Guided tour of Maya’s fruitful garden

Maya has created an edible garden that is as beautiful as it is fruitful. Decorative, productive hedges are formed from an extensive range of pruned and grafted fruit trees using a combination of espalier, cordon, ‘Bouche Thomas’ and dwarfing rootstock to create intriguing shapes and patterns. The garden features 32 apple trees of several varieties, cane and bush berries, persimmons, cherry guavas, feijoas and citrus. Mature grape vines are trained against the house, helping cool it in summer and yielding summer grapes. Maya practices organic and biodynamic gardening methods using recycled rain water and extensive composting systems. A netted chicken fence protects the rear garden from striking ‘Araucana’ chickens, originally bred in South America, who are kept as much for their wonderfully friendly nature as for their pale blue eggs.

This event is part of the Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival.