Monday 18 March 2019

Starting a Garden


I've moved around a lot and lived in different parts of Australia and the world. 
Each time I moved into a house, or apartment and made it my home I started a vegetable garden. 
It was the first thing I did, after unpacking the cutlery, making a bed and hanging my clothes.
My vegetable gardens took high priority because I've always felt a need to pick and eat fresh vegetables and herbs that I've grown organically.

In an apartment where no space allowed me to dig the ground I grew herbs, rocket, tomatoes and radishes in pots.
Rocket lettuce is easy and fast to grow. When I have rocket leaves I always have greens for the base of a salad and for adding to soups, stews and various cooked meals.

I still read a lot about gardeners giving advice on starting a garden and, if I didn't know what I know now, I'd be daunted before I even turned the first bit of dirt.
They talk about setting up borders, making raised beds, bringing in dirt, composted manure and on it goes. That looks like an expensive garden. Or.. that looks to hard.
Can I tell you a secret? Most of the gardens I've started were with just a spade, a watering can and some seeds.


In Kathmandu (Nepal) I used a large spoon to scrape and dig some soil near my front door. I planted pumpkin seeds, from a pumpkin I bought at the bazaar, and a tomato plant. purchased from my gardener neighbour. Both grew well and cropped heavily.  My home grown vegetables were the envy of my neighbourhood.
I carried a plastic bag and occasionally on my way from work or college I picked up cow manure from the street to make liquid manure to feed my little garden. My wee bucket added more nutrient to the mix.

2004  Just moved into our farm house and co-habiting with mice and wildlife.

When Brian and I moved onto this property I started our vegetable gardens the day after we moved in.
I had a few days leave from work so I dug up some of the soil on a flat area near the house and started planting.
There were no borders, no special manures or composted soils.  I just turned dirt, tossed the weeds into the wheelbarrow for the chooks, and planted seeds and seedlings.
Within a few weeks we were picking our own vegetables and herbs.

Back then this house was an almost derelict structure, and in order to afford to buy the property we had to sell all of our other properties that we owned between us.  With a small mortgage that we wanted to pay off ASAP, we could not afford to rent somewhere to live so we moved in with mice scampering all night and birds flying in through the cracks in the walls. The bathroom was a makeshift structure on the verandah where we washed with a bucket while standing in a bowl.
Money was tight, we didn't even own a camera.
We both worked full time so, on weekends and evenings both of us worked together to renovate and make the house livable.
The gardens and growing our food were something that I could physically do without Brian's assistance, so if we wanted home grown vegetables it was up to me to do the work.  I was nearly fifty when we came here, so was no spring chicken, and the work was hard labour, but it freed up Brian's time for working on the house, fencing stock yards and building sheds.

As our living conditions improved and we paid off the mortgage to achieve our dream of being debt free, I decreased my employment to three days a week.
After two or three years of working with our temporary vegetable gardens that were supplying a lot of our food, we began fencing areas for our permanent vegetable gardens.
These were incorporated with our poultry yards, for allowing the hens into the food gardens at the end of the growing seasons. We had a winter garden area and a separate summer garden area, with gates opening into the poultry yards to allow the hens access at varying times of the year .


I learned a lot during our first year here.
I discovered that the area I had initially planned for our permanent vegetable garden was too exposed to the wind. I'm glad I worked that out before digging all those post holes.
I learned about the changing angles of the sun during winter and summer.  A spot I had chosen for the winter garden was perfect in summer but too shady in winter.  That area ended up being the ideal place for the pig yards.

 2018  Our comfortable and simple home.

While all this was going on and I was making new discoveries as each new season rolled around, we were still planting and harvesting vegetables. I'm glad I had just got in there and planted. We had already saved money by growing our own vegetables, eggs and chicken.

I planted tube-stock trees along the front of the property because we were one hundred percent certain that the decision to create a privacy screen from the road would always stand to be the correct one.
As luck happened, the tree planting was followed up with our wettest three winters/springs, and the tube stock trees were taller than me within three years. I'm so glad I just got in there and planted them when I did.


I planted flowers and shrubs from cuttings from friends' gardens and the nursery 'giveaways' shelf. All over the place, I planted like a woman possessed.  I kept adding straw that I collected from under the cow's hay racks, made liquid manures and was always piling organic matter and prunings onto compost heaps.
Some of those gardens remain, but others have been replaced with gravel and trees after too many years of dry summers. More gardens have been added, other gardens extended and expanded. I have plans to change some plantings this winter. The garden is always evolving.
 
 The photo on my blog cover page shows the gardens that used to be here. Now landscaped with gravel after too many hot dry summers.

I still do most of the gardening here because I'm the one who is at home for more hours in the week, so it just makes sense that I do it.  Brian manages the large vegetable garden (he says that's his relaxation), and helps me with the really heavy gardening jobs when I ask him to,  but his time (when not at his full-time employment) is generally taken up with the heavy jobs involved with sheep management, fencing, building, paddock work, harvesting and property maintenance. I'm perfectly happy for him to drive the tractor, and do the heavy work while I do the work that I'm capable of.



We made this raised bed, and two others, from a salvaged water tank cut into three pieces. After the first summer I discovered how quickly the soil dried out, and they required watering twice daily!  We repurposed two of them (goose nesting shelters) and only this one remains. I pile garden waste mulch into it at the end of spring and leave it unplanted over summer. Soon after the first autumn rains arrive the seeds sprout, supplying mixed greens through winter and requiring only rainfall to keep them watered.
If you're thinking of purchasing those shiny new corrugated iron raised beds from your garden supplier I would urge you to think again if you live in a hot dry environment.  I've seen people throw them out or re-purpose them after their first summer.
However, if you don't mind aesthetically altering the look you wanted to achieve, they can be adapted by packing bales of hay or straw around the outer edges to provide insulation and help improve water retention.

 

So, if you want to grow some vegetables or plant a garden, don't over think it.  Don't wait for everything to be perfect. Just find a (preferably flat) space and start digging.

For inspiration ask at your local library for "One Magic Square" by Lolo Houbein
An interesting little book, delightful in its simplicity, Ms Houbein outlines how we can begin from where we are.
Isn't that the best way to begin at anything?

Start where you are, do what you can, use what you have.

Cheers,
Sally XX





22 comments:

  1. My garden started with a lemon and mandarin tree, some lemon grass and a packet of corn seed. It has expanded quite a lot since then. I dont have the chooks but do make weed and comfrey tea, along with worm wee to fertilise the garden. Our soil is non existant. We have pure sand. A lot of my fruit trees are in pots. I water three times a week in summer and twice or less in winter. My vege garden is in half tanks and the perennials are in the ground with more and more organic matter added. The garden gets better and healthier each year. I do believe that the more you grow the better the garden gets. I'm like you and believe that you grow what you can with what you have. I have to admit to not having planted any tomatoes or lettuce for the last three years. They are growing in the garden but these are from fallen fruits from last season. I currently have about twenty tomato weedlings popping up. Could be a good season.

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    1. We're coming to the end of our tomato growing season Jane and you're just coming into yours. So many tomatoes here, eating them fresh every day as well as all the preserving and sauce making. We don't ever buy out of season tomatoes so we really enjoy them while we can for these few months each year.

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  2. Thank you! I have been waiting to add "this or that" to my trash picked raised beds, wanting every thing to be "right." Today I am just going to plant, dance around the raise beds, and see what happens! :)
    Patricia fl/USA

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    1. Yes Patricia, just do it. Now is a good time to plant seeds here in the southern hemisphere as we're coming up to a full moon on the 21st. Not sure how that translates to you in the north. Do let us know if you can.

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  3. Thank you so much for this post Sally!!
    Total inspiration ❤️
    I have dreamed about an orchard for at least a decade. I made excuses not to do it, no money, no time, no experience. But really, I could have made the time, it doesn’t cost that much if you don’t let it, and the only way to learn is by your mistakes. In the past 6 months all of those obstacles are still there in varying degrees, but I just dived right in and finally did it! And I love it, it has breathed new life into me! Do you know what my only regret is...not doing it sooner!!! I could be feasting like a queen from my orchard right now if I had started it when I first dreamed it! But at least I’ve started it now 😊

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    1. Ah the power of hindsight Cheryl. But you've made the leap now, that's what matters.

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  4. Oh I completely understand what you mean! I don't even have a house yet but this weekend we dragged a couple of big logs into place to start our first veggie bed. I simply can't stand not having any herbs to pick or anything growing to tend too. I have covered the pasture that's there in black plastic to smother it and start to rot the root system then we will add manure, turn it over as its quite compacted due to years of grazing and plant some seeds, I may even splash out and buy some seedlings if I can find them at a good price. Now the weather is milder and wetter keeping up to tender seedlings with our limited rain water storage will be far easier.

    Your garden is beautiful, and so productive. I agree that sometimes the best thing to do is simply to start, as we can always learn as we go along. Like in writing, we cant edit a blank page!

    xx

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    1. Great work Em! I love that analogy of editing a blank page too. If you have some pots (or can scrounge a polystyrene fruit box?) you could perhaps get some seeds planted so they're ready to transplant when the bed is ready for planting. Save $$$ that way. Ha, you can rely on me to know ALL the money saving ways..lol Having a garden will settle you further into your new home, and the physical work of gardening is grounding and meditative. XX

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  5. I have been at this "no longer paid work" life for a year now so it's time to get a move on . It's time I looked at what I would like from a productive garden. Great reading tools there.

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    1. Just have a go Brigie, there's nothing to lose, and so much to gain.

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  6. We have some of the corrugated beds & normally we have enough rainfall through summer & don’t need to water them much, but this last summer has been far from normal. They are also covered with shadecloth for the summer months (still covered as we’re expecting temps in the high 30s over this weekend!). The first 2 beds were purchased a few years ago when I had a back injury & could not get down to ground level. They are 850mm high & were my saviour at that time to still be able to get my hands into some dirt from a standing position.
    For me gardening is a lifelong journey, always experimenting, trying new things & continually evolving 💜

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    1. Lyn I think the corrugated beds were designed for your weather. I love the look of them, so I'm really pleased to hear that you've had success with them, and better still, that you were able to keep on gardening despite your injury.

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  7. We have a bath tub :-) Mr 6 wanted to grow kale, so we planted it up and have grown plenty of kale, the chooks love getting in there too, much to our annoyance. We also have a capsicum, tomato and calendula growing in there. We harvested a couple tomatoes and one capsicum. For the first time, before summer I actually made up a garden bed and planted cucumber, zucchini and another capsicum... the cucumber plants fried, the zucchinis did quite well and the capsicum is still going but we didn't get any fruit. I admit to being slack with the veggie gardening but we have planted quite a few fruit trees (hopefully in a good area) and I have plenty of herbs growing, also a blueberry bush and one of you raspberry cuttings that I managed to not kill! Hmmm perhaps I'm not doing too badly after all :-)
    Kelly

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    1. Kelly you have done very well. It's been a tough summer for growing and you still managed to harvest some edibles. There's still a chance you will get some capsicums, they will keep going until the first frost.

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  8. keeping it simple K.I.S.S. used to love those little books; & your blog post explains it perfectly! it's hot , muggy & dry here, year after year, don't do a lot of vegie gardening here on my place, instead i use our community gardens, much easier. my gardens have suffered a lot with the dry & the water restrictions & am thinking of just keeping geraniums & different lilies in it. i have discovered salvias as well, they seem to do okay in the heat too.
    wonderful post
    thanx for sharing

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  9. Selina I'm going to pull out some of my decorative plants and put in more water wise plants over winter when we get some rain. Still too hot for much gardening work now, but the mornings are cool and OK for tidying up and weeding. Great idea to make use of your community gardens.

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  10. When we built here, Sally, I was looking forward to the garden more than the house I think! Your garden looks so productive, been a really tough Summer for gardening here. 44 consecutive days over 30C and very little rain. Last week though, we got drenching rain and it's amazing how things bounce back with an outpouring of liquid gold from the sky. I am waiting a little longer to plant this year, it's back up in the mid 30Cs this week, too hot. I hope to grow silverbeet and lettuce and kale and broccoli over the cooler months. Maybe beetroot too! Meg:)

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    1. It has been a tough year in the garden Meg and we have concentrated our watering on the edibles. Consequently have lost some of my roses and other plants, but will replant with more water wise plants and natives. When will this dry heat end? X

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  11. This is a great post Sally!

    I am sorry I missed seeing it earlier. Your wisdom is very much appreciated. Thank you :)

    xTania

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  12. My favourite way to plant a garden is guerilla seed planting. I like to find flowering plants, in the public parks and collect the seed. Then plant them in places, I think will do well around the yard. Best part is, if they fail, I haven't lost any money - just a bit of sweat.

    Yours is a lovely garden though. It does well, despite the dry conditions.

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    1. Chris I think your guerilla style is the way to go. We all need to adapt our expectations of a garden with our climate warming more each year. To a certain extent this is what I've done over the years, putting in cuttings and seeds, what survives gets to stay. We take a more active role with our edible gardens though.

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