Food Production at Home: Productive Edible Garden Tour with Lorna Thompson

Wow what an information overload! Lorna kindly shared her vast knowledge and insights on creating a thriving edible garden and how to work with difficult soil and weather conditions to improve the health of the garden as well as the gardener.

We learnt the importance of mulching, especially when the soil is very poor, to improve mycorrhizal activity, water retention and uptake of nutrients.  Lorna’s philosophy that everything needs to have at least 2 uses was evident throughout her garden. Such as elephant and vetiver grasses, not only feeding the goats, but also breaking up the soil and providing mulches for the fruit trees. Everything had a use and was recycled and nothing went to waste.

We were shown grafting techniques and how a cherry tree sucker could be transformed from a problem into a bonus once it became host to a new grafted cultivar.

We learnt of composting toilets, turning an IBC into a hot house, how bananas can thrive even in Albany, growing avocados from seed, how to deal with pests, diseases and nutrient deficiencies and we finished up with morning tea under a magnificent oak tree that Lorna had grown from an acorn.

What an inspiration! Thank you so much Lorna!

Veggie garden, fruit trees, chook tractor and magnificent oak

This project is supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program