Organic Pest and Disease Management

In this session, Kat Lavers will explain natural pest management techniques relying on permaculture principles.

You’ll have the opportunity to explore these techniques in practice in Kat’s permaculture garden which features fruit trees, intensive vegetable growing and quails.

Kat Lavers is a garden farmer, permaculture designer and facilitator. Her award-winning urban permaculture system, 'The Plummery', is featured in permaculture co-originator David Holmgren's book RetroSuburbia.

The 280 square metre block produces almost all the household's herbs, veggies, fruit and eggs (428kg in 2018!) while using only 46 litres of mains water per person and 3.9 kilowatt hours of electricity per day.

The Backyard Harvest Festival is opening home food gardens for tours and workshops get you inspired to grow your own fresh healthy food. This includes include sessions on keeping backyard chooks and quails, organic pest and disease management, composting, aquaponics, and fruit tree pruning techniques – as well as guided tours of some of Darebin’s most abundant private food gardens and community gardens.