We’ve been so busy here at Koanga that I haven’t had a chance to post Kay’s updates about the Urban Garden – we are getting huge amounts of food from it and it looks amazing. Here’s a summary of what’s been going on in the last few months.
November 2013
We began installing our 200 sq m urban garden over the past 6 months. We planted the 40 sq m Bio intensive vege beds in September, having planted the fruit trees over winter and having already installed the chickens and the rabbits.
We have been focusing on getting animal food planted in every available space including all the paths around the garden and site so we can become sufficient in rabbit and chickens greens asap. We have not yet installed the guinea pig tractor system.
We began harvesting veges from the garden in early November but did not begin collecting data until November 21st! We harvested the following in this 10 days from the garden
50 organic high quality eggs $25
22 Odells lettuces worth $1.50 each $33
Welsh Bunching onions each day $1.95 a bunch $19.50
2 kgs of courgettes 1 a day @ $7 kg $14
That makes a total of $91.50 for the first month $25 eggs and $66.5 veges
We are harvesting comfrey, chicory, alfalfa and clover/grass from the site for daily chicken greens and rabbit greens, but we are wild harvesting tagasaste to feed the rabbits. (Rabbits can’t live on fresh greens alone, but tagasaste is a complete food for them).
We are still buying in fertiliser to get the minerals in the beds balanced and levels high, so we get high brix food, and we are still feeding the chickens organic sprouted corn, and adding chicken minerals and seaweed to their corn ,until the worm farm and the soldier fly farm are in production and/or the compost heap is full of decomposers
December 2013
130 organic high quality eggs value $65
courgettes 18kgs $126
Welsh bunching onions 30 small bunches $58
Odell’s Lettuces 64 @$1.50 each $96
Daikon Tokinashi 50kgs $5 kg $250
Kaiapoi bush beans 5.7kgs @ $9kg $51
Magenta Spreen 6 bunches @$3 $18
Chives 10 bunches @ $1.95 $19.5
Lemons 10 kgs @ $5 $50
Total $733!!!!!!! Unbelievable … and there is way more to come……. Watch this space!!!!
This month we are still wild harvesting tagasaste, we are learning that rabbits don’t eat it when it is seeding so it works well to harvest trees as you need the feed then they will all grow at slightly different times meaning new growth all the time.
Still feeding sprouted corn and minerals and seaweed to chickens.
Using our vermiliquid to feed the fruit trees and comfrey, and harvesting chicken and rabbit greens from the site daily.
The guinea pig tractor track around the garden is now ready to be harvested by guinea pigs but until we have them will need to harvest ourselves for the chickens to compost!
We’ll improve our data collecting systems next month, to maximize info for us all, it’s looking better and better and wilder and wilder as we maximize harvesting sunlight in this 200 sq m model urban garden.