Need criticism: new garden ideas.

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by LonerMatt, Feb 19, 2012.

  1. LonerMatt

    LonerMatt Junior Member

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    I just dug some ground out, to make a sunken bed, and this seems to be catching the water pretty well. When I dug through bed 1 to expand it yesterday it was quite well watered, and the water had sunk in deeper than in other areas.

    I will probably weed like a mother ASAP, maybe tonight or Friday.
     
  2. LonerMatt

    LonerMatt Junior Member

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    Well, guess who found sopme blood and bone in the shed as he was looking for a bucket?

    Soil's going to be chock full of nutrients as of this time in two days. A few different manures, some mulches, enough water to kick start decay, and now blood and bone adding more nitrogen as well as calcium, and plenty of other things the soil may have lacked!
     
  3. Try Reason

    Try Reason Junior Member

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    The local loams tend to be pretty good for nutrients (unless they've had successive plantings on them previously). Any extra will be a bonus so long as it is balanced. I'd be interested in trying out biochar and rock dust for micronutrients. Some people swear by rock dust. It goes into their beds every couple of years when mulching. Going by what I've seen grown in some of these beds perhaps they're really on to something. I've never had much luck growing carrots here. They fork and do all sorts of strange things. From memory I think I remember this is often caused by a boron deficiency... or was it over supply?
     
  4. LonerMatt

    LonerMatt Junior Member

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    Today I started getting things a going:

    - 4 beds are now mulched with Lucerne. THey also have some chicken and cow manure in them, to add some nitrogen to help break down the mulch.
    - Around the outside (where I've raised some ground) is mulched with sugar cane mulch to stop weeds encroaching.
    - Around those mounts there are some strawberries planted. Will add Marigolds when the seeds arrive.
    - Bought some chives, lettuce, leeks, basil and a few other things.
    - I have broad bean seeds, as well as a host of other seeds arriving Tuesday or Wednesday ( I hope) and then we can REALLY get started!

    The rain's continued which means there's plenty of water in the soil and plenty in the mulch, hopefully this will really get some great decay happening.

    I've started to suspect that my soil is clay, but we'll see!
     
  5. pippimac

    pippimac Junior Member

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    Matt, I really recommend putting tall, sturdy stakes around the primeter of the broad bean patch before planting.
    If I leave it till later, next thing I know, there's 6ft plants flopping all over the place.
    As the bbs grow, I just tie another strp of sheet from stake to stake to contain them. Think boxing ring...
     
  6. sweetpea

    sweetpea Junior Member

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    And just a reminder, fresh manure can contain e. coli, especially cow manure, so if it's not composted beyond recognition, no fruit should be allowed to touch it, nor any splash-up from rain to lower leaves like lettuce, spinach, chard, beans and peas near the ground, which is why it's good to use it to heat up the compost pile first. Or put it in a trench filled back in and mulched. :)
     
  7. Try Reason

    Try Reason Junior Member

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    Nice! You should start thinking about a snail strategy. Nothing tender and green lasts too long after all the wet weather we've had. Beer traps work pretty well in my experience. But, they can evaporate really fast and it can also evaporate from the kitchen (unless you make sure you have the cheapest, most awful swill you can find for the job). You'll be topping them up daily and depending on the size of your garden it can be a lot of beer.

    Haven't tried animal control yet but I have a friend with a standard 1/4 acre block and he swears by his 2 chooks. He thinks that they clean up every pest in the garden but I have to wonder how his crops survive the chickens themselves! Also, aren't chickens are asleep when snails are doing their worst? I hear all the time that ducks are the gastropod specialists too. They focus on snails and slugs and they tend to be less interested in your vegies. Only drawback is that they need a pond or bath with regular cleaning and they make a lot of mess.
     
  8. briansworms

    briansworms Junior Member

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    Feed your worm farm with fresh cow manure and the worms will break it down in no time. Cow manure also contains Lactose Brucillus Bacteria which the worms eat and is also the same bacteria in yogurt. Just a word of caution not too much or too deep. Just a line of it in the middle.
     
  9. LonerMatt

    LonerMatt Junior Member

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    So about a month in:

    Worms are in the soil.
    Lettuce, leeks, herbs and broad beans are growing well.
    Green manure of oats and fava beans have started well.

    Today I:
    - Brought in more heavily composted cows manure.
    - Layed green waste (lawn trimmings), then the manure, then sugar cane mulch
    - Planted onions, parsley, and snow peas.
    - PLanted out the kale, silverbeet and a few other things that I'd planted as seeds in a tray.

    Feeling like we're making some progress here!

    Will be away for ten days, so trying to really build up some moisture before I head off on Thursday.
     

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