Maria's Edible Backyard

Joined:13/08/09 Updated:04/02/10 Frost:
Location: Malabar

About My Edible Backyard

Why Maria Love's Edible Plants

I am an artist and this is my first garden.  It's very sandy soil, very windy, near the beach.  My garden is north/east facing in the back, and north/west for the front yard.  Three years ago I ripped off the turf and brougt in 15 cubic meters of compost, which was a miracle of fertility.  I also put in a drip system. It seems to rain here in Sydney a lot, both in summer and winter.

Once my soil was fixed, the biggest challenge has been the wind, but it's improving as the hedges grow.  I first planted all fruit trees and vegetables, but as the trees grew I only have herbs and fruit trees now, and now putting succulants in as well.

My biggest challenge was that everything grew too well and I have overplanted, so I have been prunning, prunning and now editing my garden.  Too many trees, so I have been cutting down or moving them around.. had to sacrifice my asparragus, my Yacon, my plums.  My biggest rewards is all the little insects and microscopic life for which the garden is a stage. 

I love picking up the food, herbs, fruits, leafy greens and giving bag fulls of them to all my friends when they visit.

Comments

Fruit Tree Forum Contributions

Maria Forum Contributions
What are your favourite fruit trees in - Granadilla (Passiflora Liguralis) from Colombia, crack in on your head, eat it with a spoon, Beautiful spoted orange rigid skin, inside it looks like snot, but it taste delicious. Yellow Pitaya... delicious, but don't eat too much or you will need to..6692 days 15hrs
Naranjilla1 - Thanks! I will wait and see... They are my favorite fruit juice from Colombia, I am looking forward to juice them... also, another question: they are growing so tall so quickly, can I hard prune them by the end of summer or autumn?..6699 days 10hrs
Tamarillo1 - Thanks B. Where do I get borax, and is it toxic for humans? ..6700 days 15hrs
Babaco drops fruit - Hi Correy, my Babaco is on the ground......6708 days 8hrs
Naranjilla1 - Hello, my Naranjillas are looking spectacular and have been flowering since early spring, but no signs of fruit forming. I have a few of them so they should be cross polinating, any chance that they will ever fruit?..6708 days 13hrs