Robyn and John Longley moved from the city to the hills to live the dream of self-sufficiency, inspired by the TV sitcom ‘The Good Life’. After building their house from recycled materials on a 10-hectare block they got to work on creating a cottage style garden.
However, the garden is built on rock, which requires some external help to make space for new plantings. Along with a dry climate and low nutrient soil, they had to add lots of manure over the years to create a suitable environment for the plants.
Trees surrounding the house provide dappled shade and a comfortable microclimate for densely packed garden beds of hardy flowering shrubs. Salvias are a favourite, for both Robyn and the bees!
The productive part of the garden is full of eggplants, chillies, tomatoes, herbs – all the favourite summer vegetables, with lots of protection from the intense summer sun. And then there are the fruit trees – thriving citrus, avocados, mangos, berries and more that provide bucket loads of produce.
Robyn’s main tip for growing avocados here is really good drainage. They dug a huge hole and filled it with a mix of sand, compost, and manure, before planting and adding a thick layer of mulch on top to retain moisture.
She also gives them a foliar spray of liquid potash when flowering to keep up with their high potassium needs. When it comes to mangos, it took a long time to become established as they not only get hot, dry summers but also frost in winter. Now it’s thriving, the birds take care of the pruning.
It’s a lot of work to pick the produce, on top of pruning and feeding, so luckily their daughter Jess is also on hand at harvest time. Blueberries are especially laborious as they need to be picked individually and don’t ripen all at the same time. They have around 10 different varieties that together provide fruit over 9 months of the year! Blueberries need an acidic environment, which is easier to control in pots, and they like a thick mulch to protect fine roots. Other than a general slow release fertiliser, Robyn adds a dose of sulphate of ammonia and sulphate of potash at the height of production.
Robyn has certainly achieved self-sufficiency in terms of fruit and vegetables, along with “a very tranquil garden, that is an escape from the busy life that most of us lead.”
Featured Plants
SALVIA, Salvia cv.
AVOCADO, Persea americana cv.
MANGO, Mangifera indica cv.
BLUEBERRY, Vaccinium cv.
Filmed on Whadjuk Country
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30 Comments
thanks for posting
Such a beautiful property! Wonderful job 🥰
Truly wonderful…
Sweet people doing really good work!
Wow.nice planting act. Watching here barretto olongapo city phil.
This is sooo beautiful. It's fall where I am now but come spring I plan on building my own garden. There's something about seeing veggies and fruits in their natural environments that make my heart sing.
1. Need shade. Amazing after all these years of hearing you need full sun to grow food. Is this due to climate change?
2. Plant blueberries in pots. I thought they were only for cold regions anyway. Thanks for the tip.
3. Self-sufficiency is so hard, huh. Perfectionism is out. Good enough is in.
What a incredible garden. Well done
The dream🌈
I had a blueberry plant in pot, was doing ok. Planted in ground during warm hot weather and boom. Dead! 🥺
But I only had one plant anyway. Didn't realise I needed two. Should I start again…….? 🤔
Mum has 4 or 5 in garden bed. 😥 But only new so not sure how they'll go.
My dream 😱😱
Quality gardening video. You always have valuable information to share! Continuing to follow your channel! 🌿🌵🥒🌾🌱🍃
Thank you for your service to the nation.
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Nice video Sir 👍
I think your lovely garden feeds your souls as well as your bodies.
That's the way to live
What are your ideas on achieving climbers in a small space?
Self sufficiency is the way to go with the way Governments are handling this scamdemic.
Such a wonderful food forest. It is absolutely beautiful
wonderful. im planing to grow my own food in west burneo Indonesia.
can anyone please identify that big flower bees on it??
What a commitment and amazing results!
People watch "The Good Life"!
why not fishing ?
Such a serine surroundings……simply gorgeous!!
"Plants can form a meaningful Space of Love for a person, if there are many of them. If they are different and a person communicates with them, touches them with Love. Together, they can create for a person a significant Space of Love, graciously affecting the Soul and healing the body" Anastasia "Ringing Cedars of Russia"
Wow
Slowly working to this on our 2.5 acres- bought last December, and have been doing something everyday, ever since.
I love that show. Very funny. In the US it’s called Good Neighbors. I have the DVDs and every few years I watch it again.
Tom and Barbara Good would love what you have done. They should have moved to Australia for their farm because yours is way better than theirs. But if they had done that, who would have driven Margo and Jerry bonkers? Love the good place you have created.