Monthly Archives: July 2012

Building raised garden beds

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One raised garden bed 3x3m

Filled with  soil – ready to go!

We built this on the weekend! Amazing family effort. The kids wanted to be involved in the building and filling, it was handy to have some ear muffs and gloves for them to wear.

The garden bed was designed to be 3x3m square and 0.4m high. Due to the slope of the ground, only two sides are the planned height – 2 sleepers, and the other two sides are 0.2m – one sleeper high. Enough materials left over to build another smaller raised bed, 2x1m large, 0.2m high, which was also completed on the weekend.

The raised bed was designed to use the full 3m length sleeper to avoid wasted off cuts. The post holes were dug 0.6m deep.

Materials used include: 8 x 3m sleepers and 3x 2.4m posts, 150mm bugle head screws, 3.5m3 premium organic soil. Total budget: $370 – a big investment!

Seeds of inspiration!

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Organic seeds selected

Planted and set to flourish- 17 July

I have planted the seeds of seasonal vegetables that i’d like to eat. At this moment I have planted seeds that would normally be the summer crop in Melbourne – tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, beans, watermelon, etc.

My gardening style is rather intuitive – lots of trial and error. I do hope to learn some tips from local gardeners and understand a locally appropriate crop rotation plan.

Seeds are planted in small pots, using an organic seed raising potting mix from the local produce store.

With some watering each day, this should give me about 3 weeks to build the veggie garden – nothing like a bit of pressure to get motivated!

Dreaming the veggie garden

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proposed site for the veggie patch

My garden is large and well shaded providing a welcome refuge in summer and homes to many creatures – naughty and nice. My challenge is to  build the veggie garden where it will receive enough sun. The proposed site currently receives full sun for about 2 hours of the day, and dappled sun for another 2 hours – considering that it is the middle of winter, this may be adequate.

Existing food plants at the beginning of this productive veggie garden project are: 1 mandarin tree and 1 paw paw tree.There is a resident possum in the garden: it ate all the mandarins in June.