Fire Mountain Permaculture

I’ve had a bay tree for 3+ years, and it’s been happily growing on my balcony in the old unit. Without full sun, it was getting a bit scrawny, but it nonetheless provided plenty of bay leaves for cooking. With the move to Lewisham, the time was right to give it a proper home in…

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James

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Planting our bay tree in the nature strip

Bay tree

I’ve had a bay tree for 3+ years, and it’s been happily growing on my balcony in the old unit. Without full sun, it was getting a bit scrawny, but it nonetheless provided plenty of bay leaves for cooking.

With the move to Lewisham, the time was right to give it a proper home in soil. With space at a premium, the solution was obvious: a bit of “guerilla gardening”.

Just before Easter I went out and dug a big hole in the clay soil of the nature strip. This was filled with a rich mix of cow manure and soil, and the bay tree planted in. No need to ask permission, much better just to do it!

I’m looking forward to seeing it grow, and will put a sign on it once it’s settled in saying: “bay tree, feel free to pick some leaves for your cooking!”.

PS. I blame Michael Mobbs for encouraging this sort of behaviour! Having planted trees, herbs and vegetables down Myrtle St in Chippendale, a clear example has been set for all to follow. 🙂

4 responses to “Planting our bay tree in the nature strip”

  1. Lara Avatar
    Lara

    Hi Jamie & Priscilla 🙂

    Min gave me the blog address. Quick question – are you supposed to have council permission to plant on the nature strip? People all over our suburb have done it, but I worry that if I call the council, I’ll be told that I can’t do it, and then I’ll be knowingly “breaking the law”. But then I think that I should just do it, and then I worry that I should get permission. Fast forward 2 years, and I still have a stupid lawn on the front nature strip that I have to pay someone to mow. Very frustrating!

    Reply
    1. James Avatar
      James

      Hello Lara!

      I checked around, and the advice I was given: “nothing important ever gets done if you ask persmission first” 🙂

      We just went ahead, guerilla-gardening style, and dug a good deep hole, filled it with compost, and planted away. Next on the list is a lemon myrtle, and maybe more after that… 😉

      So go for it!

      Reply
  2. Lara Avatar
    Lara

    Excellent – thanks 🙂

    Reply
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