Gardening Australia

My current setup is every available bit of space in my small yard being used to grow food. I have just pulled up some brick paving to put in some raised garden beds, and am pulling up a narrow strip of brick paving to plant alont the side of my house. I'm also trialling growing pumpkins up onto the shed roof and carport this year.

My dream garden would be much the same, but bigger. I'd like space for a few more fruit trees and a chicken coop, as well as a small native habitat area for birds etc.

I think climate change is already making things a bit harder, as it makes the extreme events more common. I think it makes less direct impact on the plants with a food garden as they are mostly annuals which already need a lot of extra care like water and shade. There are some areas that the range of fruits that can be grown is decreased as some need sufficient hours of cold weather over winter. But the impact on insects and things which the plants rely on is a big concern, both the decrease in pollinators but also the increase in pests - this year there was a big increase in cabbage butterflies due to the early warm weather, and Qld fruit fly is getting steadily closer. I may need to look into insect netting for some plants in future. Some of the summer plants that need a long growing season may be more productive, so a lot of "future proofing" will be more a matter of altering the mix of plants and varieties. I think increasing the number of varieties is also important, as the increased variability in the weather means that different plants are likely to be more successful than others depending on the exact conditions each year.