G'day from Broken Hill, far west NSW.

[Grandmother Goose]

My Grandmother who many decades ago grew her own small back yard fruit forest in a small town in the middle of a desert when most people said it wasn't possible to do; an older hippy friend that spent most of her life living off the grid and grew all her own food; and Mark's Self Sufficient Me videos; have been my greatest gardening inspirations. Now that I finally own my own little ancient cottage home with a fair sized yard in Broken Hill, I plan on taking everything I've learned from those 3 special people and seeing what sort of disaster I can create with it. It's going to take years to get to where I want to be, but hopefully I still have plenty of that left in me. My goal is to grow what I can't buy, and introduce friends, family and neighbours to the many strange foods that we can't buy at a shop here (purple potatoes, black chicken meat, green chicken eggs, pink lemons, black/purple peaches, etc) . A little red dacca banana was my first plant purchase a couple of months back, and although it's currently struggling through our harsh winter chill at the moment, it's still popping up a new leaf and will hopefully come good in spring. It's the centre piece of a raised bed dwarf espalier fruit tree garden that I'm still landscaping that should be finished by the time all the trees I ordered online arrive in a couple of weeks time. It's been a struggle because the soil here is dead sandy and full of rock, so much rock that digging more than a few inches deep results in needing to break out rock breaking tools. Bright sides, silver linings, rainbows and all that happy shiny sh*t, I've got plenty of natural rock in my yard for future garden features and Thank you Mark for introducing me to Birdies Garden Beds! I wouldn't be able to grow much of anything here without them. I also have a pair of silkie chickens, planning on expanding my poultry collection over the next few years as I get the yard done up to have more chickens of different types, quail, ducks and geese. What will and won't grow here, well, if my Grandmother's success is anything to go by, just about anything will grow in a desert if mollycoddled enough is the answer, but how well I'll do with it... I guess we'll find out!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

My Grandmother who many decades ago grew her own small back yard fruit forest in a small town in the middle of a desert when most people said it wasn't possible to do; an older hippy friend that spent most of her life living off the grid and grew all her own food; and Mark's Self Sufficient Me videos; have been my greatest gardening inspirations. Now that I finally own my own little ancient cottage home with a fair sized yard in Broken Hill, I plan on taking everything I've learned from those 3 special people and seeing what sort of disaster I can create with it. It's going to take years to get to where I want to be, but hopefully I still have plenty of that left in me. My goal is to grow what I can't buy, and introduce friends, family and neighbours to the many strange foods that we can't buy at a shop here (purple potatoes, black chicken meat, green chicken eggs, pink lemons, black/purple peaches, etc) . A little red dacca banana was my first plant purchase a couple of months back, and although it's currently struggling through our harsh winter chill at the moment, it's still popping up a new leaf and will hopefully come good in spring. It's the centre piece of a raised bed dwarf espalier fruit tree garden that I'm still landscaping that should be finished by the time all the trees I ordered online arrive in a couple of weeks time. It's been a struggle because the soil here is dead sandy and full of rock, so much rock that digging more than a few inches deep results in needing to break out rock breaking tools. Bright sides, silver linings, rainbows and all that happy shiny sh*t, I've got plenty of natural rock in my yard for future garden features and Thank you Mark for introducing me to Birdies Garden Beds! I wouldn't be able to grow much of anything here without them. I also have a pair of silkie chickens, planning on expanding my poultry collection over the next few years as I get the yard done up to have more chickens of different types, quail, ducks and geese. What will and won't grow here, well, if my Grandmother's success is anything to go by, just about anything will grow in a desert if mollycoddled enough is the answer, but how well I'll do with it... I guess we'll find out!

Oh wow! Whilst it can prove with some difficulty, it's definitely possible! Good thing your grandma didn't give up! It can be so inspirational.

Gardening really comes with a lot of falling and getting bck up again, better and better every time. Personally I think that process is almost just as much fun as successfully growing my own produce.
There are ways to improve your soil - even sandy ones! Mark has a video on it actually!


Remember, your grandmother had a couple of yours on you so she's done a lot more learning than you have at this point.

If you ever have any questions... don't be afraid to ask them! We'll be happy to help

 

[Grandmother Goose]

Thank you. And yes, the reason I came here is so that if I have any questions I can hopefully find some answers. My grandmother certainly did have a few extra years on me, she passed away when I was a teenager at the age of 86 I think it was, and lived at the house she grew her food forest at for pretty much her entire life. So yeah, I've got a lot of years to catch up on her, but I have an advantage she didn't - the internet. She had to learn everything by trial and error, I at least have a world of information to access to avoid some of the hurdles. I've already seen that video about improving soil, had it on my things to watch later list until I ordered some soil from the only place in town that sells it by the ton, to find it... well... needed some extra help so the first thing I did was sit down and watch it. The soil around here I'm not so concerned about, it's the inability to dig through the solid rock that's mere inches under what little sandy soil we have, hence the need for raised beds. It's a bit like trying to garden on concrete with a few inches of sand on top of it. I've been trying to get onto the Birdies website to order another garden bed all day but can't get onto it, hoping it's just a technical server problem that will be resolved later in the week.

 

[Mark]

Thank you Mark for introducing me to Birdies Garden Beds!

No problem at all and all the best with your growing!

I'm also keen to grow things that you can't easily buy from the local supermarket - it's like backyard vegetable garden exploration

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Thank you. And yes, the reason I came here is so that if I have any questions I can hopefully find some answers. My grandmother certainly did have a few extra years on me, she passed away when I was a teenager at the age of 86 I think it was, and lived at the house she grew her food forest at for pretty much her entire life. So yeah, I've got a lot of years to catch up on her, but I have an advantage she didn't - the internet. She had to learn everything by trial and error, I at least have a world of information to access to avoid some of the hurdles. I've already seen that video about improving soil, had it on my things to watch later list until I ordered some soil from the only place in town that sells it by the ton, to find it... well... needed some extra help so the first thing I did was sit down and watch it. The soil around here I'm not so concerned about, it's the inability to dig through the solid rock that's mere inches under what little sandy soil we have, hence the need for raised beds. It's a bit like trying to garden on concrete with a few inches of sand on top of it. I've been trying to get onto the Birdies website to order another garden bed all day but can't get onto it, hoping it's just a technical server problem that will be resolved later in the week.

The forum is ideal for questions. Even if we don't know the answer immediately, chances are a number of people will help you look up the necessary information

Even with the internet on my side I am still learning what works for me and what doesn't. Every climate is different and there are many different soil types. Mark's videos had helped me figure out many of my issues as well, for example my soil is nutrient-deficit clay; rather hard to work with.
I've noticed that the birdies website is quite slow for me the past couple of days, so I'm betting that it's just a temporary issue. I've never had issues with the website before. Have you tried accessing it from different angles, like googling it instead of clicking a link (or other way around)?

 

[JP 1983]

Sounds like one of your major issues may be drainage. I was watching a video some time ago on zero water desert crop trees. Definitely check that out!