1. Introduction

we are in

AustralianPlanet

australia

Or Step 1 in our endeavour to create Backyard Self-Sufficiency on a quarter acre block.

In the words of Clive Blazey of www.diggers.com.au fame “Growing food is the foundation of a gardener’s ecological education and it is the single most important step towards a self sufficient life style.

My wife and I have recently become the proud owners of 629 square metres of east/west facing residential property, with a home running north/south. And with the home being constructed at the front of the property we have inherited a very large backyard, no two-storey neighbours and oodles of sunlight all day long. For years we have patiently looked forward to something like this and when it came on the market, we didn’t even need to think about it. And being an ex-rental property we saw it as we wished it to be, not how it looked at the time. A bathroom ceiling covered in mould can be treated, but big backyards don’t come every day. And now that we have acquired this big backyard, our dreams of home grown fruit and vegetables will now come to fruition.

The purpose of this blog is twofold; firstly to setout how a backyard can be designed to produce sufficient fruit and vegetables to last an entire year, and secondly, with the prices of fruit and vegetables continuously climbing, and never tasting any better, how to reduce your weekly shopping bill forever and enjoy your own produce. You may not want to turn your entire backyard into a market garden, but we hope you will get an idea or two.

For those who are interested in my source material and greenhouse knowledge I recommend the following books on the subject;

Greenhouse Gardening by Alan Titchmarsh (BBC Books)
Greenhouse Gardening. Step by Step to Growing Success by Jonathan Edwards (Crowood Gardening Guides)

These two (2) books may be purchased on Angus & Robertson’s website.

For those who are interested in my source material on Vegetable Gardening and Seeds I recommend;

The Australian Vegetable Garden – what’s new is old by Clive Blazey (Diggers), which can be purchased at Myers and the Diggers website, and

Backyard Self-sufficiency by Jackie French (Aird Books, Melbourne, Australia)



Please note, any critisisms of this blog should be referred to the Project Manager above, known as Snoopy. Be aware that he only understands a few words - sit, outside, no, bad dog, don't jump and in your kennel. However he will sniff at your comments.