Create A Bird Friendly Garden and Crop Rotation

DESIGN ELEMENTS

Building A Bird Friendly Garden

Wildlife in Australia has taken a massive hit with bushfires, then torrential rain that in some cases resulted in flooding.
Are you wondering where have all the birds gone in your garden ?

Or perhaps you have some of the more aggressive birds like Indian Mynah or Currawongs and want to know how to attract those smaller birds.

How can you help the birdlife in your garden?

Superb Fairy Wren

Perhaps start by thinking about creating an oasis, but there’s some essential steps that need to be observed first.
Let’s find out .
I'm talking with Glenice Buck, consulting arborist and landscape designer www.glenicebuckdesigns.com.au

If you provide your birds in your local area with a source of food, shelter and water, and that should help with not only supporting them, but letting you enjoy more of their presence. 

• Glenice points out that you need to plant in layers.
• This includes the canopy layer or larger trees, the shrub layer, then groundcovers and finally the leaf litter layer.

You may have noticed when you are walking in your district, where the smaller birds congregate.

This will give you some idea of the kind of habitat that they prefer.

You don't necessarily have to plant the same as in the bushland are nature reserves, because some might be weeds.

Grevillea Scarlet Sprite

For example, fairy wrens love to dart in and out of lantana bushes that are growing along a path under the Gladesville bridge in Sydney.

Instead, plant the type of style of bushes that these birds prefer; a shrub with dense foliage to the ground, such as Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite,' or "Firesprite.' There's also a range of Callistemons or bottlebrushes that attract a variety including fairy wrens.

• Think about plants that flower at different times of the year so that you've got a food source all year round in your garden.

If you have any questions of course, why not email realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

Crop Rotation 101

I thought I’d better address the whole crop rotation thing because of an email I received.

It was from a gardener in Auckland who had problems with his corn.

Some of the problems were caused by his planting the same crop twice in a row.

He was totally unaware that this can be a real problem.

• With his corn, the second crop was stunted and tasselled early. He was wondering why?
• I had told him that, early corn tasseling usually results when plants are stressed.
• Corn that is exposed to cold temperatures early in the growing season may develop tassels too early.
• On the flip side, corn tassels too soon, can occur if it is stressed by drought, nutrient deficiencies or hot and dry conditions.
• Perhaps one of those reasons outlined may be the cause?
• He had added compost before planting the second lot but the compost wouldn’t have been enough.
• He would have needed to add a barrow load of decomposed manures, but then waited for a few weeks for that to break down in the soil so that it was available to plants.

It’s not ideal to plant the same crop twice in the same garden bed. 

Crop rotation does a couple of things. The purpose is to prevent a build up of pathogens in the soil which can infect and re-infect particular families of plants.

Another purpose is that plants absorb different quantities of soil nutrients, and repeated plantings will quickly deplete the soil.

Crop rotation allows for more balanced soil fertility and microbial balance.

• Here’s the outline of a basic 4 bed rotation system that I call Crop Rotation 101.

I will outline one of the beds.Let’s call it bed 1.

Say you start with Legumes which includes beans, peas, broadbeans.

You will have to adjust to the seasons yourself.

• Because winter is approaching the legume could possible be planted with peas or broadbeans in most areas.

If you were starting this rotation in spring/summer, then beans and okra would be sown here.

When that crop has finished, in that same bed, the alliums will follow.

• So alliums follow legumes.
• You can choose from onions, shallots, leeks and Garlic.

Following on from Alliums, you would go to root and fruiting crops.

• Root  and fruiting crops follow alliums or the onion family.

There’s quite a choice here, but in winter it might be potatoes, parsnips, carrots, beetroot and in spring or summer, sweet corn, tomatoes and capsicums.

Still in bed 1. There’s one more rotation before you can plant the legumes again.

The last thing to go in this bed is from the brassicas.

• Brassicas are then following root and fruiting crops.

Hopefully you know the brassica family really well.

They include in autumn/winter cabbages, English spinach, broccoli, turnips and parsnips, depending on your district of course.

• In spring/summer you may want to plant silverbeet, radishes, mustard greens and pack choi.

If you don’t have enough room for 4 beds, even 4 little vegetable beds, then you need to just stick to one crop.

You’re probably wondering what do I plant in the other beds?

Stay with me, because it can seem complicated.

Remember I started off with legumes in bed 1.

• At the same time, and in bed 2, I would be on to Brassicas.
• Also at the same time and bed 3, I would plant out something from the root and fruiting crops.
• And, at the same time, I would plant something from the onion or allium family in bed 4.

So if you were in a warm temperate area right now, this is what you could have in your veggie garden, assuming the beds aren’t that big.

Bed 1, climbing peas-yes they are legumes

Bed 2 sprouting broccoli, from the brassica family

Bed 3 carrots, root crops of course

Bed 4 garlic and leeks. From the onion family or alliums.

That wasn’t so hard was it?

AND THAT WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY!