PRACTICAL GARDENING
Create
Let us inspire and guide you as you create an edible garden that’s right for you.
Knowing how and when to use the right tool efficiently can make a big difference. Utilising a range of natural processes – such as decomposition in composting at the end of harvest and germination at the start of growing – can save time and money.
Getting started
Working with natural cycles and processes going on in our gardens season after season can make gardening more connected to and integrated with the world around us. Problems can occur along the way and it’s useful to have some understanding and resources with which to respond appropriately and sustainably when they do.
POD’s guide to creating your edible garden combines information on a whole range of natural resources and processes from harnessing the habits and behaviour of beneficial birds and insects to concocting natural feeds, sowing seeds, keeping happy, healthy and productive livestock and tending to plants and soil in as natural a way as possible.
Feeding plants & soil
Well-fed plants are more likely to produce a good harvest, and well-fed soil produce strong plants.
Technique
Gardening involves a range of day to day practical tasks that can all help to make growing your own food easy and productive.
Livestock
Where space permits, livestock can make an edible garden all the more productive.
Pests, diseases & problem plants
Growing food outdoors puts plants into the natural environment where complex, often unseen, plants, animals, invertebrates and organisms are all striving to survive.
Beneficial insects & birds
Many of these creatures can help us to grow productively by feeding on pests, working the soil and carrying out pollination.
Structures
Structures help to make our gardens accessible, functional and productive. You’ll be surprised how easy they are to make.