Reaching for the sky

The Waste of Space design is bearing fruit (and vegetables).

Permaculture designs, as this is, often incorporate use of vertical as well as horizontal space (often referred to as ‘stacking’). With this in mind I planted yellow-podded mangetout in pots alongside the fence. In order to contain chickens, last year we attached wire mesh to the wooden fence slats and thus increased the height of the structure to about 2m, just the same height that the seed packet suggests these peas grow to.

And that is, indeed, what’s happening:

Making good use of vertical space

Making good use of vertical space

Resulting in an abundant harvest (these were picked just before the photograph above was taken):

Yellow-podded mangetout

Yellow-podded mangetout

I’ve also used an old strawberry planter to make use of vertical space for growing lettuce:

Multistorey lettuce

Multistorey lettuce

In addition, we have harvested a couple of kilos of potatoes from the dumpy bags, but the majority of the harvest from them is yet to come.

This whole area, which was previously unused, is contributing significantly to our food supply this year… onwards and upwards!

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