More plantings

The weather has been rainy with a couple of storms as well. Good weather for establishing a vege garden.
There have been some weeds poking thru and are about 1 Cm high so a quick work-over with a hoe and they are mulch. Weeds can be a handy source of organic material especially for soil like this which has been under black plastic for several years (still they germinate!)
The tomatoes are looking good and this morning I planted some Sweet Basil next to them, it is a good companion and keep some bugs off. I am looking forward to making some basil pesto in the near future. That’s the bail on the left.

Also in this bed I planted a punnet of capsicum and one of eggplant, both these and the tomatoes being of the solanine family.

At the end of the bed I planted three rows of sweet corn, Terrific F1 variety, each row about three meters long:











That’s blood and bone on the soil with some Nutritech Gold.
All of the plantings were watered in with Maxicrop seaweed solution, an old container I found in the garden shed. The tomatoes are still going after a week so it must be ok.
The beetroot I panted last wee are just shooting. Soaking the seeds in an Epsom Salts solution the night before planting seems to be quite effective. No sign of the carrots yet.

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Another day at the office

This is a real tree change, I walk past this beautiful tree on the way to the vege garden:

And this is part of the view from the vege garden

After several years of intense, constant stress 24/7 giving rise to a life-threatening health challenge I am now living an idyllic lifestyle, I am indeed blessed. This is the real tree change.

Early in the morning the birdsong is so loud, they are such a happy lot and yesterday there was the sound of a flute coming from the forest, maybe Krishna was paying a visit! Last night I could hear Tibetan bells coming from the Theosophical Centre which adjoins this property. I am indeed blessed.

Today I have planted carrots and beetroot. The beetroot have soaked overnight in water with some Epsom salts added. The magnesium stimulates the germination.

Digging deep into one of the beds exposed some roots, probably from a nearby liquid amber tree. I will have to keep watch for any more as they will be attracted to the rich (soon to be) soil.

The old weed-mat at the bottom may inhibit drainage somewhat although it is breaking down in places. The last thing I want is long term wet soil which i anaerobic. This leads to fungi, moulds and other horribles.

This return to the natural world is very healing.

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Three days of rain

I had just spread the gypsum on the middle bed in time before the rain. The soil having been covered with black plastic for years has soaked it up very well. The soil in the bed where I planted the tomatoes is so soft I can push my hand in 20cm..

I planted three types of tomato, Black Russian, Beefsteak and Sweet Cherry. Twelve plants in all:

There having been no organic material in the soil for so long I purchased a bag of composted mulch from Bunnings and put some in the bottom of the hole plus a couple of hands full around the plant. Some ancient blood & bone I found in the shed and some Sulphate of Potash will give the tomatoes a good start.

I found some old seaweed solution in the shed which I applied to the plants to diminish the transplant shock. The stuff is old and black, it will be either very good or very bad.

The gates at either end of the garden are now shut to keep the birds away. The satin bower birds love cherry tomatoes.

Next to go in are radishes,beetroot and carrots. I was pleasantly surprised to see organic seeds for sale in Bunnings however I will be buying from Eden Seeds whenever possible in future. Things are just a bit disorganised at present but life is pretty good.

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Soil Improvement

The difference between the soil in the two garden beds is quite large. I applied gypsum to the middle one to break down the clay clods. A couple of green manure crops in it will help.

This is what it all looked like a few months ago:

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More Progress – It is starting to look good.

Some more work has yielded god results, there is now some good soil evident after all the weeding. It was very hard like this:

 

Much work later it is looking like this:

There is a definite lack of organic matter in the soil but that can be fixed with some green manure crops or perhaps some bags of organic compost and manure from the hardware shop. I see the occasional worm when I am digging but their numbers are nowhere near my target density of 25 worms per cubic foot which is the ideal suggested by the biological farming guys.

The middle bed has quite different soil, it has much more clay than the others and breaks up into big clods. It is going to require an application of gypsum to change the soil structure:

 

Some of the sleepers on this bed are showing advanced signs of deterioration. The three beds in the garden are so big that I will be able to close down some sections if necessary and use the their sleepers.

The sleepers are untreated. The treated ones leach toxins into the soil which are then absorbed by the plant.

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One bed ready – two to go

After being covered with black plastic for a long time the soil is very hard so I have been breaking it up with a fork. I only saw two or three worms in the full length of the garden. I am hoping for some of the rain that is forecast this weekend.

The paths have been overgrown  with weeds as well bit the foot traffic should help keep them clear.

Two more beds to go and I will be planting tomatoes within a week.

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In The Beginning…..

Well, after a long time work has begun in the garden. as you can see there is infinite potential for creation (that’s a nice way of saying that there is lots of work to do):

I measured the pH and was surprised to see that it was 6.5 which is pretty much where it needs to be, according to Gary Zimmer “The Biological Gardner”.

Peeling back the black plastic which had been covering the beds for a couple of years revealed soil that looked like it came from a desert, all the structure and minerals but no organic material. Lots of centipedes but only three worms in two metres, they must have got lost.

Two day’s work showed up some muscles which haven’t been used for some time but I sure feel good.