Sustainable Holly

Sustainable Holly Kiwi living in Perth, Australia.

Helping you grow your own food naturally & sustainably 🌸🌿
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/
Blog & resources: sustainableholly.com

30/05/2026

Hi i'm Holly 🙋‍♀️🌸🍇🥬 and for the past 11 years i have slowly been transforming my half crispy, brown lawn into a high-density edible garden and food forest 📍 located in the HOT, DRY suburbs of Perth! (Zone 10b for my international friends).

From sandy soil to abundant harvest, i share simple, low-stress ways to grow food, build soil, and create a garden that works with nature (and my hot climate 😅).

Follow along to join me as we continue to build long term sustainable food gardens that produce more and more food each year! 🙌🌿🐸🍓

28/05/2026

Big Kev 😅 If you're new here Kev/ Kevin...is my resident frog 🐸🌿

Frogs leave the pond during winter and hibernate in the garden. Kev spent most of last winter at my neighbours or sunbathing on the brassica leaves. Big Kev changes colour depending on where he hangs out. Going from bright green to dark brown.

I got a fright pulling back the sweet potato 😅

Do you have frogs in your garden? They are great pest controllers. This one is a motorbike frog 🐸🌿

🐸

28/05/2026

Just when you plant your new seedlings...the bugs show up in force 🙃🐛🐌🌱

👉 Save & share if you found this helpful 🙏🐛🌸🌿

I often get asked why the bugs don’t eat my veggie garden, but the reality is they definitely do... If they weren’t, I’d be more worried!

Because if the bugs aren’t eating your veggie plants, it means your garden isn’t part of the ecosystem. A few nibbles here and there are normal. Even a good sign that your garden is healthy, alive, and balanced.

But.. when pests start taking more than their share, these easy & natural solutions will help you get more from your veggie garden.

And...BONUS #5

🌿 Encourage diversity of insects and wildlife. Birds, lizards,frogs, bees, spiders and wasps work at keeping pests at bay for you! Create a wildlife friendly garden to help nature balance the ecosystem for you. Less work for you and more time spent harvesting and planting.

Do you use any of these same methods??? 🐌

👉 Follow along for more natural gardening tips 💚

26/05/2026

🤯 This sweet potato COLOUR!

It is always so rewarding havesting these from the garden! 🌱💜🌿

Purple sweet potatoes are high in antioxidants called anthocyanins (what is also in blueberries!).

Previously i made purple sweet potato blondie slice (recipe on my blog) but i want to try more garden to plate recipes!

They do oxidise fast though...so we will see how i go making flour! Follow along to see 😅

25/05/2026

My nervous system is always on alert 🫠🌿🌱

Growing up in NZ with no snakes i am always VERY aware....But in saying that i have never seen a real 🐍 one in my garden!

Do you get any jump scares in the garden? 😅

24/05/2026

I can't wait to try these! 🌿

24/05/2026

Opps....i've apparently started another collection 😅

My 3 rare or unusual passionfruits 🌿

These are in the same passiflora family but slightly different to a regular passionfruit. They are more tropical and will need a lot more care 😅 so let's hope i can get them going!

🌿 Sweet Calabash - passiflora maliformis
🌿 Sweet Granadilla - passiflora ligularis
🌿 Fragrant Granadilla - passiflora alata

I also have a gold panama, red panama and sunshine special passionfruit.

They are not common here in Perth but let me know if you are you growing them and where?? 🌿👇

24/05/2026

Every single year it is loaded in sooo much fruit!! I can't believe these are already back in season! 🍋🌳

Some of my fruit trees will have on and off years but not this one!!

👉 Lemonades are a hybrid cross between a Lemon and a Mandarin.

And the crazy thing is... they taste so sweet!

People always thing i am tricking and it is actually a sour lemon 😅🤣

Have you heard of these or tried them before? 👇🍋🌳

24/05/2026

Small spaces can be designed to be incredibly productive 🙌🌿🌸

For the design of this small 4m x 2m garden 👇

🌳I chose dwarf fruit tree varieties to slow the growth rate and keep them smaller.

🌳 Most of them are pruned with a central leader rather than the classic open vase shape. Kind of like a pine tree - this saves a lot of space and give everyone more sunlight

🌳Nearly all of these fruit trees are deciduous because this space gets lots of summer sun but very little winter sun.

🌳 I layer plants like a mini food forest — canopy, shrub, herb, groundcover.

🌳 I use high-density planting because of the intense heat here in perth - they protect each other and i only have to water a small space.

Getting creative and overcoming challenges is half the fun 🤔🌱

24/05/2026

Starting a garden in a hot climate like here in Perth is not easy! 🫠🌿 but after 10+ years this has been a game-changer!

This garden started from a bare patch of sand just a few years ago.

I planted an avocado and a mango but...

I also went in with a bunch of support plants for shade, mulch and wind protection.

Without those support plants my avocado would be burnt toast in my hot frontyard!

Some of the support plants i have used to grow quickly and provide shade for this hot space are:

🌿 Native Hakea
🌿 Moringa
🌿 Queensland arrowroot
🌿 Pomegranate
🌿 Rosemary
🌿 Banana

Layers of biomass that can be used for shade snd to feed the garden.

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Perth, WA

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