July

 – Gardens are not made by singing “Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade. – Rudyard Kipling

Step by step, wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow, plant by plant I feel like I am moving my way to a successful vegetable garden. Stage 1 is well underway, it’s a little slower than expected but I fell like it is about 50% there.

The first thing I did since my last post was change the design for the garden beds in stage one… Standing out in the bare, vacant area with my design and measurements in hand I decided to incorporate a few more curves to soften the area a little. It can be a pretty harsh part of the world at times so I didn’t feel I needed to have all straight and ridged lines. Just outside the garden fence is large sweeping treeless plains of farming where heatwaves dance across in the summer and strong winds can blow in the winter so I thought a few soft lines in the garden maybe just what the landscape needs.

I have made a circle in the middle and constructed my four beds around this. Bed three and four are joined at the top which I thought made the pathway between one and two feel a little unfinished. This sent me on a walkabout to the old sheep yards to source some material to reuse as an archway. I feel like this joins the two spaces together better.

All the material I have used for the bed construction are all reused and recycled. The edges are made from old cattle yard rails and bricks which I have found around the farm. All the pegs holding the rails in place are cut up old iron posts and even the wire that holds things together have been pulled out of the rubbish pile and given another life. The only thing that I have bought for the whole project to date is the seedlings and one bale of lucerne hay for each bed. So it all coming to a grand total of about $50 so far!

Bed one is now all finished and planted with broccoli, cauliflower, beetroots and spring onions. Bed two is nearly there, just waiting on the layer of compost and then the plants can go in.  Bed #3 and #4 only have straw on the ground. I have mostly stuck to the no dig garden plan that I outlined in the June addition although bed two is slightly different. It wasn’t my intention but I couldn’t for the life of me get the push mower started to gather the lawn clipping for the first layer and with no mechanic appearing from the bushes I just skipped this step and put a slightly thicker layer of manure on.

I am really happy how things have been coming along. As with all gardeners, I do have a few concerns about the weeds. Couch grass is going to be the biggest problem I can see at the moment. Its 100% of the original ground covering of the old tennis court and as I collect the manure from the paddock it is impossible not to bring in more runners. It will be a constant battle keeping it out of the beds but hopefully the layering of newspaper and cardboard underneath each bed, constantly looking for signs of it poking through the bed and maintaining the edges will be enough to stop it. After watering in the compost which has come form the cattle yards it has also brought up plenty of weeds. These will be easier to manage with weeding and as long at they don’t set seed it shouldn’t be an ongoing issue.

Overall very happy with it all at the moment. Still mountains to do and with spring fast approaching its time to start getting some seeds going and get the next two beds into the next phase.

Happy Gardening!!