BACKYARD VEGETABLE GARDEN
When we moved to the Granite Belt to establish Das Helwig Haus B&B we succeeded in creating a hospitality business which became famous throughout Australia and I personally succeeded in constructing the garden of my dreams.
I believe that many people would say that they spend the first 30 years of their adult lives establishing careers, homes and rearing a family. They then spend the next 20 years consolidating businesses or change direction to follow their dreams. As we did some give up other careers, sell the family home and move to a tourism district like the Granite Belt to establish guest accommodation, wineries and restaurants. The urge to change often starts when they pay a visit to a tourism district or read a book like Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. They dream of sitting on a terrace overlooking vineyards while sipping a glass of wine.
Lunch at Felsberg Winery
But, the time comes when age forces them to again change direction. Sadly, most will find that during this productive and rewarding stage of their lives, their children have taken other directions and may even be living in distant states or foreign countries. The children are far away and not interested in leaving careers to take up the parent’s lifestyle business. Recognizing that their bodies have aged and infirmities are starting to trouble them they consider the prospect of selling their dream businesses and retiring. While establishing their dream businesses they had expected that one day when they sold the business the price would provide them with the equivalent of a superannuation income.
One of the reasons that this seldom happens is that younger people have their own dreams and they don’t wish to buy an established dream unless it is a profitable business, which can afford to pay labour. When dreaming they do not see the reality of how hard they must work to establish their vision, but when viewing an existing business they confront the issues of management. Which, by the time we had established our dream became the issue confronting us.
As I approach my 70th birthday this year, this is the reality which Eberhard and I must face. We listed our property for sale and held an auction in October, but no one was interested in buying our property. So, we have made the decision to down size.
The first decision was to down size the work of maintaining the non-productive section of our garden. The shrubs and trees of the eastern and northern portions of our ornamental garden are now well rooted and capable of withstanding long dry periods. Thus I don’t expect that these trees and shrubs will die if I no longer water them weekly. They will continue their purpose of sheltering the house and providing a micro-climate.
It is my intention to give up pumping water from the river for the purpose of maintaining a luxurious green front garden. I expect there will be times during heat waves when I will look out my windows with dismay as I see trees wilting and leaves dropping. I will have to harden my heart and think ’survival of the fittest’. In making this choice I have decided that I may have to watch shallow rooted perennials die and I will no longer be planting flowering annuals. While my garden will lose some seasonal colour, I will save the cost of fuel, plus the maintenance costs of running the pump at the river. Perhaps more importantly, I will save my time and effort planting and watering flowers.
I have grown sweet corn and vine crops on the upper western terrace this summer, pumping a little water from the river to get them established. We have had good summer rainfall since mid-December which has meant I have had to spend very little time and effort to reap this harvest.
Pulling sweet corn
There is a lower terrace close to the house. This is somewhat like a sunken garden as I must descend off the veranda to enter this area. Our bio-cycle unit to treat gray water is positioned at the higher end of this low area. It has an outlet hose which drains to the south. This summer I decided to grow all my other vegetables in this area, utilizing only the gray water. The natural rainfall has helped but I’ve been rewarded with a remarkably productive garden.
Climbing beans
Now, as I consider my potential to continue gardening over the next decade I am thinking of removing a number of non-productive greenery plants in this area, so the space they occupy could be put to a more productive use. I had planted this ivy to cover an old wooden stump, but equally water melon vines could ramble over this spot next summer. I could then grow my summer garden entirely within this lower terrace, which is no bigger than many suburban backyards.
Green ivy
I can also allow my hens, housed in that igloo at the rear, to free range through this back area during the winter months when I don’t grow a vegetable garden. Hens usually lay eggs in the morning so it would be a case of opening the gate of their pen at lunch time and closing it after I feed them grain in the evening. I would have to close off a couple of walkways to prevent them entering the extended garden. Thus they would help turn over the soil and eliminate weeds or insect pests.
Usually I do not plant my summer vegetable garden until after September when I expect the frosts to end. I could then direct my hens out the western gate at the rear of the igloo and into the grass country beyond the garden fence. This will give them free range forage during the period I am growing vegetables.
Western gate
Book cover
Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.
This is a region noted for Australian wildflowers, four wilderness National Parks and sixty wineries. In 1997 Eberhard and Fay established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies, a European wildflower.
To obtain Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine send an email to helwig@halenet.com.au The price is $33.00 posted to destinations within AustraIia.
Internationally it is available on
http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary
http://books.google.co.uk/
