Monday 30 May 2011

Onions

We looked up the month of May in our crop rotation plan and found that we are supposed to plant Onions etc. So we put dolomite in the soil (because our soil is acidic and onions like lime soil) and planted Onions, Garlic, Leeks, Shallots and Chives. We also had some space left so we planted the Onion family's natural companion plants, Carrots

Garlic
Leeks

Sunday 29 May 2011

Peas and Beans

Our Bean and Pea patch
 According to our crop rotation plan we are supposed to plant Beans and Peas in May. A friend told us that beans wouldn't like the frost so we only planted a few.
The first problem we came across was frames, Jerry from Gardening Australia uses bamboo lattice frames but we found that they cost to much and thought that they probably wouldn't last very long,so we used steel mesh instead ,We also found some cheap bamboo poles so we got them and made tepees out of them with wire.
We also did an experiment by soaking half the seeds in water to boost germination and were going to see which ones come up best.
Steel mesh frames
Bamboo pole frame

Saturday 28 May 2011

NEW GARDEN!

Our "New Garden"
Here we are again, four years later with news from "One point Five". 
We have begun a new garden in a new position, implementing a lot of new things we have learnt from friends, family and DVD's .
We have watched a Gardening Australia DVD explaining crop rotation using 6 beds. Nathan , aged 13, has been very  keen and industrious in applying many of the suggestions. ( see details on each post for specifics on bed preparation and care for individual crops) 
Our current total garden area is 300 sq m , 20 m x 15 m , including paths. Each bed is  8 m x 2.5 m .
We have 8 beds and are using a 6 bed rotation as mentioned above with an additional 2 bed rotation.
(mainly because we dug the beds before watching the DVD and will probably adapt this further in the future.)
We are finding that as with previous gardens GREENS grow well - Kale , Silver Beet , Pak Choi and lettuce. 
This has been great as I have been able to develop and enjoy GREEN SMOOTHIES. ( check the topic on GOOGLE and start enjoying Green smoothies yourself ) :)

The "New Garden" looking to the House