My garden consists of two raised garden beds and a multitude of pots of containers. Come sneak a peek!
Raised Bed #1 4.8 x 2.4 m (~16 x 8 feet)
I might be a beginner gardener, but I don't mess around. In retrospect I should have made it smaller so plants could be easily accessed without compacting the soil. Instead, we've created a small path down the middle.
I use companion planting because, well because the guy on Gardening Australia said so. The truth is I'm relatively new to this gardening business and companion planting sounds sensible to me. If anything can assist me in keeping this garden chemical free, productive, and easy to tend, I'll try it!
Here's the current garden plan, minus the intersected marigolds, flowers, and herbs:
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| cos lettuce |
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| tomato flowers |
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| attempting to propagate some rosemary |
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| marigold love |
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| go pumpkin, go! |
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| a seeding lettuce |
Raised Bed # 2
This bed receives only a few hours of sunlight first thing in the morning, and it's proving challenging. Right now it houses flowers, sage, and parsley. Until recently it also boasted two cos lettuce plants, until they were murdered for a garden salad. I regret nothing.
Pots
I'm growing eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, chilli, herbs, kale (fingers crossed!) and various flowers.
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| monster chilli! nom nom nom |
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| a very happy, fast growing zucchini plant |
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| tomato seedlings |
What works well:
- Lettuce; there's so much damn lettuce. Soon we'll be using cos leaves to wipe down benches.
- Herbs; especially flat leaf parsley! Tabouleh, anyone?
- Chillies; are responding well to their alkaline soil and milk crate pots (which, by the way, I will do a tutorial soon because these milk crate pots are the best),
- Potted zucchini; who seems to be outgrowing all of his brothers,
- Mulch; living in such a hot area, we need to mulch our garden heavily to conserve water.
What could be better / what I'm still learning
- Soil PH; at the start of the season I did a soil PH test and determined our soil was really alkaline. I purchased some sulphur which I mixed in, but I still don't think it's completely right,
- Smaller raised garden; it suffers because it gets hardly any light. Flat leaf parsley seems to work best, so perhaps I'll just make a parsley patch?
- Aphids; ugh. Aphids. My nemesis.
- Sunlight; I've resolved myself to the fact that sunlight will always be a battle here. The large raised bed is sandwiched between a block of units and a six foot fence, but hopefully with practise I will discover what works best for each space,
- Knowledge; there are still many things I have no idea on: How long should I water each area? Is this enough mulch, or too much? How long should I leave a vegetable if it doesn't look happy or like it's growing? Is that a disease, or just a funky leaf? All practise, I guess.
What I'm excited about:
- Corn and tomatoes and potatoes... Oh my!
- Next season I'm considering trying the square foot gardening method. Do you have any experience?
- I'd also like to plant some more edible flowers.
Well thanks for coming over! I hope you liked the tour. As always I'm a newbie and welcome any suggestions! :)
RL x
PS. 3 weeks until thesis due date, wooh!
That is an epic garden for a beginner. You are doing really well. I love your "because the guy on Gardening Australia said so" comment. That is exactly me when learning new things! My dad has a mean veggie garden and he did a horticulture course when he was younger. He is about to plant radishes and a few other things.
ReplyDeleteDo you have green thumbs or what! Your garden is fantastic! Seriously, it looks so healthy and productive. I love that you are companion planting and used a computer plan to map out your garden bed. In that bit that says "suggestion", mine would be to plant a row or two (or three) of climbing beans. They would go well there next to the pumpkin, growing up high and thus not using much space at all. Do continue to post photos, and best of luck in these final says before your hand in your Thesis! Sam xox
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