Halloween hits us

Carved by the greenie, greatly admired by the son......

And it rained most of the day, that gentle seeping kind of rain, perfect hey!

Morning light across radicchio

A week of growth and all is well. It rained loads too!

In the week since last post we have had bucketloads of rain, two whole days in fact, what a joy to run my fingers through the sugar can mulch full of moisture and feel it's warmth today as the sun finally hit it. The warmth was amazing, both within and just above the mulch.  Wanted to lay amongst it....

My greenie husband has home made a climbing frame for the snowpeas (newly planted as above), made from bamboo stakes and string, a pyramid like structure that will be entwined with those gorgeous little tendrils. 

We (he) has chook proofed both beds, and there is no evidence of them attacking plants, fingers crossed.  I hovered closely today looking for insects and bugs but no mini beasts lurked (as my Yr 1 son calls them).

Bad news on the water front is that we discovered our pump on water tank, is broken, totally melted in fact and all his time I felt SSSOOO proud of watering the beds from our collected water, it was coming from the mains. Who knows how long it has been stuffed, and I now dread the next water bill. With a full to brimming water tank it is really disappointing to discover this.... What can ya do?

This weekend will get the cucumber seeds happening in the seed mix, I think some lettuces will be born in about 3 weeks so will replace with cucumber. Ordered a box of veg from Dynamic Organics today, their stuff is great and as it is my staple diet these days, just had a hankering for some to die for salad ingredients.

OHH me back!! (as per 'ooohh me plums', aka Tony Martin)

Been for a Physio treatment today as my lower back is not so good, then spent 2 hours this afternoon filling and planting bed two, another visit next week perhaps?? WE ARE DONE! Both beds full, all Bunnings plants in the end, BUT bed two has organic soil mix from a different provider, let's see if there is much difference.  The leftover lettuce that just didn't fit went to the chooks, and a few salvageable leaves went into the green salad in the fridge.

Little worried about overwatering the soil, felt very wet when I planted, so hope I didn't water in new soil too much. Have planted a baby watermelon in the centre of bed two and it said it needed a 1 metre space, have left a long row free for it but not sure if it  grows up or along ground. Will research that one. I have to admit I am pretty much winging this garden, with some sound advice from my inspiring friend I have gone for it. I have planted a lot of stuff, not leaving the spacing amount as per the seedling pots, this may be my undoing, but I am here to learn.

Got a great eggplant recipe from a girlfriend over fab Japanese meal last night, and wish I had planted eggplant too. Next time, so much to grow, this is excellent stuff.... Will definitely be booking a Physio appointment first thing Monday.

BTW found evidence of chooks in bed one, so our first attempt is not chook proof, may hook it up to the nearest power point!

A'plenty planting we have done.

Today and yesterday we have filled and planted bed one, full to the goog with lettuce, chives, celery, tomatoes, capsicum, flowers, and basil (caps pictured). In the rain yesterday we heaved 2 cubic metres of the garden mix, wet and sodden it was. My Greenie husband did most of the hard yakka and for that I thank him. Unfortunately, the delivered amount only filled one bed, think the guy on the phone misheard me when I said two beds, or maybe he was just an inattentive kinda guy.

We did our best planting act this afternoon, sugar cane mulch layer on top of soil, about 8cm, watered in and then with a tricky little diagonal design in mind, we planted it out. Screwed a fine plastic mesh about 12 cm high around top of box, in lieu of the jumpin' chooks, shall see if that is enough of a deterrent. Have spent about $80 on plants and am keeping a record of expenditure to see what it costs to do this, and how much I am actually saving.... Not because it's about saving money, but because I think it's an interesting exercise and something that I have often wondered.

• Bed construction and land prep/clearing $1600
  
• Plants  $120 ($20 too much as didn't all fit)
• Soil $279 
• Mulch $10

My hands feel dry and a little tender (ditched the gloves quicksmart in the planting phase), my lower back is a little stiff and there is still some dirt under the fingernails.  What a wonderful day........

Bunnings plants are Round One....

Have taken the convenient option for first plantings, all from local Bunnings. Caps, snow peas, 2 type lettuce, basil, parsley, chives, thyme and 3 types of flowers for interest and to attract insects. Got a tomato tower too as I have seeds germinating at a rate of knots. Have arranged for organic garden mix to be delivered tomorrow so I am very excited now!!

A Sunday afternoon discovery

Set up some tomato and rocket seeds in the last few weeks and the blessed little things are sprouting already. Have just been reading about possum proofing your veg garden, seems like that may be another consideration as they thunder across our roof regularly at night.

The beds are ready to go....

After taking small steps toward creating a little ecosystem in our large Naremburn garden, I am forging ahead with my first attempt at growing herbs and veg (and who knows what else) in real garden beds. Inspired by my edibleurbangarden blogging friend LC  I am off and running with two 3m x 1m x 0.5 m deep beds fashioned by Steven, out of recycled timber palings. $3 each from some place that originally wanted $4. Onya Steven.... The garden section faces north and receives about 4-5 hours direct sun per day in summer. Beds were finished yesterday and with spring clearly upon us, it's time to plant.

It all started with my Greenie husband sourcing the worm farm and 5000 litre water tank, and then came the chooks. 3 gals from rentachook.com.au came into our family in early July 2008. The girls Ruby, Sandra and Emily produce 2-3 and sometimes 4 eggs per day. They consume 95% of our fruit and veg and bread kitchen scraps. When they have done their worst with their daily feed,  the worm farm gets their leftovers and so the circle turns. 

Thanks to a brief and very beneficial couple of visits to a Physio/Nutrition guru in Denistone that advocates a diet of 75% raw veg, I am now salad mad. The two fold effect of this was a very high consumption of salad ingredients, and a lot of kitchen waste in the prep process, hence the chooks came along to help with that.  After many many visits to Harris Farm Markets I started to think perhaps I should grow my own, so to speak. With an 800m squared yard to play with a spot was easily located about 2 months ago. Out came a dead frangipani tree (another story) and with a sunny space at the ready, the garden beds were built. Soil was too clay and rock ridden to plant directly in the ground, so the beds were the best option. Plus with a 7 year old boy, dog, cat and three chooks, higher is better. Of course, the chooks started jumping onto and in the empty beds the minute they were finished and vacated by Steven, so will need to address that issue.

Trying to get through to Materials in the Raw to order some organic garden mix this

morning got me nowhere. The Berowra number from the website was disconnected, and the Gladesville store played silly buggers with my call, she bypassed my call when she found I wasn't the customer on hold she had been dealing with... and never actually took my call in the end. Hung up after it rang for too long, will try again Monday. I need about 3 cubic metres of the stuff to fill the two boxes, and with very easy side access should be a doddle fillling them.