In about August 2012 we completed a permaculture design for Adrienne who live with her family in Dingley Village, Melbourne.  Adrienne was keen to get seriously edible and wanted muchos veggie production, fruit trees, a rain-water harvesting & distribution system, a grey water system, and quite a bit else.  Here’s the design we came up with for her decidedly un-rectangular block (the dotted lines are the neighbour’s houses):

Adrienne loved the design and was keen to make to more than a pretty picture, so in December 2012 we got to work! Step one was some arborist work (thanks Will!) to open things up and create more sunlight for the fruit trees.  Step two was a 9,860 litre steel water tank installed on a concrete slab and hooked up to supply the house toilet and the gardens.

We then formed up the five 40-cm high rough-sawn VEG Beds (four standard rectangles, one custom shape to fit the interesting property shape)…

…before removing as much couch grass as possible, then bringing in seven cubic metres of rich woody compost to give the very sandy soil a big push in the right direction…

…coated with woodchips grown on site and left for us by the arborists….

We then mulched the VEG beds…

And planted them out…

Then popped in the fruit trees and their laundry-powered greywater irrigation system.

and here’s a youtube clip of the project as we left it in 2012, and we are much looking forward to returning and helping Adrienne along on her edible journey in 2013!

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