What size area needed for vege garden? As long as a piece of string?
For a family of six (namely mine), is there some sort of guide as to the size of yard I would need to prepare (including fence off from the rest of the yard) to grow a vegetable garden in?
I'm sorry if it is a dumb question. I'm just doing some planning at this stage, it's not going to be done here (rental), and it is one of my priorities for when we get our own place. So I want to be able to know what i need when we go out looking at properties. The kids want chooks too, so as a side question can their yard be the vegetable garden? I'm guessing they will eat the caterpillars and the like, but hoping notthe growing produce?
I am sorry, it just seems like such a daft question. Depending on if it all will grow in this climate, I am thinking vegeatbles such as; potatoes, pumpkin, onion, garlic, herbs, carrots, zucchini, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, spinach, capsicum, chilli, peas, etc.... so, a variety, and enough to not have to buy any vegetables.
People do amazing things with vertical vege gardens - you can grow a lot of food in just a little space using hanging bags etc.
Chooks - they can be part of a permaculture garden. Use a chook tractor to scratch up a bad prior to digging it and then rotate it over unused/spelled beds to scratch up the last crop.
Spuds will ruin your soils for other veggies for several years if you want to grow them, you are best to grow upwards (stacking old tires etc. it usually doesn't work out to be viable to grow spuds at home as you have to so a significant amount of "work" to rehabilitate the soil.
As you mentioned, it really can be up to you how big you go. Chooks will eat your veggies, so you don't want them in your active garden but they are awesome for feeding scraps and digging over gardens when you are done with them. I have seen situations where chooks are in a movable pen that is put over sections of the garden that is not being used in a cyclic rotation. The rest of the time they are free ranges outside a fenced off veggie patch
Replying from phone so will come back later to reply more.
Pumpkin can and will grow anywhere. Depending on variety, it can take over your yard as it is a sprawling vine sort of plant. We are experimenting with growing pumpkin upwards this year. Not much progress yet as we only planted a fortnight ago. In the past we've just let it take over but smaller yard and kidlet using it means we have to be more practical...
ok am at laptop now so i can make some suggestions - have a look at some permaculture type blogs - they will explain cyclic planting. there are certain plant families that shouldn't be planted in the same place twice in a row, so if you can get an idea on what plants clump together (like cabbage/cauli/broc), it will help you plan your garden. it's always a good idea to have "blocks" of vegies, and what you plant in one block one year, you plant somewhere else next time.
work out how much you want to get from each veggie - what works for me won't work for you. for us, because we go through at least three or four capsicums a week, dedicating a big section of the garden to capsicum plants isn't a drama - but if you don't use capsicum, it would seem wasteful. we have something like 40 lettuces in, all at different stages of development, as we go through a couple a week (and have staggered planting so they mature at different times) - again, it works for us, but wouldn't for someone else...
definitely do some investigation. look at what will genuinely be viable in savings (spuds and onions rarely are when you take into account the rehab of the soil, carrots can be a it hit and miss too - but so yum fresh from the ground!). we currently have almost 30 square metres of vegie patch on the go. it's all planted out except for about 2sq meters. we have sort of planted in staggered waves so that things mature at different times. we also have strawberries and herbs elsewhere, and the pumpkin and more tomatoes in pots around the place. none of it will go to waste - we feed the three of us, plus we have people over for dinner at least once a week, mum puts in some money to the seedlings so she takes some of the food, and we share with a couple of friends that help us out in other ways. it is perfect. for US.
i guess the thing with vegie patches is that you can make them fit in around everything else. we have ours curling around the corners of our yard, so even though it's very large, it doesn't seem that much seeing it is in a couple of spots, and hugging the fenceline so it's not taking a big chunk of the yard away kwim?
Onyx; I didn't realise vertical gardens could be so productive. It will be good to keep in mind. I would , if possible, have to make sure the walls are facing a certain direction. Like North, so the plants get the sun they need? A property I am keen to know more about would have more than enough space for a 'traditional flat garden'.
BG; From your replies, I may give the old spuds a miss. Again, I had no idea about what growing potatoes does to soil. At least I got the chook-thing right, lol. I think I might come up with a chook yard once we have a place. I will look at some permaculture blogs, thank you for directing me that way. Again, wouldn't have known where to start looking. I will also try to note down, I guess, how much of what vegetables we go through. I totally understand what you mean about what suits your family won't suit mine. I forgot what else I was going to say, but thank you very much for taking the time to write such detailed (and numerous!) replies. I really appreciate it.
We've grown pumpkin, herbs, onions, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, runner beans, radishes and strawberries before. ATM, as it's a new house and I wanted to see the planting year as to what's already in (very little, it turns out), but have planted strawberries to see us through last summer: Liebling would have been very cross without his strawberries! I also had some tubs and baskets of herbs. I've previously done this in a 6' by 6' raised area, that more than fed three of us with a range of food.
I'll be planting some onions around the roses. I'd like to try asparagus near the tomatoes with a bit of basil and some spinach and some petunias. I'm going to put in marigolds and geraniums, as they are great for just about any fruit/veg. I'll start with the beans the year after this. I'll also put in a pumpkin or two, some carrots, parsley. I'll be doing all of this in the existing flower beds, maybe taking out a shrub near the shed and putting in a small bed next to the shed too. And look at putting in a fruit tree of some description. And finally getting a composter!
I do still buy veggies though: I'm not such a gardener that I can take up so much time looking after my garden, even when it does feed me.
Best natural snail control I've known is bantams. Unlike full sized hens they can't do much damage to a flourishing vege garden but they love to eat snails. You need to keep them away from your seedlings but once things are established bantams won't usually kill them.
We are totally pet free here. They relented on the rabbit cos she is caged. The snails are both front and back yard. Not sure anyone would like us having bantams out front all the time lol
Darn. I had a reply typed out before and lost it. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Let's try again....
Dansta; I'm anticipating doing co planting. It just seems so logical to do that. And I would definitely have to plan what would go where, right down to having a drawn plan of rotations . I will look for that book you have mentioned.
I would really like to be able to grow garlic. I have only found imported garlic in the shops, and it s**** me to tears tha tyou can't buy Australian garlic. I mean, wtf? Sidetracked.... Be happy if I have to wait. Hopefully I won't have to try and grow it from seed!
As for snails, a couple would be okay, as its all our lizard eats. Fussy bugger, considering there aren't many snails around here, and I feel a bit awkward asking "dear neighbour, pardon me, but do you have any garden snails that I could possibly trouble you for? Many thanks" lol.
Cass; that is a help if there are quantities on seed packets.
Oh yeah. That's what I was going to say. Nitrogen. Not potassium. What planet was I on? Sheesh!
I'm making another post so that I don't lose it all again.
BG; I have so much reading to do to learn what crops I should plant for recovery, etc, and just the whole roatation thing. Not to mention when to plant. Omg. Hope your DH is going good.
TFB; Your garden efforts sound great! Mmm, strawberries... Must try to plant thoae too! Store boufht strawberries have got nothing on home grown!
Netix, you can buy Australian garlic, but it only has a small season and the Australian market for fresh garlic is still pretty small and a lot of it actually ends up as minced garlic etc. I refuse to buy fresh garlic for that reason and only buy it when it's Australian grown so we don't have it very often. My FIL has been very successful with growing it though in the past so we would get it from him when he had it.
What size area needed for vege garden? As long as a piece of string?
I'm just doing some planning at this stage, it's not going to be done here (rental), and it is one of my priorities for when we get our own place. So I want to be able to know what i need when we go out looking at properties. The kids want chooks too, so as a side question can their yard be the vegetable garden? I'm guessing they will eat the caterpillars and the like, but hoping notthe growing produce?
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