I have a very VERY small back yard in our current situation so i am trying to manage space and get the most rewards, without chemicals.
first a crappy pic i made in paint to show the basic layout, i will explain after.
around the perimeter except on the left side is all building...the picture represents only 10 x 7 meters (roughly).
The red is a garden lined with rocks and bricks. it is raised about 40 cm (1' 4"). the back half is pretty shaded but it has corn growing nicely. this will; be my vegetable garden, corn, carrots (needs to be deeper), potatoes, tomatoes etc. they have already grown nicely there, so no worries. This is very bad clay dirt that i am trying to make better via composting. the bottom is all left over building supplies from a neighbor who was throwing it in the garbage (who throws rocks/bricks in the garbage???) along the edge i planted chocolate mint and nasturtium to keep the dirt from going through the brick and escaping (we have MASSIVE monsoons here....they just went through their first 20cm/hour downpour this week).
The green is a garden lined in pop bottles (recycling with my students) it will be raised up to 50 cm (once we have enough bottles...currently only 20 cm). i will be lining this with mint as well as their root system is very deep and very strong, able to support big floods.
the bottom of the pic is our house, which is tall. so the light blue are little planters (reused Styrofoam boxes and tires when i find some) that have rope going to to our second floor deck. this will have climbing plants...ornamentals and beans/peas etc. climbing vines anyway. this will totally shade the house and save us lots in AC charges i hope. we are also doing this from our second floor deck to our 3rd floor deck, with other climbing vegetables such as beans and gourds.
the orange are composters. i place them there because when it rains everything drains from the bottom to the top of the picture (into the ditches...). so as it rains I am hoping the water will flow under the green and red garden and nourish it. The water does in fact flow under the garden, and with the perimeter blocked be mints/nasturtiums I have noticed the water that comes into the ditch is fairly clear, like a primitive filter.
The #1 composter is different in that I will be using high cellulose waste in it only. Things like corn stalks, stems, harvested/dead woody greens. This will be used for mushroom growing….getting everything clean enough will be hard, so I will likely use containers for this. Oyster mushrooms will likely be used for their aggressive growth and fast composting properties. And they taste good.
Once the #1 bin has finished fruiting and most of the cellulose has been broken down I will move them (along with other softer waste like fruits etc) into bins #2.
What I want to accomplish is a self contained garden, one that needs no outside fertilizer. The other goal is it to be 100% recycled/reused. Of course it will not be 100% self contained after time as I am eating the fruits/veggies and not putting my own waste back into the garden.
Thoughts suggestions opinions?
I am also wanting to incorporate aquaculture into the garden as well, perhaps using hydroponics for some plants. Still working this out and trying to do it with recycled stuff…but i am renting this place and don’t want to completely change it. I am looking into using evaporation instead of pumps for the hydro, but this doesn’t work for nutrients very well. Anyway, I typed way to much, so let me know what you think. I will post pictures of what is up now when I get a chance.
