This market garden uses backyard methods for large scale produce | Discovery | Gardening Australia

Palisa visits a thriving market garden to find out how diversity and learning is at the heart of their productivity. Kelrick and Maree's farm is about 50 mins inland of Byron, is one of her favourite places to talk soil, food, and production. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
Starting 30 years ago on black basalt soil which is fertile and can be hard setting.
They cut the paddocks as mulch a diverse mix of pasture species, whatever is there, even weeds, as we can cut and mulch before seed set. "You want diversity in the plants in a mulch, that's a diversity in minerals going into the soil! If you're just applying bales of wheat straw, that is not much in the way of diversity".
Diversity is writ from the large scale to the small - implemented across the farm, in each paddock, and on an individual bed scale. "We have the luxury of space here, so gardens are spread out across the property. Trees, grass country, the gardens are in between. They all contribute to the biodiversity that supports production".
Within any one paddock is also a diversity of crops, 15 rows each growing something different. Amongst the food are always flowers. "Over the course of the year, we grow between 70-80 different things, but we also grow different varieties of individual things to ensure we have options. 3 varieties of garlic are now in the ground, all given to us by a customer, we also have 3 vars of Aibika.
The Aibika also represents another pillar of their successful production, with a changing climate you have to "adapt-adapt-adapt! It is a protein-rich perennial leaf crop, adapted to increasingly erratic weather. "We have had bushfires in the rainforest, the driest and wettest spells on record. It has also been critical for us to save our own seed, to acclimatise varieties over time and widen their climatic resilience".
Kenrick says they also have 3 rows of perennial spinach, all transplanted from self-sown plants that popped up where the crop grew last year. They have a simple technique for taking advantage of the natural strength of these plants. "We just dig it over, water and then move the plants as they germinate. Self-sown seedlings are always the strongest!"
While Ken and Maree have been doing this for decades, their flexible and diverse approach keeps them looking firmly to the future. "The challenges of this changing climate mean that in a way we are re-learning it. Sometimes we have to go back to the drawing board, it keeps us on our toes! The body gets tired, but the brain doesn't!"
Featured Plants:
ROCKET - Eruca sativa cv.
PERPETUAL SPINACH - Beta vulgaris cv.
COLLARD GREENS - Brassica oleracea cv.
Filmed on Bundjalung Country | Georgica, NSW
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[@ausblue1]

what a lovely man /gardner /farmer being kind to the wild life!! thank you

[@theadventuresofzoomandbettie]

What an amazing space he has created for so many different reasons!

[@neverlostforwords]

Inspiring and informative. Beautifully filmed. Good tip about the value of volunteer seedlings that are raring to grow in the current season and local conditions. It must be wonderful to have so much land and to have room for a windbreak. It is so difficult to find room for a windbreak on a quarter acre suburban block.

[@ErraticPerfectionist]

Difficult enough to find a quarter acre suburban block nowadays...

[@chongseitmooi2593]

Something fresh n interesting

[@elizabethkajet5501]

Great information and lovely presenter.

[@taja6950]

Lovely video and informative! I do wonder what are those trees behind, like at 1:30, it's such an interesting shape, like some palms-alike

[@windsong2875]

Really enjoyed that episode. Collard greens - will have to look up, lemon sorrel as well. Well done you guys for reviving the soil !

[@theadventuresofzoomandbettie]

I hadn't seen them before either! They looked really cool!

[@lesliedevlin8501]

Great show people wood like 2 work 4 him so I can see how 2 grow it all the best 👍👍👍👀👀👀

[@FarmerGarden]

Wow amazing 😍👍❤❤

[@bobrobertsNotUrBob]

If only I had the space

[@joshlovegood9392]

Unreal! Does anyone know of any other market garden videos in the Byron Bay area? Very keen to move up there and find these videos inspiring.

[@happy_moth]

The Weedy Garden here on yt has a similar setup and loads of instructional content. He's based in northern nsw so similar biome.

[@M.i.k.e.]

Does water penetrate though mulch as thick as his? I lay my pea straw mulch on about 2-3 inches, and often find that even after a rain the water has not seeped all the way though into the soil. Any tips?

[@pavementradio]

It does, just water deeply but less often. If the rain wasn’t enough to wet the soil then water as well. I probably look like an idiot watering my garden in the rain sometimes but if I know it’s only a couple mm of rain passing through then I’ll still water the plants that need it. Maybe fluff the mulch up a little if it’s really settled or compacted… 2-3 inches should be good though

[@M.i.k.e.]

@@pavementradio Many thanks.

[@jennychuang808]

We should all do our gardening this way. Honestly, the Western society way of gardening produces a lot of waste and not environmentally friendly

[@Picci25021973]

Very nice garden. Could be even better if they quit digging...

[@neverlostforwords]

Please provide your no dig gardening tips so they can consider them.

[@Picci25021973]

@@neverlostforwords stop using rototiller?

[@neverlostforwords]

@@Picci25021973 Well that is a good tip, I agree. :)

[@gardeningperth]

Better than gold? Probably not at this lifetime. Until something seriously bad happens. Pandemic didn't hurt gold price.

[@gwendolynperkins6424]

Can't eat gold. Can't use gold if what you want to buy is back ordered or stuck on a boat off shore.

[@tjmarx]

Something seriously bad happening only inflates the price of gold. The price of gold goes down when global financial markets are stable, fiat currency is going well and demand for gold is conversely at a low. Gold can be (and is) eaten Gwendolyn. Whenever you hear about "the worlds most expensive [enter food dish of choice here]" it always contains either gold leaf, gold flakes or gold chips. Gold is inert and doesn't form sharp edges. That makes it perfectly safe to consume, it just contains no nutritional value and will pass through your system intact. If you have enough gold and are willing to part with it, yes you absolutely can use gold to purchase products stuck on a cargo ship offshore. Or literally anything else. Money talks, loudly.