I’m a 30-something mother. We recently moved from an apartment on the leafy north shore to a house in the Ryde area of Sydney, Australia. As apartment dwellers, we were eco-terrorists who couldn’t be bothered recycling. These days we’re harvesting rainwater, growing food and loving life on our 500 square metres. I still can’t be bothered vacuuming.
This blog is about my bumbling efforts to grow food and live more sustainably.
The rest of my family consists of:
P: Computer nerd, wannabe handyman, the most awesome husband and father I could wish for.
J: 4 years old, precocious, loves science fiction, “tall enough to go on a roller coaster”.
Little D: 2 years old and loves nothing more than to play in dirt. Totally obsessed by Thomas the Tank Engine.
Baby T: Getting nicely chubby.
500m2 in Sydney 
Hi 500m2, thanks for visiting my blog! Yours looks just fabulous, your mulberries are huge (I got teeny tiny ones) and I love the edamame. I look forward to reading more 🙂
Ali.
Hi there, I’ve just spent a little while reading backwards through your blog and wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed reading about your attempts in the garden. I am somewhat jealous about the amount of space you have at your disposal. My family of soon-to-be four live in a single-storey ‘townhouse’ though we do have a bigger yard than most townhouses and I’ve managed to establish a bit of a ‘kitchen’ garden on one side. I currently have only eggplants, chillies and capsicums going as well as lots of herbs. I have just planted some silverbeet and broadbeans (also got inspired to plant legumes to improve the soil) and have broccoli seeds still to go in. Over the summer we had tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis, spring onions, and spinach.
As for planting edibles in your front yard, you should live near me – lots of older Greeks and Italians and the front yard is a popular spot for lots of fruit trees, grape vines, tomatoes etc. Usually with flowering plants scattered amongst them, and an immaculate lawn.
I am most envious of your collection of fruit trees and I wish you luck getting them nicely established. I only have a sad look dwarf lemon that is four years old, has had numerous diseases/issues and has never fruited. I have plans to try to remedy this and would also like to try some sort of dwarf stone fruit when I get the time and motivation.
I look forward to hearing all about your garden adventures to come and I’m sure will get inspiration from your efforts.
Hey, thanks for your comment, and congratulations on the baby on the way.
It’s funny how you always want something a bit bigger – I have been lusting after my friends’ big block of land, but I think in reality I’d struggle to maintain it. Now that I’ve planted the front garden bed, I’m actually struggling to fill all my space, so I think I’ve found my limit for the moment.
I love the sound of your summer crops – I was too late for those because we only moved in in late November. I can’t wait for corn!
Thanks for the well wishes on the front yard and my fruit trees. I’ll be posting an update shortly. Good luck with your adventures 🙂
Hey,
Just found your blog through Merewther life. It’s terrific! Well done!
We are doing the same thing but a bit further west, in St clair. I’ll put a link to you guys on my site, under the choko tree.
R’s
Nev
Hi Nev, Great to hear from you. I’ll check out your blog with interest!
hey there !!! LOVE what you guys are doing! you should inspire many people that indeed we CAN do this on city blocks! way cool. very envious of your plethora of foods. i’m waiting with baited breath for my celeriac and kohlrabi to grow …. but they are in the ground …. as are the peas! although, not many of them make it to the kitchen table with the way the kids go after them!
Hi, thanks for commenting to my site and so now I’ve found yours. Will be visiting regularly.
Great. I’ve been enjoying your blog too.
Hi! I always find it refreshing to see that others are trying to live more sustainably. I’m hoping to be able to move to a nice plot of land some day too…right now I’m still in an apartment. I have a nice big balcony though! Am growing lots of stuff on it…although I gotta start planning for winter. Have a look if you get a couple minutes…. http://www.the-home-food-cook.com/2012/03/my-garden.html
Hi! I’ve just found your blog. Great to read about someone else getting into maximising the efficiency of their city block. I look forward to reading about your adventures.
So happy to have found you! I am a Sydney based blogger too, just about to launch into a veggie gardening attempt. Fingers crossed!
Thanks for visiting Jess. I hope some of the info here will be helpful to you. My #1 tip would be to care for your soil, always looking to add organic matter. That means manure, mulch, anything to give back after you harvest and plant something new.
I just wanted to know how you went with using the egg cartons for seedlings? We’re they more successful in the new position?
I’ve just done a batch of rocket in egg cartons – the cardboard didn’t seem to break down quick enough, and the plants looked like Bonsai minatiures for a week after I planted them out. I start to wonder if I should have tipped them out of the carton to transplant them in the garden! But they’re looking a bit better now, after about ten days.
I’ve started a new batch in a plastic container that fruit came in – sort of like a v big strawberry punnet, but clear plastic. Those seeds r doing really well – maybe more soil makes a difference?
I found the same thing- plants get root bound before the carto breaks down. I think it can be improved by pinching out the bottom, but I’ve moved to using purpose-made plastic trays now.
Love the blog. Would love to get you on board with my monthly vegetable garden blog hop – http://www.strayedtable.com/grow/garden-share/
Hey L!
I’m looking to get in contact about the Sydney garden show coming up soon! If you could please get back to me, that would be great!! (happy for you to get rid of this comment, just couldn’t find an email!)
Thanks