5. Good Organic Gardening - September-October 2016 AvxHome.in

GARDENING FOLK | Emma Carlos & Mark Simm
The birdlife is welcomed
the property and no-dig gardens because of
the poor soil quality. Emma is in the process
of building up the soil profile layer by layer:
cardboard and newspaper; manure from cows
and alpacas, along with a quality mushroom
compost; and mulch, a combination of
bamboo and sugar cane. The gardens are
fertilised using a premium slow-release
organic fertiliser and worm juice.
Luckily, the property has ample water.
Emma and Mark welcome wildlife into
the garden and have created a pond to
encourage frogs and birds. There’s a post in
the garden for kookaburras, butcherbirds and
magpies to perch on before swooping down
to eat grasshoppers and bugs.
To foil other garden pests, Emma uses
companion planting and fruit-fly traps made
from recycled plastic bottles filled with water
and egg mix. To snare slugs, beer or cider
traps are the go.
The couple used raised
beds so they could
repurpose tanks that
were already on the
property and no-dig
gardens because of the
poor soil quality.
30 | Good Organic Gardening