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Urban Agronomist

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Urban Agronomist

May 13, 2016 Craig Baillie

We have many projects on the go and will endeavour to start sharing our projects and community work soon.

Footage: conversion of a 1980's swimming pool into a productive vegie patch at Thornbury Urban Farm.

Our latest insta'green'' feed straight from the patch:

Currently growing #inthepatch - red onions for pickling... plus the leaves are delicious!
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#organic #homegarden #ediblegarden #growfoodnotlawns #redonion

After a year building the Merriment garden, we've had a chance to watch how the elements behave. We're taking the opportunity to divide our asparagus crowns and plant them into what will become our perennial mini-food forest. Looks like a promising Spring!
#asparagus #foodforest #permaculture #perennial #growyourownfood #organic #urbanagriculture

Mid-winter Melbourne: it's been dry this year, with clear night skies resulting in nice frosty mornings (especially when you live along Merri Creek!). Frost has benefits for many plants that require a good chill to produce, including "sweetening" brassicas - though try explaining that to our frost-burnt capsicum plants!
#wintergarden #frost #seasonal #wintergreen #growfoodnotlawns #kitchengarden #organic

Whilst the garden is slowly ticking away during winter, we have a chance to grow some Swiss Brown mushrooms to supplement our vegetables. We're looking forward to experimenting with growing oyster mushrooms in our cellar soon.
#mycelium #mushrooms #fungi #growyourownfood #smallspacegardening #urbanagriculture #mycology

The Tropics: plants grow fast & compost fast!
With the residues of the working bee @emashitamindonesia we built a hot compost pile. It will be turned in around 3 days, and is expected to be finished in less than 3 weeks before reapplied to the garden.
#organic #compost #hotcompost #permaculture #tropics #foodforest #ubud #closedloop #suksma

Currently enjoying the first of the 3-day Ubud Food Festival in Bali. As well as exploring some of the diversity of Indonesia's rich culinary heritage, we have the opportunity to listen to many leaders as they share their thoughts and experiences. Janur Yasa @moksaubud Penelope Williams @alilamanggis and Tri Sutrisna @wanaprasta all advocated the importance of seasonality in regards to our food supply and sustainable food production, as well as discussing the challenges.
#uff2017 #sustainability #seasonalfood #seasonaleating #foodstories #ubud #provenance #growingfood #paddocktoplate #farmtofork #culinary #heritage

Oh, sweet potatoes! Inspired by our harvest volunteering for the @fareshare_australia Victoria Park garden, we decided to see what was lurking under all the foliage in our patch. We harvested 18.6 kg of tubers from predominantly 4 plants, plus we reserved a couple of kilos of edible shoots for sharing. We'll also propagate some shoots up for spring planting. The spread of the Melbourne Sweet Potato Movement continues!@peopleplantslandscapes 😊
#growfoodnotlawns #sweetpotato #permaculture #volunteering #northerstar #urbanagriculture

Good preparation for Autumn planting starts with testing our garden soils. Over the past year in a new garden, we've managed our soils through different manures, composts and lime to optimise our crop's nutritional requirements. Our soils came in a good range in between 6.5 and 7.5 (7 being neutral) - the higher pH plots will suit our peas and snow peas with the lower pH suiting garlic and onions. Different plants have different optimal ranges. We are weary about increasing the pH (more Basic) much further so we also tested some bulk manure to see the potential impact of our soil - coming in quite strongly Basic, meaning I'll use a different source of nutrition this season. Correct pH is important for nutrient availability as well as disease control.
#phtest #soil #soilhealth #organic #growfoodnotlawns #permaculture #ediblegarden

Autumn: amazing produce and perfect days. After a productive day in the garden, settling in with a bottle of red, chestnuts from the family farm at Stanley in front of the fire and sunset over Merri Creek. Anyone up for the next one?
#familyfarm #chestnuts #harvest #growyourownfood #growfoodnotlawns #autumn #seasonalfood #eatingseasonally
Picked @maloneylane 🌰

Our Bitter Melon plants have really kicked on and are cropping heavily in the recent weeks of warm weather. Propagated as part of the Novel Food Crops project at the University of Melbourne's Burnley Campus for Horticulture, these and other crops were propagated and sold as part of a broader project with Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre to better understand multicultural food ingredients and heritages.
#bittermelon #momordica #novelcrops #perennialvegetables #asianveggies #asianvegan #organic #growfoodnotlawns

Enjoying all the Region has to offer - partaking in the High Country Hops Festival hosted by @nakedned Bridge Road Brewers in Beechworth. Only too happy to blind taste 6 new hop varieties being developed by @hopproducts 😊. Great to see the support within the local brewing community.