Permaculture balcony gardening

I talk with Penny Pyett about growing vegetables in plumbing polypipe on your balcony. It’s low maintenance, you can have the pipes on wheels so you can move them around to catch the sun and as the system is self-contained, there’s no problems with water leaking down to neighbours below, mosquitos or wasting water.

Quail eggs Photo Magnus Manske

Penny also talks about keeping quails, a worm farm and azolla on your balcony to create a closed-loop, self-sustaining system. As quails are classified as aviary birds, they’re usually allowed under most strata plan rules.

Penny is a director of the Permaculture Sydney Institute and she has loads of tips about creating a permaculture balcony garden.

You can find more information about polypipe gardening at Sydney Permaculture North