Feed your belly and your soul | Becoming self-sufficient | Gardening Australia

Over 70 varieties of fruit, vegies, flowers, chickens and a worm farm have all helped transform Jian's suburban backyard into a highly productive garden.
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It took Jian Liu just two years to transform her suburban backyard into a beautiful food forest, to feed her family's tummies, and their well-being too.
To maximize production, Jian has used lots of smart ideas, such as using a large but unproductive fig tree for other purposes: it shade her chook run, supports a swing for her young children, and is also a climbing frame for a huge fig-leafed gourd that can produce 60-100 fruit each year.

Her partner Julian Merkenich is the family chef so often puts in an ‘order’ for what he’d like her to grow.

Jian considers herself a beginner but was determined to grow organic food for her children and did a lot of research into how to get the most out of small gardens.

The couple bought the house from her parents and cleared the ‘traditional’ backyard to put in raised garden beds, arches, a berry patch and other produce.

She recently bought two jujube trees, which remind her of her grandmother’s small courtyard garden in Beijing, where Jian lived until she was 5. She wanted to have access to green space and fresh food and be able to pick flowers.

It’s hard work while juggling a full-time job and young children “but if you have the passion just go for it,” she says.

Featured plants:
Fig-leaf gourd (Cucurbita ficifolia)
Tromboncino (Cucurbita moschata cv.)
Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba)
Location: Boon Wurrung & Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country in Melbourne, Vic

Climate Zone: Cool temperate

Garden established: 2019

Style: productive, sustainable
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