruit trees, ground covers, in-ground crops, shrubs and support species.

The total project includes a contour dam of holding 500,000L of water, filled by approximately 500M of swales, seedling propagation house, 100 chickens for meat and egg production and we are investigating a larger dam opportunity for fish, habitat and water management. The contour dam will take advantage of highway and hillside run off to collect water in a ‘high dam’ opportunity that can be gravity fed to the ‘front lawn’ vegetable gardens and the food forest areas.

See the photos of the initial stages of transformation of this property during the month of November 2012 and stay tuned to this site for progress reports.

 

 

The original look of the property immediately around the house

 

The outer zones for habitat and grazing

 

Preparing the frames for the beds

Filling the frames with earth and high mineral fertiliser

  

Rows of beds covered with compost & ready for planting

 

The finished beds, first planting out then mulching spaces designed for ride on mower maintenance
until interspaces become consumed by further planting over time.

 

More garden beds prepared for mini food forest

 

Planting ‘blueberry patch’ and strawberries

 

Clearing 50 ornamentals for a 50 fruit tree planting

 

Ornamental shrubs removed to be replaced by food forest

‘Transforming high maintenance into high production’
Replacing 50 shrubs with 50 fruit trees

At the begining of December 2012, we started developments with earthworks, swales, berms, contour dam and roads.

Early veggies just 3 weeks after planting - ‘fast forward food’

 

Contour dam takes, shape this will hold more than 100,000 gallons or half a million litres of ridge top water

 

200 m long swale will collect water into contour dam on ridge

 

The near finished Dam

Here follows pictures for January 2013.

 

 

 

Here follows pictures for February 2013.

 

Growth is often accelerated on swales.
the diversity of plants supports the diversity of soil microorganisms and promotes fertility

 

‘Food for all’ in just a few weeks the front lawn becomes an organic supermarket

 

 Owners enjoying their Permaculture paradise

A fabulously filling dam

A fabulously filling dam This is the lawns turned organic supermarket 5 month after.....

If you would like to have your property rehabilitated or transformed or if if you require biological farming consulation with Paul Taylor please contact us at sales@groundgrocer.com.au