Maggie
Scroll down to select your product or service:2hr Consultation in Melbourne $220Recycled timber chicken house (Delivered) $595One Standard Raised Garden Box $1350Two Standard Raised Garden Boxes $2565Three Standard Raised Garden Boxes $3780Maggie\'s special $1000 Please enter your preferred time for your consultation or delivery. We will contact you in the next 24hrs to confirm :
Read MoreUrban ponds and bees
This very amateur home video ( http://youtu.be/5IGLV1mtgOY ) shows the huge benefits of creating bodies of water in urban environments. This bathtub pond is actually the water reserve of a vertical garden located in Melbourne, that we are using to trial new plants. As you can see, many edible plants are planted in the pond, Lebanese celery, water cress, duck potatoes, brahmi, gotta cola, water pennywort, and a lot more… There is also a healthy population of fish and snails to keep it clean, fertile and free of mosquitoes. The water is pumped up the vertical garden a few minutes every...
Read MoreGardening workshops at the Pop Up Patch
Libertas Gardens is proud to be associated with the Little Veggie Patch Co and the Pop Up Patch at Federation Square. * Starting on the 29th of November we will be running workshops on the broad topic of edible gardens. As usual our workshops will be as at hands-on and interactive as possible, but will not shy away from the theoretical side of gardening. We will explore the different strategies to grow produce, learn about the basics of water management, soil health and plant nutrition; guidelines as to when to plant seedling vs seed; how to make the most of a small space; and we will get our...
Read MoreA few words about regenerative farming and gardening strategies, meat and plant diet:
A few words about regenerative farming and gardening strategies, meat and plant diet: I decided to write this as an answer to a conversation with a vegan gardener that objected the use of animals in a community garden. This is an opinion article, feel free to comment on it to add your views to the debate. Having a Permaculture training, being practical and with the understanding of food webs and natural processes, I find it hard to imagine farming or growing food in general without the use of animals. The biosphere has developed its stability and resilience with interactions between...
Read MoreCompost and chicken system at community garden
Project summary Purpose This project aims to fully retrofit the chicken area at the ******* St Community Garden. This would also allow to greatly simplify and maximise the on site composting processes. Context The current chicken area is in need of improvement: The chicken house is infested by vermin, fleas and mites. The fence around the chicken yard is not fox proof. The fence is climbed by kids to steal eggs. There are “political” issues in regards to the eggs. The current composting system could also be improved: The “three bays” system doesn’t get used...
Read MoreFood gardens for rental and renters
Many think they can’t grow food because the are in a rental situation… * In most cases, this could not be further from the truth! Setting up food gardens for rental and renters is definitely possible. * We might just need to be a bit more ingenious… * So many options are available to us: Raised Garden Beds can be removed and lawn seeded in no time when renters are moving out, Wicking Beds can be built on concrete or on balconies, trellises can be erected virtually anywhere for plants to climb and potted trees and dwarf trees can crop abundantly! Rain Fed...
Read MoreA Permaculture Garden – Brunswick East
Like very often we started from a tired garden, a mix of native shrubs and weedy plants. We have been implementing our design in stages over the last few years. The first stage included the construction of 4 raised garden beds and the installation of a large water tank. Integrating the old and the new as well the edible and the ornamental was very rewarding. The raised garden beds provide a yield within weeks of being built. The second phase included planting 7 fruit trees as well as diverting grey water and overflow from the tank to water the garden in a 100% passive way. Invisible to...
Read MoreRooftop garden – Richmond
Built on a roof top in Richmond in the early summer of 2012, this garden is only two steps away from the kitchen. * * As well as a breathtaking view on Melbourne’s CBD, this garden features: A perfect amount of shade from the hot afternoon sun and dominating dry north-western winds provided by this gorgeous Jacaranda. Two removable trellises to climbing vegetables. Storage space under the garden beds. Great looks (lets not neglect the essential!). * Lets bet that produce will flow out of this garden all year round! * Contact us now to book in a consultation or request a...
Read MoreNature strips enhancing project
At Libertas Gardens, what really keeps us going is our dream to green up the suburbs. We think it is possible to create a nicer, healthier and an ecologically sound urban environment for us to live in and our children to grow up in. In collaboration with Melbourne City Rooftop Honey and Reclaim The Curb, we are offering our services to anyone wanting to green up public land. At a heavily discounted (and sometimes free) rate! Inspired by the essence of “guerrilla gardening” and strong of our experience creating urban Permaculture gardens, we pretty much volunteer our resources,...
Read MoreLuxurious fox proofed chicken coop – Thornbury
This brand new chicken coop, built in Thornbury in Melbourne’s inner north displays an elegant design and some seriously awesome features! * Surrounded by a mini fruit orchard, the hens will enjoy shade in summer and benefit from the thermal mass of the brick wall in winter. * These Far West saloon style double gates allow to throw in chook food and compost in without having to fight with the feathery girls to keep them in their yard. * With a spacious 7.2 square meters, this fully for proofed yard will keep its inhabitants safe, offering them with a maximum of comfort. Of course...
Read MoreStreet trees are the best
Who said loquats are small boring fruits? Look at the size of that beast! Nature strip trees in the suburbs can be an amazing bounty for the hungry fruit lover! First to ripen in spring, don’t overlook the loquats!
Read MoreA few raised garden beds – Heidelberg
This slightly overgrown backyard was given to us with the mission to help create a simple and easy to maintain garden area. After removing most of the cracked concrete slab, a few simple raised garden beds were brought in. Steel mesh fixed along the shed and along the back fence allows for extra vertical growing space. The existing passion fruit vine will grow over and through it and give a delicious crop and will provide extra privacy. A “choko” vine was just pointing its first leafs at the time and a generous crop of tomatoes and beans will be planted along the shed...
Read MoreGardens for refugees
As part of the “Putting Roots Down” project, a collaboration between the Australian Red Cross and Cultivating Community, Libertas Gardens is very proud to help set up gardens for refugees to Australia. A bit of hard work and a lit of smiles… And in just a few hours we have a simple, functional and removable garden ready! Lots of thanks to Liam, Nick, Haider and Walayat, we merely had to organise logistics while these amazing volunteers did it all like pros! Thumbs...
Read MoreGarden and Permaculture Consultations
Our Garden and Permaculture Consultations are a perfect first step towards a new landscape and a better garden. Our 2hr consultations for $220 (inc. GST, consultation report & transport) are straight to the point and highly productive. From our experience over the years, we find that our 2 hr Garden and Permaculture Consultations are the perfect format for our clients and us to meet. It is the perfect amount of time to have a thorough look at a site, brainstorm and explore new ideas. It gives us time to address the different key elements of the garden, suggest different...
Read MoreRaised Garden Beds – Ivanhoe
Simple yet highly productive, these custom built vegetable garden beds in Ivanhoe are looking seriously good! The giant stumps are now seats/kids playground/potting tables. The trees had already been removed… We would never remove hundred years old trees to build a garden… No matter how...
Read MoreStreet share – Fruit trees along front fences
How about that for a friendly neighbourhood? Hard to resist the delicious loquats so kindly shared! Front fences were invented to share fruit trees with your neighbours and strangers passing by… Don’t be shy, share your trees! Contact us for garden design services that think outside the...
Read MoreEspalier citrus fence & garden beds – Elsternwick
Garden design for small spaces means maximising the use of vertical spaces. For a sculptural and yet productive effect, the espalier fruit tree is an ancient and yet extremely pertinent option. More than ever, trees grown in such a way can add beauty and a delicious touch in our busy urban centres. Making best use of this small space, raised garden beds and fruit trees coexist in this courtyard garden to provide an all year round bounty. The tree selection will provide a continuous crop as well as a colourful focal point. Espalier trees also make a great alternative...
Read MoreTurning concrete into garden… Ooooh yeah!
At Libertas Gardens, we like to think that most concrete driveways are just absurdly thickly mulched garden beds… waiting for a rescue! . . This driveway can fit 8 cars… after our little intervention there will still be room for four cars, but room will be made for a few native plants, a bit of human food, native birds, and hundreds and thousands of insects and other wiggly invertebrates! . . A bit of hard work is needed to undo the reinforced steel fabric of our civilisation… . . It is all taking shape! Come back for further developments! . . Permaculture design and...
Read MoreEdible hedge idea
. . Ever wondered if the standard (and quite boring?) Box hedge could be replaced with something useful? . . Meet Myrtus ugni (Chilean guava)! . . It offers the best of both world; a slow growing easily hedged shrub, very similar in size and habit to the standard Buxus hedge, with a prolific crop of the sweetest little berries you can find! Tasty food, with a formal touch! Libertas Gardens specialises in terrific looking productive gardens. Contact us now for your full property designs and professional landscaping, or a smart rethinking of existing...
Read MoreChicken house and chicken yard – Hawthorn
. These are a few pictures of a chicken coop we have just inaugurated today in Hawthorn. . The chicken are is made of a fully fox proof cage around a gorgeous chicken house. Two adjacent chicken yards allow the chooks to access some green during the day, before being locked in their safe haven at night! The house is made of 100% recycled Australian hardwood and ethically sourced Cypress macrocarpa. Eggs can be conveniently accessed from outside the yard. Yet it is easily accessible. . Libertas Food Gardens offers a variety of chicken houses and yards, visit our Chicken coops page...
Read MoreNeighbourhood produce share and nature strip vegetable garden
The Nash St guerilla garden enters a new phase! A new addition to this already fully reclaimed ( www.reclaimthecurb.org ) nature strip, a little shed was built to accommodate the local produce swap initiative. Using mostly reclaimed or salvaged materials (except for the screws…) this little structure will keep the produce out of the sun in summer and out of the rain in winter. A little troley/modified wheel barrow (yet to be built…) will be used to collect the fresh fruits and veggies around the area. A neighbour donated an old hardwood fence, another one...
Read MoreOld school timber joinery… Just unbeatable!
This chicken house will take longer to build than one built with a nail gun and glue, but a bit of craftsmanship and a bit of extra patience allows us to build a frame that will last for generations of chickens after generations of chickens! Of course screws could also be replaced with wooden tenons… but we do need to draw the line...
Read MoreNew inhabitant of a small food forest in Eltham
After less than a year since we turned this sad front yard into a lush mini food forest, look who now comes in for a...
Read MoreBrand new table, freshly out of our workshop
Made from 100% recycled timber, this red gum top / iron bark legs table will last for generations. . The timber used came from fence posts and railway sleepers. Both timbers are reasonably believed to have been harvested from old growth forests, possibly from trees that could have been three to four times older then European settlement to this country. . . Such ancient timber is often discarded and burned or worse, sent to the tip. Its amazingly wavy grain and history lost forever. . . The jar of honeycomb is a reminder that the wax we used was made locally by our backyard urban bees. The...
Read MoreAnother guerilla garden in Northcote!
This are a few pictures of a young guerilla garden. Today, a bit of lawn was removed and a few banana plants found a new place to live. This garden has been strongly driven by a local resident, with a great vision and a lot of determination. With some wild ideas and a lot of fun implementing them, lets hope this little bit of nature strip keeps on growing and feeding us for many years to come. This project is being developed under the umbrella of the Reclaim the Curb collective ( www.reclaimthecurb.org ). Community compost and produce share. Community herb garden. Replacing...
Read MoreFocus on: Comfrey
Of all the useful plants in use by gardeners, this one probably is the most versatile. A quick list of its most common uses, to name only a few: An amazing source of nitrogen and trace elements, it is used by many for compost tea. Leaves are harvested and soaked in water for a few weeks. The smell is foetid, but the results impressive. Water your garden with is as you would with worm castings. A variation of this is using the leafs as a compost activator. A few buckets of the leaves will “light up” a compost heap. A good substitute to blood and bone! A good idea is to plant it...
Read MoreFocus on: Snails
This will be a topic of interest for most gardeners. For us in Melbourne, this is specially relevant to those gardening on the heavy clay soils such as the area around the Merri creek in Brunswick East. Some gardens seem to be cursed with an unending population of gastropods (from ancient Greek, meaning literally stomach-foot). One such garden we worked on over an extended period of time, seemed to regenerate its population within minutes. Friends will remember rainy summer nights spent hunting snails with a flash light. Like with most “problems” or “pests”, there are...
Read MoreReclaim the Curb – Herbert St Reclaim working bee
As part of the Reclaim the Curb collective ( http://reclaimthecurb.org/ ) Libertas Gardens is proud to be supporting the working bee on RtC’s 2nd site! . . On September 9th, all day, we will be turning this: Into something like this: At this stage the wish list looks like this: Outdoor furniture (picnic table, chairs…) Lots of cardboard to sheet mulch with (there cannot be too much). Lots of wood mulch (an arborist will be dropping mulch for us if he can, but the more the merrier). Flowering or edible shrubs (cherry guavas per example). Small...
Read MoreA successful Urban Permaculture Workshop
In follow-up to our previous post, we are happy to share these few pictures from yet another successful Urban Permaculture Workshop in Melbourne. We were aiming for a 90% hands-on workshop, and it sure was! After a bit of theory, we used recycled materials to build and design a miniature version of a standard urban property. Fruit trees, chickens, ponds, grey water systems, vegetable gardens, worm farms, water tanks, pergolas, climbing plants, green walls, noise and wind management… We had a look at and explored how all these elements can work together to become one system, and how we can...
Read MorePassion fruit vine and backyard poultry
Last spring we planted an edible passion fruit vine on this north facing fence, the idea being to green up the fence, maximize vertical space and also, share fruits with the neighbours. As we all know, passion fruits are of the tastiest fruits around, imagine having your own private and almost unlimited supply just a few meters from the kitchen . Passion fruit sorbet, or a strong “Royal Cosmopolitan” with a fresh squeeze of passion fruit… divine! The free ranging bantam chickens living in this backyard needed to be kept away from the young plant, so a simple loop of...
Read MoreUrban Permaculture workshop in collaboration with Laneway Learning
Once again Libertas Gardens will involved with a Urban Permaculture workshop! This time within the framework set up by Laneway Learning. This fabulous Melbourne based initiative offers cheap, fun classes in anything and everything! To book in, just click here The workshop: What is it all about? How can you cool your house, reduce food waste, and become more sustainable where you live? Permaculture! Green walls, veggie gardens, chickens, grey water systems.. these are all examples of what you can do to have a greener space and be more environmentally friendly – and all in...
Read MoreCommunity gardens on church grounds?
For the last few months we have had the pleasure of helping the St Alban the Martyr Anglican Church in St Albans with their project of turning part of the land the church was built on into a community garden. At this stage, our contribution has been to create a plan for the community garden. the layout for the community garden! Now that we have a plan, the church will be looking for different ways to finance the project. Libertas Gardens can’t wait for this project to keep on growing, as it is fully in line with our neighborhood/guerrilla garden project! If you think you can...
Read MoreFocus on: Cherry guavas
Cherry guavas – Psidium littorale (aka Psidium cattleianum) . Of all the perennial edible plants that grow and bear well in south eastern Australia, this one comes second to none. . A medium size shrub (1.5m to 3m), Psidium littorale has it all for itself. It is frost hardy (to -4c) and will fruit abundantly in full sun, part shade and still give a respectable yield in almost full shade. It doesn’t seem to mind living in a pot, seems to tolerate most well drained soils and will often start fruiting from the first summer after planting. They also fruit very late in...
Read MoreVertical gardens, green walls and living wall… what’s all the hype about?
It is interesting to see that even though vertical gardens techniques have been available for decades now, and that their effectiveness has been proved and verified the world over, using plants to render buildings or to insulate rooftops still isn’t a common practice. At least in Australia. But this is about to change! The demand is there, and the techniques as well… so why isn’t the whole city greening up then? Lets have a look at the different techniques available, and see what is their potential: Soil based vertical gardens Soil is quite an...
Read MoreGuest at Vegie Head
Check out this brilliant little article about your favorite Gardening/Landscaping/Permaculture company! http://www.vegiehead.com/guest-vegie-heads.html Make sure to have a look at the fantastic recipes too!
Read MoreFree garden tours – Sustainable Living Festival
As part of the Melbourne Sustainable Living Festival, Libertas Gardens will be guiding a few tours of productive Permaculture style gardens in Brunswick and Eltham. - The focus will very much be on DIY features and techniques, because tiny changes on our houses and gardens can make a huge difference to our footprint on this earth. - We will learn about mini food forests, grey water systems, chicken friendly design, passive rain watering, rain fed ponds, raised garden beds, veggie production, homegrown mulch, nature strip planting, techniques to turn lawn into food and much much more. - - A...
Read MoreDestroy to rebuild – Garden design in Kew
This amazing urban block in Kew is well on its way to be fully transformed. We have been working with our very enthusiastic and determined clients to fine tune a great design for their newly bought property: . . The design includes: A huge productive garden at the front, surrounded by a mini food forest with a dozen fruit trees. A large deciduous trees at the back to block that hot summer sun. A few large natives on the west front, positioned to block the setting summer sun as it moves past the point where it sets at the equinox, while letting the sun in throughout the colder months. This...
Read MoreBuilding a rainfed pond
With our two locally sourced assistants we started building a rain fed pond by digging a nice big hole. The perspectives are deceiving, these two little workers dug a massive hole, close to 500mm deep by 1.5m in diameter. The PVC pipe in the left hand bottom corner is where the pond will be filled from, straight from the overflow of a 3000L water tank! The non toxic uv stabilised guaranteed 20yrs thick and indestructible rubber pond liner we will use, with all its amazing credentials is worth a fair bit of money. Too much to risk a sharp bit of stone, glass or steel...
Read MoreFocus on: Carrots
Carrots are everyone’s favourite to harvest… But without a doubt, they are not everyone’s favourite to grow! To start with, the seeds are minute, very light and once sown do not handle drying out. And if they do sprout, then come the weeds! The enthusiast gardener is often pictured tediously weeding clean rows of carrots. Then thinning them. Then weeding them again. Once the plant has started growing, there is no guarantee one will harvest a long and thick orange (or purple, red, yellow, white…) juicy root. Far from it… more then not, the...
Read MoreFortnightly harvest from our top bar hive
As usually on most second week ends, our little Carlton top bar hive was opened, checked for health and vigour and robbed of a portion of its content… Just enough to keep us going to another couple of weeks, but always leaving the bees plenty to eat! Top car hives are brilliant for small backyards. They are in no way as productive as conventional hives, but many claim they are more in harmony with the way bees live in nature, hence enhancing their resilience against pests and diseases. Our hive surely seems healthy! Those interested in building such hives themselves will...
Read MoreSharing the goodness
This East-Brunswick front garden is sharing its crop with the neighbourhood. Kids stop by after school and neighbours cue for a snack! We planted this row of strawberries in winter 2011, in their first summer the plants have already given buckets of sweet sweet goodness. And it is only a beginning. The plants are now sending their runners far a wide and the wise gardener will be prompt to propagate them. Organically grown strawberries are a treat most would like to enjoy daily, and these lovely home-owner not only grow more then they can eat, they grow more then the neighbourhood can...
Read MoreTop class gardening at Cultivating Community
These pictures have been taken in the mists of summer at a community garden ran by Cultivating Community in North Melbourne. . Libertas Garden is in the process of quoting on the restoration of a near by community garden, also ran by Cultivating Community. . The avid gardener can notice a considerable difference in style between the different lots. . So much variety growing in such a small area. In these multi-cultural community gardens, the different cultures bring in their own traditions and techniques: Asian style garden 101 Latino-American garden...
Read MoreHoney tasting… and its tasting good!
A meeting with the Melbourne City Rooftop Honey crew at the Juddy Roller yesterday was a good opportunity for a bit of honey sampling. These honeys have been harvested from hive all over Melbourne, from the CBD to Brunswick. What a...
Read MoreJuddy Roller – The best cafe in town
This is by far our favourite cafe in Melbourne. The Juddy Roller (located on Chapel st Fitzroy, just off Johnston st) is a prime example of unorthodox use of space, and a brilliant example of how a greener city is just a step away. The street art is changed almost weekly, and the guerrilla garden has been there long enough that no one would think of ever removing it. Thumbs up guys! http://www.facebook.com/#!/JuddyRoller Street art, guerrilla gardens, coffee and delicious food. What else do you...
Read MoreBananas in Melbourne!??
When we include bananas on our designs for properties in Melbourne, we invariably get this look from our clients… this look that says; I’m incredulous, but I would like to believe! . Well my friends, believe! . Yuuum yum! These Brunswick bananas, will make for a proud gardener. If the possums don’t get to them first! . This plant was planted in a perfect position (not by us, unfortunately!). The north-west facing aspect and the thermal mass of the pavement and asphalt of the street provide a micro climate that allows for tropical plants to thrive. You could travel...
Read MoreFirst ripe tomatoes?
Remember our over wintered tomato plant? ( http://libertasgardens.com.au/winter-tomatoes-or-the-joy-inner-city-life/ ) Well after a break of a couple of months, it has started producing again! Our first ripe tomato… in the first week of November! Will this be a new variety? We are planning to keep this fabulous genetic alive by keeping seeds and cross fertilising it with other interesting varieties. Sub-zero tomato, soon in your favourite...
Read MoreOrchard and food forest – Eltham
With the completion of the phase one of this job, a dated shrubby garden has been replaced by a highly productive orchard / food forest system. . . . This food forest is irrigated by drip lines as well as by a rainwater diversion system that passively delivers rainwater to the swales. . Great care has been given to plant selection. A wide variety of edible plants and companion plants will produce all year round and keep pests maintenance to a minimum. . After a wet spring, the food forest is already producing more then a familly can eat! . A few months after planting, the...
Read MoreNative garden – West Brunswick
Working on a limited budget, we focussed on: Productivity By planting three fruit trees, lots of native bush food and setting up a large veggie patch. Low maintenance and biodiversity By planting indigenous grasses and ground covers as well as three large native trees.
Read MoreNew chicken coop design!
Our brand new chicken yard design features practically indestructible materials, it is fully movable and 100% fox proof! Made in Melbourne by Melbournians, from recycled timber and long lasting galvanised steel.
Read MoreTop bar hive – october harvest
A few pictures from our first official summer 2011 honey harvest! Located in our Carlton backyard, our top bar hive allowed us to steal enough honey from it to sustain a normal honey consumption until our next harvest! Unfortunately we have 2 honey addicts living here, so our consumption is nothing but normal! . . . Honey… amasing honey! Dressed like a Tuareg, the fearless bee keeper seldom needs a full bee dress to play with his 100 000 stinging friends! The hive before the pillage! A precious by-product, propolis can be seen at the bottom left of this picture,...
Read MoreRaised garden beds, delivered and installed from $199*!!!
This simple raised garden bed, delivered and installed in this small back garden for under $199*. Check out http://libertasgardens.com.au/raised-garden-beds/ for more info. *Ask for a free...
Read MoreEvil gall wasp!
A few days ago I stumbled upon this magnificent specimen, a lemon tree, pathetically deformed by gall. The above picture shows a prime example of what happens when citrus gall wasp is left to go unchecked. Seasons upon seasons of gall can be seen here. The amazing vigour and resilience of citrus trees mean it is rarely too late to intervene. Given, in this case external factors might be partly responsible for this extraordinary infection. It is my belief though, that half an hour of pruning a year on this tree would have made a huge difference to its sad...
Read MoreCommunity Garden Refurbishment
Libertas Gardens had the pleasure of collaborating with Cultivating Community to refurbish this community garden in North Melbourne. On day 0, this is what we were looking at (click to enlarge) A bit of heavy machinery was needed to scalp the top fertile layer of the entire area. Once piled up neatly and left to compost, the previous neglected garden left us with a blank canvas to work from. In just under month and over 2000 linear meters of sleepers later, the new garden was ready to be returned to its 65 families! The keyhole gardens and wheelchairs accessible paths mean...
Read MoreRoyal Melbourne Show
Libertas Gardens is proud to be involved with the Royal Melbourne Show. We have been asked to design and build a sustainable backyard, bringing together a number of green products such as garden beds, water tanks, composting devices and much more. The site on the 20th of September… We now have three days to turn 100 square meter patch of lawn into something that looks like a backyard! Day 1 On opening...
Read MoreTop bar hives
My first honey from the top bar! A few pictures of our first honey harvest from our “top bar hive”. Learn online or by this book, great stuff: www.biobees.com for more details…
Read MoreWinter tomatoes or the joy inner city life
Who said we can’t grow tomatoes in winter! My little veggie garden is still pumping tomatoes like there is no tomorrow … prime winter sun, proximity to a brick wall and a slab of concrete as well as a safe elevation from the near by creek keeps our precious annuals growing through the cold months. Given, this is not a cold winter by any means. Tasty...
Read MoreWinter… its time to prune
June is the time to prune most fruit trees. In Melbourne that is. Do not neglect this crucial part of fruit tree care! Some like the idea of letting trees grow un-pruned, and there is a lot to be said about it. If the tree is in a paddock and will be able to express itself to the fullest, it is, I believe, a worthy exercise. But if it is growing in the city, it will most likely need pruning. Know that once you start pruning a fruit tree, there is no coming back! It will require regular pruning to maintain vigorous growth and high yields. Pruning season is also the best time to tend to the...
Read MoreThe neglected urban orchard
Every season, I am amazed at how much fruit is growing around us and left to rot on the trees or on the ground. I have been dreaming of starting a collective that would facilitate harvesting the neglected fruit trees. This would be a great way to empower people that have a hard time finding mainstream work. Young and not so young that struggle with dependences or mental health issues? Business school graduates looking for a first project to work on? Would it be this hard to leave a letter or knock on the doors of houses where we can spot trees bending under the weight of their fruits? A team...
Read MoreNature strip planting
To help with Melbourne’s stock of street olives, we have planted 6 new nature strip olives! Photos to come soon… Hats off to our lovely client! What a great initiative! These few trees, if pruned properly, loved and cared for could live for centuries, producing tons of delicious olives… Check out this picture of a tree radio carbon dated to be 2000 years old! Planting trees on your nature strip is the best thing you could for your neighborhood… but you need to chose wisely! These are a few trees I have seen grown successfully on median strips or nature strips in...
Read MoreOlives
3 friends. 1 cemetery. 30 olives trees. 2 hours. Over 75 KG of olives! And that’s just my 1/3 of the harvest. There must be about 100 times more to pick…
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