July Garden Visit to Tim’s new Food Forest in Fernmount

More than meets the eye in this new Fernmount garden:

Tim and his growing family have been living in what was a vacant block for just over a year now, some of you may be familiar with it as the former 'Secret Garden' nursery. Lots of planning, passion and effort has netted him a food forest, jumping out of the ground out and proud, in the front yard. An unorthodox style, but then a little chaos always brings opportunity.

Around the back there is more experimentation and innovation with livestock and microclimates; endless fun and education for his kids.

Inspirational! Tim has a lot of plans and ideas and thankfully for him and his family, also the energy of a kelpie to make them happen. In just under a year he has moved a house onto an empty plot, moved the family in, cleared a creekbed, set up chickens, sheep and a pig run, and planted out the entire front area as a baby food forest that's easy to mow around. What grows well, grows well and what's too fussy is left behind. Tim had a bunch of ways of propagating that don't waste time. The easiest way to plant a tomato is to get a ripe one and squish it into the ground where you'd like more to grow. We saw a broadfork in action - it's a giant garden fork that's more effective and more efficient for aerating or turning over new ground. We were introduced to a bunch of fertiliser ideas. Throw the manure in with the chickens to scratch up, eat the seeds and break down. Give the scraps to the pig. Home grown popping corn and a table groaning with cakes were very much enjoyed too. Thanks to Jeff for all our photos.

Using a Broadfork

Liquid Gold

Seedsavers see Tim's new banana plantings

Using the popping corn harvest