The Good Life | Becoming self-sufficient | Gardening Australia
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- Опубликовано: 1 ноя 2020
- Robyn and John Longley moved from the city to the hills to live the dream of self-sufficiency, inspired by the TV sitcom ‘The Good Life’. After building their house from recycled materials on a 10-hectare block they got to work on creating a cottage style garden.
However, the garden is built on rock, which requires some external help to make space for new plantings. Along with a dry climate and low nutrient soil, they had to add lots of manure over the years to create a suitable environment for the plants.
Trees surrounding the house provide dappled shade and a comfortable microclimate for densely packed garden beds of hardy flowering shrubs. Salvias are a favourite, for both Robyn and the bees!
The productive part of the garden is full of eggplants, chillies, tomatoes, herbs - all the favourite summer vegetables, with lots of protection from the intense summer sun. And then there are the fruit trees - thriving citrus, avocados, mangos, berries and more that provide bucket loads of produce.
Robyn’s main tip for growing avocados here is really good drainage. They dug a huge hole and filled it with a mix of sand, compost, and manure, before planting and adding a thick layer of mulch on top to retain moisture.
She also gives them a foliar spray of liquid potash when flowering to keep up with their high potassium needs. When it comes to mangos, it took a long time to become established as they not only get hot, dry summers but also frost in winter. Now it’s thriving, the birds take care of the pruning.
It’s a lot of work to pick the produce, on top of pruning and feeding, so luckily their daughter Jess is also on hand at harvest time. Blueberries are especially laborious as they need to be picked individually and don’t ripen all at the same time. They have around 10 different varieties that together provide fruit over 9 months of the year! Blueberries need an acidic environment, which is easier to control in pots, and they like a thick mulch to protect fine roots. Other than a general slow release fertiliser, Robyn adds a dose of sulphate of ammonia and sulphate of potash at the height of production.
Robyn has certainly achieved self-sufficiency in terms of fruit and vegetables, along with “a very tranquil garden, that is an escape from the busy life that most of us lead.”
Featured Plants
SALVIA, Salvia cv.
AVOCADO, Persea americana cv.
MANGO, Mangifera indica cv.
BLUEBERRY, Vaccinium cv.
Filmed on Whadjuk Country
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Развлечения
I think your lovely garden feeds your souls as well as your bodies.
"Plants can form a meaningful Space of Love for a person, if there are many of them. If they are different and a person communicates with them, touches them with Love. Together, they can create for a person a significant Space of Love, graciously affecting the Soul and healing the body" Anastasia "Ringing Cedars of Russia"
Sweet people doing really good work!
This is sooo beautiful. It's fall where I am now but come spring I plan on building my own garden. There's something about seeing veggies and fruits in their natural environments that make my heart sing.
Quality gardening video. You always have valuable information to share! Continuing to follow your channel! 🌿🌵🥒🌾🌱🍃
Such a wonderful food forest. It is absolutely beautiful
Thank you for your service to the nation.
Such a serine surroundings......simply gorgeous!!
Such a beautiful property! Wonderful job 🥰
Truly wonderful...
What a commitment and amazing results!
Slowly working to this on our 2.5 acres- bought last December, and have been doing something everyday, ever since.
I love that show. Very funny. In the US it’s called Good Neighbors. I have the DVDs and every few years I watch it again.
thanks for posting
What a incredible garden. Well done
1. Need shade. Amazing after all these years of hearing you need full sun to grow food. Is this due to climate change?
2. Plant blueberries in pots. I thought they were only for cold regions anyway. Thanks for the tip.
3. Self-sufficiency is so hard, huh. Perfectionism is out. Good enough is in.
Full sun has never been recommended for all crops. As always, the solar exposure recommended depends upon the crop. There are low chill blueberry varieties now, as there are for many other temperate climate fruits, such as stone fruit and apples. Self sufficiency is impossible. Grow what does best, and where possible trade or sell surplus for what you can’t produce. You’ll still have to shop or drastically reduce your expectations and consumption.
Full sun normally refers to sunlight exposure, not full exposure to the maximum heat of summer. Not many plants are OK with the full heat of the summer sun, and if they can survive it the yield will be lower due to stress. Partial-shade full sun is ideal, to get relief from the heat, less stress but still as much as sunlight exposure as possible. Self-sufficiency is possible but you need to adjust your expectations. You won't be able to grow everything your supermarket has because your climate won't support the full range. I think that disappoints a lot of people. If you're in a cold climate, forget tropical fruits, for example. Growing the full range that your climate supports is a full-time job in itself, not really easy with a full-time 9-5 job.
Western Australia is hot and dry and gets upto 45-48degrees C in summer, full sun in relative
Australia is already a hot country, and climate change will likely make the summers hotter. So shade cloths make a lot of sense in hotter places with more intense sunlight.
I also love the blueberries in a pot idea, i'm definitely gonna start giving that a shot.
Climate change is a hoax
Wow
Wow.nice planting act. Watching here barretto olongapo city phil.
The dream🌈
My dream 😱😱
That's the way to live
wonderful. im planing to grow my own food in west burneo Indonesia.
can anyone please identify that big flower bees on it??
Assuming you mean the purple flower at 1:47, that's a globe artichoke, _Cynara cardunculus_ .
What are your ideas on achieving climbers in a small space?
There might be some helpful ideas for you here: ruclips.net/video/IWrsq_V_mJk/видео.html
People watch "The Good Life"!
I had a blueberry plant in pot, was doing ok. Planted in ground during warm hot weather and boom. Dead! 🥺
But I only had one plant anyway. Didn't realise I needed two. Should I start again.......? 🤔
Mum has 4 or 5 in garden bed. 😥 But only new so not sure how they'll go.
I'm no expert but you probably should have planted them in late arvo and water it thoroughly. Even better is to plant it when it's going to be cloudy or rainy for a few days so the plant doesn't suffer too much.
@@godonlylovesme1638 it died over time. Not over night 😉 thanks tho.
Blueberries need acidic soil. They like a lot of water and not good with a lot of Hear, it also needs cold weather during Winter to produce fruit.
They do better with more than one blueberry and especially a different variety. Even if it’s more expensive choose the plants that have a strong woody stock, the younger they are they the cheaper but they also die a lot easier. I bought 3 types they survived during winter no problem but doesn’t one died with the crazy heat. They need to be babied during the first years.
Don’t plant anything when it gets to hot, early spring, or fall are best bets. I never plant in the heat of summer unless it’s an annual.
why not fishing ?