Margaret Morgan's Growing Passion - My Herb and Vegie Patch

20 August, 2006

First, I weeded and removed the old plants--lots of self-seeded herbs and even more weeds. Next was the cultivation of the soil. Some of it was quite compacted from previous walkways which I wanted to remove. So some heavy turning of the soil to the depth of a garden fork.

I drew a rough plan and worked out dimensions and what plants would go where. The next stage was creating the raised beds and pathways. (Much sweat and a blister on my thumb!)

Once I'd made the beds, I dug in organic material (compost) and fertilisers and soil additives (composted cow poo, blood and bone and potash. Blood and bone has little potassium, so the potash makes up for that.) The herb areas got far less fertiliser. Too much makes them grow too fast and they'll have less flavour.

The cucumbers, tomatoes and squash all have trellises, and I put the stakes in at this stage.

To make watering easier (and to minimise water usage), I ran a weeper hose along the beds, doubling up on the raised beds. Bent pieces of metal coat-hangers hold the hose in place. Then the planting and mulching with pea-straw. The weeper hoses are under the mulch, to limit evaporation and ensure the water gets where it needs to be.

I've put newspapers (around 10 layers) along the pathways and covered them with mulch, watering them thoroughly. This should stop weeds growing there.

Again, I've used coloured plastic insect traps (see the explanation for these here) and it's interesting to note that unlike the traps I have at TAFE, these have collected very few insects. Because of the masses of cultivated plants there, it's insect heaven, but in my neighbourhood, there are lots of natives that aren't such yummy food for them.

I've restarted my compost bin (see here for good composting advice) which you can see above, in the upper left. Previously, I had it way down the back garden, so it was easy to get lazy and neither feed or water it. Now, it's accessible, and soon my vegies will be benefitting!

So watch this space. I hope that in a few months, I'll have photos of my fabulous produce! Fingers crossed.

19 August 2006.

How could I resist putting what I'm learning in my Hort courses to use at home?

I've started my own herb and vegie patch close to the kitchen. It took a solid weekend's work, but now the basic work is done, it shouldn't require too much maintenance. And although it's late winter, spring is very much in the air....

There are four main areas. Two raised beds, a dry herb area and a wet herb area.

Raised Bed 1:

1x2 metre raised bed, with three trellises. Contains 2 "Tommy Toe" tomatoes (reputedly the most flavoursome of all varieties), small Lebanese cucumbers and squash. Among these are the companion plants, marigold, basil, nasturtium, borage, chive and oregano.

Raised Bed 2:

A slightly smaller bed, with strawberries and mini beetroot. Companions are borage and sage.

Not all herbs have the same needs, so to make the watering process easier, I made....

Dry Herb Bed:

For sage, rosemary and thyme. This bed will get less water from the weeper hose.

Wet Herb Bed:

For basil and flat leaf parsley. The plants are close to the weeper hose.