Visit Dynnyrne Belinda & Daniel 2022

We made our way up the side of a hill in Dynnyrne for this month’s garden visit. The lushness of the landscape, the overcast skies and the architecture of the home all contributed to the feeling we were walking in the Alps; the welcoming chamomile lawn surrounded by summer flowers did nothing to dissuade us from that feeling.

While skirting the no-mow lawn around the side of the property, it becomes obvious that every space is seen as an opportunity to be productive. Basic permaculture thinking is at work in each corner and the results are both beautiful and fruitful.

It’s not the easiest of gardens to describe because there is so much that’s worth pointing out. The basics are that the house and small surrounding gardens (containing LOTS of flowers) stand in front of a massive netted productive garden. Once inside this space, you forget you’re in a cage as the trees and plants take dominance.

Garden around the house

Clever stairway up to the cage entrance

Walk on into the cage

There are numerous, sometimes meandering paths giving access to berries, chickens, fruit trees, veggies, a beehive, flowers, nuts… There’s no strict grid or obvious layout, though clearly a lot of planning has gone into the space. For a first-time visitor there's plenty of opportunity to wander, wind up on a different level, discover an interesting plant and then move on for more. All this while the beds are seemingly efficient and easy to work. I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking here.

A garden path: one-way traffic only!

Honeybees tucked into a corner

That's a lot of beans!

Cherries, one of the many fruit trees

Happy Chooks

Hazelnuts fattening up

Such a healthy quince tree

Berries (most likely loganberries???)

Mixed veg, plenty of options for dinner

Netting cramping your style? No problem, just grow through😊

Food for everyone in here, even a visiting bumblebee

Raspberries growing and spreading

Walking onions ready to take the next step

You’d think those pictures would've told the entire tale of this lovely Dynnyrne garden, but there are a few special bits that are worth some extra attention. For example, a narrow but long chicken run that skirts the outside of the cage. The busy chooks keep the grass down so no need for weeding or a line trimmer. Clever, hard-working girls!

Chook race, keeping the edges tidy

A small and thriving patch of dandelions grows in the middle of the cage. Several of us were convinced this was a crop of some sort, but we weren’t sure what the end product was. It turns out the roots are turned into coffee. Wikipedia confirms this is indeed a thing! And, of course, bees love dandelions.🐝

Coffee anyone?

A long bed is filled with tomato plants (enough to satisfy a hungry family of adults and teenagers). Belinda explained her method that allows planting earlier than the natural environment might dictate and keeps the plants strong through the season. Firstly, the bed is planted with broad beans (tips cut and used in the kitchen) which are chopped and left in the bed as green manure. Compost and mulch are placed on top creating a hot compost bed to plant the tomatoes into. Tomatoes love the warm soil that the compost provides so they start early and grow, grow, grow!

A warm bed for the tomatoes

 

The hot house provides good space for plenty of seedlings with some trays in evidence. More goodies for the garden coming soon.

As always, there’s a very busy corner of the garden visit where we meet to share produce and goodies, to listen to our hosts explain their garden and to chat with other club members over a cup of tea.

Max introducing Belinda & Daniel

The produce table was the place to be

No one went home hungry

Thank you, Belinda and Daniel, for opening your property to us, answering our many questions and for sending us home with heads full of ideas for our own gardens. And thank you everyone who came along, shared your food, your plants and your company. It was a wonderful day.