1. No Dig Gardening

2. WHY? * Any surface * Water holding * Nutrients * Clean – no toxins * Clean – no weed seeds * Replenish worn out soils quickly * No preparation work removing weeds * Easy to manage - cuts like butter Your work becomes harvesting, watering and planting – not weeding, feeding, and fighting pests

3. Feed a family of three in 10 sq. m Recipe online: Diggers Seed Club, Heronswood, Victoria

4. WHERE? on concrete on earth over weeds over competition (eg tree roots) in containers

5. Roof gardens Hundertwasser House public housing, Vienna

15. DESIGN

16. Bed shape Least path Can’t step on beds – one arm reach wide Based on arm circles Kneeling space in centre Planting zones Pathside greens – cut and come again Longest & biggest things in the centre

17. Potatoes Beans and peas Corn & pumpkin Raspberries, fennel, artichokes Plum tree Design Beans Cherry tree Compost

19. For the the big, the slow and the anti-social eg corn, potatoes, melons, pumpkin

20. HOW?

21. Layers Straw: 10cm Compost: 20cm Straw: 30cm Earth or concrete

32. Sprinkle with dolomite – to add magnesium Fertilise each year /season as usual - add seaweed preparations for trace elements Rotate crops as usual - eg beans/ lettuce, then tomatoes or cabbages/ onions or corn/ pumpkins, then silverbeet/ beetroot/ carrot Use companion planting and plant stacking to maximise yields How to

33. Non-hybrid seed varieties eg Eden Seeds Diggers Seeds Garden characteristics, not field machinery Locally adapted (eg resistant to bolting) Interesting, diverse – appearance and taste Self seed and breed true Need conserving – gene diversity

34. GETTING THE MOST OUT OF IT Companion planting/ guilds

35. Companion planting/ space stacking

36. STACKING Companion plants Lettuce, spring onions & carrots Different root zones Different leaf zones Compatible chemicals Insect interactions

37. Spring onions Lettuce Carrot Parsley Leek COMPANION GUILDS

38. Tomato Basil COMPANION GUILDS Celery

39. COMPANION GUILDS Bush beans Rocket ChivesStrawberries Peas

40. Since Mayan times The three sisters: corn, pumpkin and climbing beans

41. COSTS

42. Costs Straw - $40 Compost - $320 Railway sleepers – 8 x $20 each Seedlings & Seeds - $100 TOTAL = $620 Weekly box of vegies = $40 Time to ROI = 4 months

43. Effort Initial 1.5 days to construct (2 people) Ongoing About 1-2 hours per week, includes watering and dinner harvesting Less than the mowing?

44. Ongoing inputs Over winter, about 180l of water each 2-3 days –We use tank water, our household consumption is 70 l per person per day –Greywater recycling is the next step Seedlings and seeds – about every 3 weeks approx $5 per week One big bag of rooster booster $16 A bale of hay $7

45. RESULTS

47. Planted April Fools’ Day

48. 7 weeks old

50. September

51. HARVEST We stopped our Food Connect vegie box in May. We’ve only bought potatoes, garlic and onions since then. (and a weekly Food Connect fruit box)

52. Every single day from the living salad bowl Pak choy, bok choy, choy sum, tatsoi Lettuce, chicory, rocket Dill, parsley, coriander Spring onions

53. broad beans, beans, peas, snowpeas Plus every week broccoli, cauliflower, chinese cabbage, brussel sprouts silverbeet, beetroot, carrot, spinach leeks, tomatoes, parsnip, celery, turnips, radish

59. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

60. www.brisbanelocalfood.ning.com links to information & more websites social network format – everyone can add content gardens groups events etc

61. www.greenharvest.com.au seeds, plants, products & plant info (Maleny: mail order) www.cityfoodgrowers.com.au plant information, social & produce marketplace