Every month we publish a free newsletter which lets people know what is happening at the farm.
To subscribe fill in your email HERE
To read February’s E-News CLICK HERE
Every month we publish a free newsletter which lets people know what is happening at the farm.
To subscribe fill in your email HERE
To read February’s E-News CLICK HERE
by Ronni Martin
The Permaculture Design Course (PDC), delivered one day a week over 16 weeks, gives you the knowledge and skills to observe and design from the natural patterns to create productive gardens & properties, grow your own food, apply appropriate technologies, learn to use resources wisely, build on living systems and rebuild communities.
The next PDC will run on Fridays, from 9 February to 1 June 2018
The Permaculture Design Course builds from its foundation in the permaculture ethics, design principles and strategies to inspire critical thinking giving you the techniques and tools to design your life.
COST: $1450/ $1130 Health Care Card Holder (GST Inclusive)
YOU WILL LEARN:
For more information check the PDC page
“Thought provoking, inspirational and informative – whether you are planning for a farm, house or unit. Everywhere I now look I see patterns, choices and opportunities…” Mark Lacy, PDC student
FOR MORE INFO and to BOOK – Email: adultedn@nscf.org.au or Ph: 38578775
This unique course, delivered over 16 weeks gives you the knowledge and skills to observe and design from the natural patterns to create productive gardens & properties, grow your own food, apply appropriate technologies, learn to use resources wisely, build on living systems and rebuild communities.
For more information and bookings CLICK HERE
Every month at the Farm we publish a monthly newsletter to let everyone know what is happening at the Farm.
If you would like to subscribe to our newsletter and receive a monthly e-news as an email SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE HERE.
Get growing in your garden, mind and body with a series of 8 workshops led by Northey Street City Farm experts. Weekly topics including Living lightly (Reduce your footprint), Microgardening and companion planting, Bush Tucker, Compost in the City and much more.
Book in for one session or commit to all 8 to turbo-charge your sustainability revolution! With a focus on inner city balconies and suburban back yards, these workshops will get you producing your own food in next to no time.
To book CLICK HERE
by NSCF
Northey Street City Farm produces a FREE monthly E-Newsletter to let everyone know what is happening at the farm. You can subscribe HERE. To read our E-News for August CLICK HERE.
by Ronni Martin
By Lydia Blocksidge, City Farm Nursery Co-ordinator
Have you heard the term garden guild or guilding before? If you have, it’s probably been used in the context of agro-forestry and forest gardening, as this is where the concept is most commonly applied. Guilding is a Permaculture technique that recognizes the relationships in nature, especially in a forest system, and applies it to productive garden and orchard spaces.
When I was living and working at Rancho Mastatal, a Sustainability Education Centre and operating permaculture farm in rural Costa Rica, we established and maintained planting guilds throughout our agro-forestry orchards. But don’t be mistaken, you don’t need acres of land to use guilding, it is an incredibly adaptive and useful tool to use anywhere, in any productive garden setting.
In simple terms, a planting guild or garden guild is a harmonious collection of plants comprising two things, primary crop species and secondary support species. The primary species are commonly the food producing plants and the secondary species have functions to support the healthy growth and abundance of the primary food crops. These functions can include pollinator and good bug attracting species such as marigolds and other flowering plants, nitrogen-fixing species such as pigeon pea and pinto peanut, fungal deterrent species such as turmeric and ginger, pest deterrent species such as citronella, erosion control such as vetiver grass and chop and drop species for mulching such as arrowroot.
Guilds can be established in two main ways, either by guilding each single plant in your garden or by guilding the garden as a whole. If guilding each plant individually the primary crop species is usually in the middle of a guilding circle or half circle, with the support species around it. At Rancho Mastatal this method was used in the orchards around young tropical fruit and nut trees. Many of these trees take 10-15 years to start producing food so a healthy start in life is crucial for them. This was a useful method of planting because not only did the guiding circles help to locate the tree seedlings, it was also easy to manage them, with all the materials for healthy growth in one place.
If the entire garden is established as a whole guild, primary crop species are planted throughout the space and support species are interspersed between them. This is a great way to plan the urban garden. Whichever method you choose, the main thing to remember when establishing a guild in your garden is that all you need to do is define two things, your primary crop species and then decide which secondary species are going to support your primary crop. If you have separate garden beds you could choose to grow different primary species in each and different secondary species to support them.
Below are a few examples of urban garden guilds you could use at home.
Primary crop species: Tomatoes
Support species: Beans, Corn and Nasturtium.
Why it works: Tomatoes are heavy nitrogen feeders and beans fix nitrogen in the soil. Nasturtiums attract bees and other beneficial insects and also add color to the garden, as well as creating a ground cover for the soil. And corn provides a natural, food-producing trellis system for the tomatoes and beans, as well as mulch from the husks.
Primary crop species: Leafy greens
Support species: Oregano, Marigolds, and Carrots
Why it works: Oregano has a strong scent that helps to deter garden pests. It also forms a thick ground cover for the soil. Marigolds provide color and attract pollinators and beneficial insects. And carrots aerate the soil and provide a root crop, utilizing the space more efficiently.
Primary crop species: Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and other brassicas
Support species: Land cress, thyme, and garlic
Why it works: Land cress is extremely attractive to common chewing garden pests but it’s also highly toxic to them. So it does two things, keeps chewing pests off your primary crop and naturally eradicates the pests from your garden. It’s also a delicious peppery addition in salads. Thyme attracts pollinators to your garden with its beautiful flowers and it’s a tasty culinary herb. And garlic produces a supplementary crop that uses minimal space while also helping to keep pests out of your garden with its scent.
Guilding your home garden is an extremely effective method to maximize your yield outputs and minimize your labor inputs. It is important to remember when establishing guilds which plants grow well together in terms of water, soil, sunlight and so on. Companion planting guides are a great place to start. From there, consider what you want your primary crop species to be and then decide what support species are going to benefit the primary species, and you, most efficiently.
I always use the permaculture principle every element has multiple functions to determine my support species. For example, nasturtium in example 1 above, provides ground cover for the soil, it attracts pollinators, it’s beautiful and it can be used in the kitchen. Land cress can be used in the kitchen, it eradicates chewing pests and it can form a ground cover over the soil. If you can come up with at least three uses/reasons why you’ve selected the support plants you have, then you’re on the right track!
So who’s ready to start their urban garden guild? The City Farm Nursery has everything to help get you started!
by NSCF
Northey Street City Farm produces a FREE monthly E-Newsletter to let everyone know what is happening at the farm.
You can subscribe HERE.
To read our E-News for July CLICK HERE.
by Ronni Martin
This unique course, delivered over 16 weeks at Northey Street City Farm, gives you the knowledge and skills to observe and design from natural patterns to create productive gardens & properties, grow your own food, apply appropriate technologies, learn to use resources wisely, build on living systems and rebuild communities.
Learn to:
DATES: Saturdays, from 12th August to 25th November 2017
The Permaculture Design Course (PDC) builds from its foundation in the permaculture ethics, design principles and strategies, to inspiring critical thinking, to giving you the techniques and tools to design your life.
Class sizes are limited to 15 to ensure the quality of your learning. Click here for further information and to book a place on the Spring PDC.
by NSCF
Thursday 18th of May – Sunday 21st of May.
This four-day advanced design workshop will present recent contributions from permaculturists practising in a range of climatic regions to the science and art of designing productive forest gardens. After reviewing relevant ecological concepts, the workshop will then focus on design processes and tools that adapt and apply these concepts to forest garden design for the humid subtropics. Participants will have access to information about a wide range of edible and useful subtropical trees and plants and will visit established forest gardens to appraise how well they illustrate the design concepts that are discussed.
This workshop will allow PDC certificate holders to gain deeper understanding of how to design sustainable forest gardens. It will also extend the repertoire of advanced permaculture training available at Northey Street City Farm.
Course pre-requisite: Permaculture Design Certificate
Teachers: Dick Copeman & Michael Wardle
Date: 18th to 21st May (4 days)
Times: 8:30 am – 17:00pm
Cost: $500 General/ $400 Healthcare card holders + Booking fee
To book CLICK HERE