Beans

 Yes it is bean day today.  

The bean seedlings are ready to plant out.  The Purple Queen packet says they do not need staking but the green one says nothing about yes or no to stake.  

To be on the safe side I have staked them all.  I am hoping to get 3 rows in this bed.  Each one to succeed the previous planting.  The seed packet reckons 3 weeks apart.  So next weekend I will have to plant another lot.  

I planted out 6 of both.  I could of maybe fitted more but will go with 12 in a row to start.  

Planted out another lot of seeds.  

Every 2 weeks I plant 8 lettuce, 8 radishes (as these are a very quick crop), another lot of shallots as the first lot have not appeared yet.  Also another lot of carrots, kale and something I have never grown before Pak choi.  Let's see how that goes....yikes!  

If you look closely, the middle front, we lost a lettuce.  😞 Still we are 5 seedlings ahead.  We also lost the back one of my seed planted seedlings.  Hence why you always plant extra just incase this happens.  

I also put the first row of string in my Florida Weave technique.  Now I just need these babies to grow.  

I think a weekly update is enough at this stage.  I am sure once I start getting crops I may update more often.  Until then....

Happy gardening!

First plantings

 I decided today I would plant out the first crop in the garden.  

 I planted out the punnet of lettuce I bought while I wait for my seedlings to get big enough.  

The punnet I bought had 6 cells but I quickly eyeballed there were extra's in it so I dug 8 holes.  

Each seedling is plant with slow release fertiliser on the surface around it.  That way each time it is watered it gets a little extra nutrient. 

Then I had to dig another 4 holes as the punnet yielded 14 seedlings ( 2 didn;t have enough roots to worry about trying to plant them out).  Then the next 4 holes were for seedlings I had from previous seeds I had planted. I marked these with white garden labels so I did not loose them in the mulch.

Recovered around the seedlings and watered them in.  Time will tell how many survive.  Still doing alright to get 12 out of a 6 cell.  Win!!

Hard to see, but between the 2 star pickets I have planted 3 tomato plants. I am going to have a go at the Florida Weave technique rather than staking them.  It is a technique I have never done before, but want to give it a go. 

Bed No.1 planted (for now).  Will try and take weekly photo's for progress and my own recordings.  

Until next week,

Happy gardening!

Seeds

 

Now these are one week old.  I have Lettuce, Radish on the bottom 2 punnets.  Then zucchini, broccoli, shallots, carrots, and kale planted. 

This tray as 2 punnets of beans (on the right bottom)  Dwarf Green and Dwarf Purple Queen.  Never grown a purple been so here is my chance. 

This tray has a punnet of  mignuette I bought to get us started while I wait for my seedlings to get big enough.  

I also planted some strawberry seeds  I am up for an experiment now that these are "my"garden beds.  And the other 2 punnets are left over plantings of lettuce and a flower I cannot remember. 

  Son just got himself a couple of guinea pigs so they have been raiding my first patch.  Instead of throwing out some of the greenery we feed it to them.  Great way to recycle.  I don't have a compost heap.  Still in 2 minds as I know they can attract vermon and the less mice/rats we encourage to come the better. 

That is all for today.  I hope you are getting motivated to grow something for yourself.  If not enjoy the lovely day.  

Happy gardening!

Filling

 Time to fill!

There are obvious advantages to having a high, built up garden bed.  The disadvantage is the filling.  

I had no lack of helpers (of course this was a job for Hubby and Son, although I helped out on the second one).  Inlaws built a home a few year back and have a huge amount of sand left behind.  So we filled each bed 2/3 sand.  

The inlaws had a sugar cane farm (with some cows thrown in) so we were able to use their truck to bring the sand to us.  Very handy and saved some money here.  

And you will notice these cross bars in the middle.  They come with the kit and help the garden bed to not bough out with the weight of the filling.  Really an awesome idea.  

Also they have a black capping you put around the top edge of the metal.  One to protect the gardener from cutting themselves on it.  After all it is colour bond steel ,and 2, it finishes the bed off nicely. 

Then topped both beds off with a rich, manure filled soil.  I watered them both in to help them settle a little faster. 

So pretty, and ready to go!

Next I bought some organic sugar cane mulch from our local Bunnings (hardware store with everything) Before I put this on my original patch weeds were uncontrollable.  Once I put it on I only got the occasional weed.  Worked 99% effective.  Fantastic!

Today August 14 I planted my first lot of seeds.  The day was absolutely beautiful. So good in fact that I sat in the sun and planted them up and got a little pink for my efforts.  Enjoyed it non the less. 

Will be sharing what I have planted next time.  

Happy gardening!
 

Building Time

 Building time!!  

Is is getting exciting here!  Hubby and kids put together the first 2 of the beds. 

 Here is a picture of one.

Oh did I not mention I got the ones that are 74cm high?  That way there is now bending over on my knees and then having to get back up again.  And the beds are deep enough to access, from one side, all crops.  But can be easily accessed from all 4 sides if needed.  No more kneeling in the middle of the patch to reach those pesky weeds and my crops. 

So now the fun begins.  

We thought of how we could get these off the ground slightly for a) better drainage and b) not sitting in the grass as hubby did not want to lay straw or anything on the ground.  He still wants to be able to mow between rows and whipper snip around them without doing it on the bed itself.  We felt a concrete base would work for this.  But to do one big enough for the 2.5m by 1.2 m bed would cost a bit.  Below you shall see the cost saving solution. 

This was the hubbies ingenius way of not filling the whole of the base.  It allows the garden bed to sit on top of concrete without having to cost a lot.  Less than one bag of concrete per bed.  Nice!

He gave them a day or two to cure then put the bed on top.  

They look pretty good on their little base.  Keeps it looking nice and neat too.  

Next post will be the filling.  And let me tell you, they took some filling!  

Happy gardening!

My Birdies Beds

 My Birdies Beds have arrived!!  
So excited!!  After watching Epic Gardening videos and hearing that Kevin loves our Aussie product I was more than happy to purchase locally (well 3hrs away but that is still local in in Australia!)  

Birdies Garden Products This is the link for you to check out their range yourself.  They sell them in Australia and the U.S.  And now they sell them in the UK!  The material they are made from is nice and thick and they are so easy to assemble.  

So I will just share a few more pictures of my vegie patch(as we call it here in Australia.  We shorten most words add an IE or O to the end.  eg Steven becomes Stevo.  We love our nicknames over here).

These are from this year

The above photo is a pineapple top we cut off (bought from a local grower).  The pineapple is sweet and delicious and for the past couple of years we have planted all the tops.  Now I had an Agave plant in this pot.  It was getting very tall and was worried it would blow over and smash at some stage.  So I planted the top in it.  As well as bearing the fruit it can look like a succulent in my pot until then.  Both functional and decorative.  

These are my 3 little seed hot houses (one lid is on the floor at the bottom of the picture) I used to use this for propagating, but now it grows my vegie seeds.  Growing from seed is less costly and you can succession plant very easily, so as to not run out of goodies. The rack was a cheap pot plant holder I bought years ago when we first got married.  Is looking worse for wear now but still does the trick.

Making the most of all my space (even though we have 3 1/2 acres I like to keep pots on the concrete).  This is the pathway from the back laundry patio to our big 10 000 gallon concrete water tank.  Living out of town we have to provide our own water.  We also have 2 x 5 000 gallon tanks on the back of hubbies shed.  Between these it provides all our household water and whatever watering for the garden that is needed. I the pots above I have broccoli, tomatoes and radishes.  And you can see during the day I put my seedling trays in the sun for germination and growth. 

Again our 2.5m z 2.5m patch.  Freshly weeded and some good crops growing. 

There is lettuce, cucumber 9to climb up and shade the lettuce in the heat and allow sun for the beginning of winter.  Tomatoes, spring onions and not seen are Kale and Broccoli in the middle empty space. 

Now in our part of Queensland, our town is on a river that can flood.  We had 2 and a half floods at the beginning of the year (The 3rd one was not as high luckily) and it was the main reason I started growing again.  As most of the state went under and farmers could not even plant lettuce for a good while.  Prices were up to $10 a lettuce!  Crazy!  But since I started growing lettuce after the first flood we were saved having to pay such a high price.

Anyway that was a long way around to say when we had a downpour for a few days I put the Oztrail tent over the top to help stop my crops from drowning.  Even if the bed is raised slightly the water tends to sit in that corner.  Worked a real treat.  Lost nothing!  

Hahaha.  Me trying to be arty with my camera shot!  My first tomato flowers and fruit for the year with broccoli in the background.  Cannot say my photography skills will improve anytime soon but will try to do better....lol. 

Cucumbers!!

Yes my gorgeous cucumbers!  I planted 3 plants, from seed, which I have now learnt is way too many at once.  We had them coming out our ears.  I am sure we got over 40 good size fruits.  We ate some, gave some to family, gave some to hubbies fellow workers and even provided some for the staff BBQ at hubbies work.  Next time succession planting will help to alleviate this excess.  

A nice way to end this post.  From now I will be posting the building of the Birdie beds and what I plant in them.  Stay tuned!

Happy gardening!

  

Welcome

 Welcome to my little patch of dirt.  

I have been inspired many times over the years to grow a vegetable garden.  And many times I have started then stopped.  Whether it be lack of motivation or lack of water (we are on tank water, no town water access) or a bit of both. 

Anyway, now, I am hoping to change all that.  I have been watching Kevin and his mate Jacques the Garden Gnome (as he is known) grow their own and keep things simple.  Their videos over at Epic Gardening are awesome.  A lot of popular plants are covered in specialized videos and are a great go to for trouble shooting or how to get started.  

I shall start off with a couple of gardens I have started, stopped or continued with over the years.  My biggest successes have been Green Minuette Lettuce and Cucumbers.  Wow do those Cucumber vines throw out a ton of fruit!

The next few pictures are from 2020.

In this garden I have lettuce at various stages of life and a big ol zucchini there in the middle at the back.  And some spring onions in the middle front.  The pots with stakes are tomato plants.  and the one in the front corner is a left over strawberry that didn't fit in the photo below.

I had put some half pots on the kids cubby house, as well as some hanging pots.  All with strawberries in them.  Varied success, but honestly it did come down to lack of watering and those pots do not hold enough moisture in summer. 

A picture of one of those beautiful green mignuette lettuces.  They are just such hardy growers here.  

Strawberry!!

And this was one of 2 capsicum plants (bell peppers to Americans).  I have them in 2 large pots either side of my garage.  They have a north facing position which means I can get them growing earlier and later in their growing  seasons as they don't get the chilly southern winds The bricks behind them, the post and the concrete of the driveway also get full sun in winter so that helps to keep the temperature warm for this plants.  I harvested about 12 capsicums off each one.  So that kept us going for a good while.  

And added bonus I grew these from seed.  The seen from a store bought one.  Free seed, free vegetables!

Thank you for reading my first blog post.  I will be sharing a few more in the past photo's and then sharing our setting up garden beds and loads more. 

Happy gardening!