The Sustainable Backyard was officially opened during the Festival of the Environment in March 2001. Located at Hamilton Gardens, behind the Kitchen Garden and the by Wildflower garden, this demonstration garden has been developed by the community of volunteers that make up the Hamilton Permaculture Trust.
Informative signage by Artmakers Trust helps to create a unique garden which demonstrates ways which we can all make an immediate and positive difference to the state of our environment. The Sustainable Backyard illustrates ways to transform the typical ornamental suburban backyard into a productive edible landscape with a continuous supply of organic fruit and vegetables available throughout the year.
Permaculture . . . Permaculture looks for connections that can be made between people, plants, animals, buildings and infrastructures and uses these connections to create diverse, stable, closed and sustainable systems. Compost bins, a worm farm, chickens and liquid manure barrels are used to keep the nutrients cycling within the garden. Each connection feeds and supports other elements in the system, thereby closing the loop on resources used.
Chickens . . . The chicken tractor and vegetable beds are designed together so that the chicken coop can be rotated around the beds as the vegetables are harvested. The chickens carry out their normal functions -scratching, pecking, fertilizing - leaving a beautifully prepared bed ready to be re-planted.
A cultivated ecology . . . Plants are not just selected for food production, but for their role in the whole system - providing habitat and food for other animals and insects (including native species), and as beneficial companions for each other. A variety of heirloom fruit trees are under-planted with comfrey, borage and calendula.
Make a difference . . . So go forth and set up a worm-farm outside your backdoor. Compost your kitchen scraps. Create a small vegetable garden to supplement your needs and share with others. Reassess your energy consumption and find ways to make a difference . . .
