I am now ready to start a veggie garden. The garden bed has had tarps on it for months to kill the grass. We’ve now taken the tarps off (see the pic above, which was taken this morning: 24/06/23). I’m also in the early stages of making Compost.

This blog article will be the first in a series where I document my veggie garden start-up and its progress.

I’ve only ever grown beans, tomatoes and basil in the past, so starting and growing an actual market-garden-type productive ‘year-round’ veggie garden is going to be a new experience for me. I’m sure there will be some trial and error along the way. I’m hoping to minimise this though by doing good research at every step of the journey.

In this early stage things I need to address include:

  • Checking the PH of the soil.
  • Adjusting the PH if I need to
  • We have rabbits and kangaroos here. I’ll need to build a barrier to keep them out
  • I have chooks here that free-range. I’ll need to keep them out too
  • The soil is pretty compacted and dry
  • I might want to plow the soil.  I’m documenting some ideas about how I might be able to make a small plow for my Ride-on Mower here. (I don’t really want to turn the soil with a Garden Folk by hand, if I can avoid it)
  • The soil may need a lot of ‘good stuff’ put back into it. As in, ‘regeneration of soil’. Not sure though, as it may actually be pretty good.

I’m hoping to mostly do a ‘no-dig garden’, but we shall see.

Things I think I will need (beyond seeds, tools, seedlings, etc):

  • Some cow manure, to make some manure tea
  • Some good compost
  • Some old newspapers and/or cardboard boxes
  • Star Pickets and some wire
  • Chicken mesh

I want to grow veggies organically, so I will also need to learn how to ‘not have them eaten by bugs’, etc:

  • Companion planting. I’ve planted Marigolds in the past. Might be other things I’ll also need (or want) to plant as well
  • Need to test which organic sprays work best
  • Need to determine the best organic fertilisers
  • Anything else I will need to learn(?)

I need to do some research to find out what plants to grow initially:

  • I want to put nitrogen into the soil. I gather that growing beans helps do this.
  • It is winter time atm, so if the soil will allow me I’ll plant some crops that are best to plant as seedlings (or seeds) during winter.

Below is my research (mostly I’ve watched videos on YouTube).

Side note; Aside from initially growing plants that add nitrogen and also plants to break up the soil, I will also grow:

  • Some tomatoes (cause they’re easy to grow and great to eat)
  • I have a spot where I want to grow some pumpkins

 

Adding Nitrogen:

 

 

 

 

 

Fixing Compacted and Dry Soil:

Gypsum… sounds interesting. Is it ok to use in organic gardening? Apparently so according to this article. I have not done further research yet to confirm this.

 

 

 

Veggies to Plant in Winter:

I haven’t really watched these below videos fully yet. I need to watch them and also do some more research. I also need to make some kind of little greenhouse (or something really simple) to germinate and grow some seedlings ready for Spring planting.