Make Yourself at Home

Living off a piece of land you own is the dream. However, the reality for many — myself included
— is renting. So, we make do with what we have, trying our best to make a temporary property feel like home by growing food in ways that sustain both ourselves and our relationship with the landlord.‍

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On the dotted line

The Tenancy Agreement is signed by new tenants and the landlord. It includes, amongst other important things, the responsibilities of each party regarding the property as a whole. When we moved into our current property, the part of the agreement that most interested me was about property maintenance, more specifically the outside areas. I wondered whose responsibility it
was to maintain these areas and, more importantly, was I allowed to implement changes?

The general rule is that tenants are responsible for maintaining the lawns and garden areas. Things that may require tradie skills, like pruning trees, shrubs and hedges, come under the responsibility
of the landlord. There were no existing gardens when we moved in, only lawn, so my first thought
was that I’d love to turn some of the grass into spaces for growing food!

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Communication with your landlord is key. If you have the necessary skills and time, then taking
over the responsibility of maintaining the whole property can potentially be used as a sweet little bargaining chip. All this can, and probably should be, written into the Tenancy Agreement so it’s
clear who’s responsible for what. As it happened, our landlord was happy for me to rip up some
lawn and get growing.

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Implementing change

My thought after getting the go-ahead was, “Well what’s going to happen when we move out?”
This was an important question that made me not only consider how long we’d likely be at this property but also influenced how I designed the spaces that I was so eager to establish.

There are so many different ways to grow stuff! Inside or outside, in pots and containers or directly into the ground, hydroponics, raised beds, living walls... I needed to decide how I could grow in
a way that’ll benefit me without costing too much.

I ended up planting directly into the ground for two reasons. One, I didn’t want to spend the time
and money on buying containers or building raised beds as much as I wanted to spend it on enriching the soil that my plants would pull nutrients from. Two, it would be far easier to delete
the growing space and turn it back into grass, if and when the time came.

I started by picking a space that had adequate sunshine exposure for growing vegetables and
herbs year round (six hours daily), and got stuck into removing all the kikuyu grass and its rambling roots until I had a patch of bare earth.

I drove some edging into the earth around the outside of the area to keep things looking tidy, contained and, most of all, keep the kikuyu grass from entering the space. This edging also
really helped when mowing the lawns as I had something to run the mower against.

I started to enrich the soil by mixing the existing soil with good quality organic compost, screened topsoil (ie topsoil that’s been through a sieve or screen to remove large bits), worm castings and seaweed fertiliser, then I levelled it out. This is where I recommend you spend the bulk of your budget — whether you’re growing in pots or the ground, quality soil amendments are where your plants are going to get everything they need to grow strong and healthy. After that, I applied a 10cm top layer
of straight compost to the area (you could use garden mix instead) to create a weed-free space.

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I then seeded and planted as many of my favourite herbs and vegetables as I could cram in.
I’d recommend starting small, sorting one space out before getting another one going, as this
helps you get acquainted with the lay of the land, the soil and how the natural elements like the
sun, wind and rain influence growth throughout the year. It also helps keep things manageable
and tidy, which keeps you in the landlord’s good books.

As we signed a one-year tenancy that gets renewed every year (fingers crossed), we figured
we’d be living here for at least two years, so I thought about what would be worth growing in that time. Obviously annual vegetables and herbs, as they have a quick turnaround round from seed
to harvest. I highly value growing leafy green vegetables and herbs, such as salad greens, spinach, basil and thyme. Fresh herbs are invaluable in the kitchen and most can even be grown in pots in
a sunny spot inside.

As for fruit trees, many young trees take several years until you get a decent harvest. You can start them in pots and take them with you when you move — we decided to plant some dwarf varieties
of stone fruit as they are easier to move than taller trees that need more pruning. 

Bananas are a great choice of fruit tree when renting, as you can get a harvest in under two years! And when it’s time to move you can chop the tree down, uproot the clump and bury it at your next residence. They self propagate by producing new plants from their base, which can be removed and replanted elsewhere. Strawberries produce fruit within a year, and can also be uprooted and divided into more plants. See the box above — this is a list of edibles I’d recommend growing at a rental.

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We’ve lived in our rental for almost a year now and I can honestly say that after creating these spaces, where we’ve replaced the lawn with lettuce, we feel at home, like it’s our place. It’s not about the money we spend on a property that isn’t technically ours, it’s about living the way we want to live. We feel connected to the land we live on. It feels good to go out and interact with the growth and take a fresh harvest back to the kitchen, then compost the leftovers. It’s convenient and satisfying to have the fresh produce aisle a few steps from our front door.

It does make me wonder though, what else could I get away with? I feel a renovation coming on...

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Plants with great returns for renters

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Fruiting plants you can harvest within 2 years

Banana, blackberry, boysenberry, gooseberry, melon, passionfruit, pepino, raspberry, strawberry, tamarillo

High-value crops

asparagus, cucumber, eggplant, garlic, capsicum, tomato, zucchini

Staples/everyday eating

Broccolini, corn, carrot, herbs, kale, lettuce, potato, rocket, salad greens, spinach,
spring onion

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For more gardening content, follow Jim @gardennearsy

By Jim Annear
Photography by ilk