It's a very good place to start.Over the last couple of years, our vegetable garden has been a little bit neglected. This year I wanted to change all of that. This year I wanted to have a very productive vegetable garden and I knew that I had to do more than just stick the seedlings in the ground and hope for the best.
As for the rest of the garden I want to make some changes there too. My recent photos may be an indication, that, an English cottage garden would be my ideal garden, however, in sub tropical Queensland? forget it.
When we bought this house we planted hardy, low maintenance palms and gingers, which I don't really like. I want a backyard that we can go out into and enjoy. Sometimes I stay indoors because our garden is so unsightly. That's not right, it is hot here for 8 months of the year, some changes need be made.
I have been so inspired by Alicia's backyard. I love this space, see it here, here, here and here.
Our children have outgrown our small backyard long ago, if they want to run around, we go to the local park two streets away. This summer I envision a hammock, maybe a few adirondack chairs, more fairy lights, pots of colour and a lot more entertaining. Places for conversation, reading, relaxing, dozing, eating, laughing, sipping tea. Places for one person, two people or eight.
In the middle of August, when the weather was already indicating the arrival of Spring, long before the calender, we had a working bee in our backyard. Mum came over and got to work on the outdoor wooden furniture. Both the table and daybed were sanded back and re varnished.
Thanks Mum, I think we still owe you lunch!
While the boys trimmed, cleared and dug unwanted plants from the garden, Miss Moo Moo and I scrubbed the chairs and the tiles on the deck. Once the cushion and mattress covers from the daybed were washed, we started on preparing the vegetable garden.
We dug out everything except some herbs and the lemongrass, discovering some ginger that I didn't even know Mr Moo had planted. We then dug in some compost, gypsom and soil conditioner. And watered in some seasol. We didn't really know what we were doing, but we felt like we were on the right track. It was the first time that we had ever bothered to prepare the soil. I know that we really should have started in March (that's what I had read was the right time for our climate) Better late than never is what I say. About 2 weeks later we added cow manure (bought in a bag) a tip we picked up from Hanno and Rhonda on our permaculture visit.
We are complete novices and are learning through the internet, books, chatting at the garden show and at markets and at nurseries. We have just joined a local permaculture group, but because we have been away for three weeks we missed some of the workshops that I want to attend.
What we did learn on that first day in the garden was:
• that you do not want curl grubs (that were in our compost) in our vegetable garden
• that the two field mice hiding in our compost were there because (1) there was free food (2) it was warm and cosy and (3) they got in because the lid has a hole in it.
Some of the jobs we want to do in the next month are:
• move the compost bin to a better location. I believe it needs full sun - is that right?
• start a worm farm
• take a look at our front garden, the only garden with full sun, pull out some plants and recondition the soil. We need to work out how to use this space better.
• mulch the vegetable garden
• re-pot some of my indoor plants
What are you doing in your garden right now?
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Hi Jacki,
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying reading your blog that I found via Gooseberry Jam a month or so ago.
We are not expert gardeners but have had veggie gardens for a good 5 or more years now and learn as we go.
The products we use for our soil as and when required include gypsum & seasol, sulphate of potash, lime/dolomite, blood & bone, dynamic lifter, and our worm castings and chook manure. Oh and also our compost and occasionally mushroom compost.
To start out worm farming I recommend you buy a tray type worm farm from somewhere like Bunnings. That's what we have and they are easy to care for. There's certain foods you shouldn't feed worms (like onion and citrus) so read up on that. And keep it in a shady area. We use the liquid tea it produces as a weekly fertilizer for the veggies, and add worm castings to the soil.
Compost needs heat to break down the waste and convert it, so a sunny spot is good. Keep the compost slight moist but not wet & soggy. It's a good idea to turn it over with a fork once a week or fortnight. This will help it breakdown quicker.
We like to have a 3-bay compost heap. Section 1 is where we add new waste. Section 2 is the pile that is breaking down rapidly and we don't add anymore waste to it. Section 3 is compost that is ready to use. And we keep rotating the piles as they fill up and break down.
Good luck with the gardening!
Cheers,
Sarah from Jimboomba
Hello Sarah,
DeleteSo lovely to ‘meet’ you. Thank-you so much for all of your wonderful advice. It looks like we are, at least, on the right track. I think we will get the worm farm from Bunnings, it seems to be the most suitable for our small backyard. I dream of a larger property so we can have chooks and a three bay compost heap! One day! For now, we will just do want we can:)
xo
Hi, we are in changeable Melbourne so much less tropical planting is happening here, although I did risk some tomatoes. We have slowy turned our backyard into a productive organic space and provide our small family with most of our veg. Good luck with the new garden!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I was so inspired by your recent ‘spring garden tour’ post. It made me look at my garden in a different way. My husband doesn’t know it yet, but this is just the beginning, so many plants are going to be ripped out to make way for produce.
DeleteI also forgot to say that when making compost, remember to add a mixture of green (kitchen waste, garden green stuff and brown - straw, dry leaves). A compost needs both to work properly.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this reminder, I always forget to add the dry stuff, and often our compost is too wet.
Deletexo