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matchbox yard

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Commenced:	01/02/2015
Submitted:	11/02/2015
Last updated:	07/10/2015
Location:	overbaakans, fairview, Port Elizabeth, ZA
Climate zone:	Cool Temperate

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matchbox yard

Port Elizabeth, ZA

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matchbox house

Project: matchbox yard

Posted by chez brown about 9 years ago

specs and 'the plan'

The total land size including the house is seriously small. 12m by around 20 m. The garden is hardly landscaped, not much happening beyond a guava tree in the back which had to be cut back rather harshly. A few jade bushes and an invasion of miniature pointsetia-like weeds in the front.

The house is basic. One bedroom, open plan living and kitchen areas. a little bathroom. nothing special except for an outflow pipe for a washing machine under the sink in the kitchen. useful... but not special. Small electric geyser, prepaid electricity, municipal water and sewerage.

The focus now is improving the soil and creating raised beds for food production. The compost bed is working and we're busy with the landscaping in the front of the house for food crops.

We've had to dig the yard down half a foot to a foot to lower the ground level to prevent damp corrupting the house structure. In digging out the we dug out only the area around the house and the foot paths between the raised beds, loading the removed soil onto the undug areas to create the raised beds. This soil was mixed with grass cuttings, leaf waste, wood chips, bonemeal and any other clean biomass we could find. The beds, once loaded, will be covered to assist decompostion.

We plan on planting a few basic food crops to start with, tomatos, peppers, cucumbers, lettuces and herbs. the compost bed will be usable for this soon. We will also be planting biomass plants, local acacias in containers, comfrey, legumes and the like to repioneer the soil sans grass.

We'll see how it goes.

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