back to the garden...

sewing a side for a moment, i need to update you on my suburban vegie garden. coming from large acreage - where i had quite an efficiently run herb garden, orchard, vegetable garden & chook pen that was only just starting to be highly productive after 3 years - i didn't think creating a vegetable/herb garden in a suburban backyard would be a massive challenge....i was wrong. for one we're renting, so the whole layout couldn't be restructured but in saying that there wasn't much there & creating areas for planting herbs & some vegies wasn't a real drama. secondly, the backyard was sand, no nutrient content what so ever in any of the beds...not a single worm anywhere. thirdly, i have 2 giant dogs that are used to running around acres of property, not square metres.

the soil was bad so i planted up pots, they dried out very quickly if i didn't hand water them everyday but now i am seeing the results of planting seeds back in july...very slow.

with the slow progress of the pots, i decided to improve the soil so that i could plant directly into the ground, we brought in trailer loads of compost & then planted out potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes & basil. the snails moved in & took the tops off the potatoes everytime they popped up, they then moved onto to the lettuce. the dogs ensured that the tomatoes & basil had no chance of survival by trampling them.

of the few lettuces that survived the snail onslaught, i transplanted them to any area where i could keep a regular eye on them for snails & covered them with chicken wire to prevent trampling. i resorted to buying seedling cherry tomatoes & basil because i thought i'd never be eating my own vegies again. these are now also protected with chicken wire.

the challenge has been evaded & we are now eating our own lettuces & the cherry tomatoes are starting to flower. the silverbeet planted in the pots got a surge of energy & have now also been planted into the garden bed. so thats a start, now i just have to keep the ball rolling & whole lot of pea hay to protect my precious vegies from the heat is the next step. i'm probably going to stay clear of seeds whilst we're at this place as the turn around time is way too long. the only other bit missing from the equation is chooks. baby chickens are definitely on the agenda so that they'll be at laying age by the time our new house is built...that might have to be a chrissy pressie for me.