Before I do my post - does anyone mind that I don't HAVE an edible garden yet, I'm building a garden? I totally don't mind starting another thread if you'd prefer to keep it just growing foods :)
Printable View
Before I do my post - does anyone mind that I don't HAVE an edible garden yet, I'm building a garden? I totally don't mind starting another thread if you'd prefer to keep it just growing foods :)
It all overlaps babe. Ours has only just been planted out recently. I started this thread for sharing all things related to edible gardens. Including construction questions/chatter/advice!
Alrighty then :)
Well, this morning Professor and I finished digging out a garden bed, except for a stump that's in there. It's pretty rotten, we've just gotta let it rot some more before we can take it out. Took out all the roots from that hideous creeper, and found approximately 12 million juicy earthworms! I was very surprised the soil was so healthy :) I was going to set up garden bed worm tubes, but I think now I'll just set up with tubes and allow the existing worms to do their thing, I don't think I need to buy anymore worms. We'll see.
Professor also spoke to the coffee truck that visits his work about their coffee grounds. They don't use them anymore, so they're going to save them up for us and give them to him every Friday, so us to do stuff with on Saturday. AWESOME! So we dug them into the newly cleared bed this morning. I wanted to do more, but I have a cold and was starting to get lightheaded.
Sounds like its all coming along we'll Hun. Hate when stumps get stuck in the way. Drives me nuts! C too. He's a stubborn sod though (and has the tools to make it easier) so will just persist.
We added a chocolate mint to the herb garden. More beans in the garden. Have also planted some lettuce, corn and capsicum seeds and growing them up in the greenhouse for now
Need to get us some more stakes soon, and run the wires for climbing things on. All the old bboo stakes have given up the ghost after several years of being recycled. So we're going for new hardwood ones and hoping for more longevity. Have to grab some each week. If we bought all we needed at once, the old bank account might not be happy!
Own to an area about 2sq m of the veggie patch that isn't planted out now. Will e next week before we can out the soil in the other garden bed building off a couple more weeks will be good though I think. More warmth for planting sunflowers. They reckon it takes 10-12 weeks to flower so if we plant early next month we should get flowers around Christmas or new year.
Can I join in the chatter?
I've just finished planting our veggie garden, very new to all of this :)
Can I ask how big your areas are? So far I have two boxes, both 2 metres long by 1 metre wide. We just filled them with organic loam and planted. Is there anything else I should do?
Thanks for your help :)
our vegie patch is very big (you could essentially say our garden is for us, my folks, mum's sister, and a friend - so a decent size)
doing a quick think back to last week when we measured it, the first one is 5.4m square, with a 2.7m square cut out of it (it is an l shape with outer edge 5.4m long on each side, inner edge 2.7m long). the other is 4.1x5.4m with a section 2.2x2.4 missing) - i hope that makes sense - it's really hard to explain!! basically L shaped, wrapping around the corners of the fence (i think there is a pic on one of the earlier pages which shows the shape of one garden, the other is a mirror of that)
the garden that is going in for the sunflowers (and other pretties this year - and will likely become a normal garden for vegies next year if the sun flowers are a flop lol) is 8mx1.2m
We live in an apartment so have an edible balcony lol. Different herbs and then tomatoes and strawberries for now. Will hopefully be extending it quite substantially when we move into a place with a yard at the end of the year (have a yard here but it is communal so can't modify it).
Our tomatoes and strawberries are beginning to flower and fruit. So amazing for the girls to watch :)
DH found a pot hanger thing that my nan gave us ages ago - he'd packed it away, cos she'd had fake greenery wrapped around it - so he's cleaned the fake stuff off, and found some pots to fit it, and is now going to create a hanger with more strawberries
we're always up for experimenting with which way is the best for growing something lol
Exactly what we have! Plus a few other shrubby type things around the place.:
Well, DH went to start prepping the garden yesterday only to discover a heap of plastic under a very thin layer of dirt. And a heaps of builders rubbish.... So it's going to take more work. We knew we needed to buy dirt to top up but this is a little disheartening. Hopefully we can get out there next weekend and work on it
We've just finished building ours, its 3x3.5m. And I planted my carrots, corn, cucumbers and parsley that had started growing in my seedlings pots. And I got some zucchini and thyme yesterday. So have to plant them in my seeding pots next. Still waiting on the tomatoes, rosemary and a few of the cucumbers to sprout so that I can transfer them. Looking forward to trying my first ever homegrown vegies.
What do you use to deter snails, that won't be enticing to cats or kids?
whats the best way to tie tomato and snow pea stems to stakes? i used those garden twisty tie things but they seem to have damaged my plants? also, is there a special part of the plant that should be tied to the stake or just the longest part iykwim?
how do you know when snow peas are ready to pick? i have a few smallish ones at the moment.
Grrr we are in recovery mode after one of the kids forgot to shut the chook pen....they ate every single one of DS' precious carrots, lots of coriander and a good portion of the cucumbers and pumpkin sprouts.
Mine is a mobile garden in a little raised bed and mostly pots. I have plenty of yard but we rent and live in the desert. It's easier to manage pots. Our strawberries are in hanging planters, to protect them both from kids and chooks. Going to trial some of the cherry tomatoes in another one once they're bigger so they can grow down and I don't have to stake them.
2CMs something soft and stretchy is what we use. Old stockings/tights or strips of old t-shirts. I have no idea though on the rules of staking. I just use where I feel is the strongest and where I can get to.
Thanks will try something softer and stretchier. Good idea about putting the tomatoes in a hanging pot. Might try that next time. I am bummed that my tomatoes aren't doing anything. I have flowers but they just shrivel and die and don't produce fruit. Same with my zucchinis.
-------------------------------------
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
With veggie peelings, can I dig them straight into a garden bed? Or do I need to let them sit for a few days and rot?
i would let it rot down first hun - you don't want to dig something in and find out it doesn't rot down properly and messes with your garden kwim?
don't dig in spud peel at all - spuds can grow from any eyes on the peel. and spuds can take over your garden (and ruin your soil for growing anything else for a while)
onion wont' rot down very well either (from what i can gather)
I knew about the onion and citrus, but thanks for the spud, didn't know that! I'll save it for the chooks then :)
if you've got chooks, i'd just give them everything and then dig in the chook poo - get double the benefit then!!
you can also dig in crushed up egg shell for the worms - apparently it helps change the acidity of the soil as they process it.
was planning on buying a worm farm this week - but realised we have run out of so many essential pantry items all at once, that i really need to do some proper shopping. i'm most unimpressed with this idea lol