Winter Planning & What Went Wrong

Winter is the best time to reflect on what went right (and wrong!) and plan for next year

The days are lovely but chilly. The mornings are frosty. In my Leura garden everything has slowed right down and the garden doesn't need me as much.

I take this time as a well-earned rest from garden jobs and a time to sit back and reflect on what went well and plan for next season.

This is applying permaculture principle #4: Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback.

What went well:

Pumpkin arch - getting the vines off the ground created a beautiful and productive garden feature. We got about 30 massive pumpkins!

Zucchinis, cucumbers, salad - the annual patch pumped over summer and we had more produce than we could eat

Goats - our 2 girls, Blackberry and Tulip, had 2 beautiful kids each. Everyone was healthy and happy and playing with baby goats is just the best. 5 stars, highly recommend. The kids have since gone to new homes and we're thinking when to breed next.

What went badly: (I should say: 'opportunities for growth/challenges")

Rabbits - we had real problems with our young rabbits over autumn. With so much rain they succumbed to a parasitic infection called Coccidiosis. It was heartbreaking. To fix this we will pause breeding during those wet months, increase cleaning and nutritional supplements, and eventually weatherproof the rabbit enclosure.

Eggs - no eggs for months! The girls were on notice; if they didn't start paying the rent it's to the freezer they go! But then the rain stopped and the eggs started flowing again. Thinking same parasitic problem as rabbits. I'm now adding more garlic and ACV to their water as natural anti-parasitics and generally being more fastidious about cleaning

Fruit Tree Nets - The baby goats, lovely as they were, just pushed their fat heads straight through the nets! Need replacing when fruit starts ripening on the trees.

Next Season Plans:

More intensive planting in the annuals patch - no wasted space

Move to a more perennially dominated system in the food forest. This means less work for me and will allow my food forest to be more like a natural ecosystem (forests don't need human intervention to thrive)

Happy Spring Planning!

See you 'round the garden

Leni