In 2016, we bought a skinny block of land in Moruya, a town on the New South Wales far south coast.
The block was cheap, big and a 15 minute walk to the town centre.
It held endless possibilities. We would build an eco-house, grow vegetables, screen neighbours and revegetate the creek.
In 2017, impatient to get growing, I began planting local natives in the front garden.
When I came home, I wanted to enter through a slice of bush. So, I chose to replicate the local sand dune vegetation community.
Miyawaki method inspired home microforest
Two years later, I learned about the Miyawaki method of forest making.
This Japanese method uses organic soil preparation and dense layers of a local forest. This approach leads to a rapidly growing forest – reported to grow up to 10 times faster than a natural one.
I adopted the Miyawaki method (loosely) and used local native trees, like Casuarina glauca and Allocasuarina. Over our 90 square metres of front garden, I added 23 trees. Not a blade of grass remained.
Dry rainforest tree features in home microforest
The Landscape Architect in me, couldn’t help introducing out-of-area native trees for beauty and edible parts. One such glamour was the Queensland lacebark, Brachychiton discolor.
This is a remarkable tree of Dry Rainforest. It occurs naturally from the mid New South Wales coast to Queensland but can also be grown further south. There’s a gorgeous specimen outside one of my favourite Moruya cafes, John and Willy’s.
The Queensland Lacebark is semi-deciduous and displays pink star-shaped flowers with a maroon centre. It’s easy to propagate from seed held in its dark woody capsules. But a warning, the hairs of the Brachychiton genus capsules can cause skin irritation.
Macadamia added to home microforest
I also added a Macadamia integrifolia to our home microforest. Macadamia is the only Australia native nut grown as a commercial crop. According to Gardening by Angus seedling grown trees take around 10 years to fruit and then six months for fruit to form into nuts. The ripe nuts fall to the ground.
Home microforest mistake
The biggest mistake I made when planting my microforest was selecting shrubs that required part-shade or full sun. So although shrubs like Westringia longifolia and Correa alba grew well at first, over time the tree layer became too dense and out-shaded them. The end result was straggly specimens. I realised plants that require part-shade or full sun are best grown on the microforest edges.
Shade loving shrubs for home microforest
The best shrubs for within a home microforest are shade loving shrubs that have evolved in a forest setting. After trial and error, the delightful open shrub Indigofera australis is performing well as is the tea tree, Leptospermum petersonii.
Maintaining the microforest edge
In this short video, I demonstrate how I reuse plants, like Dichondra repens or Kidney Weed that are invading footpath. Plants are lifted and added to shadier parts of the microforest.
Learn how to make a home microforest
I’ve made a self-paced learning package on how to create a home microforest. Microforests are inexpensive and great for DIYers or brown thumbs. Start small, with an area of 3.6 x 3.6 or 13 square metres and watch your microforest flourish. The course is hosted on the Thinkific platform.
Guide and plant list for Canberra region
For Canberra region gardeners I’ve created a plant list that includes 19 species and a guide to successfully establish a home microforest.
Guide and plant list for NSW south coast region
For NSW south coast region gardeners I’ve created a plant list that includes 19 species and a guide to successfully establish a home microforest.
