Janet
19-08-2008, 10:36 PM
Starting a garden
jacandwill
Hi there,
I would realy like to staret a veg garden in the back yard and have no idea where to start.
any one point me in the right direction?
what books would you recomend?
How about websites?
looking at maybe doing a no dig garden. how big would you need to go ?
How many garden beds?
jac
Sarah
How exciting!
The best book I know of for no dig is Esther Deans Gardening Book: Growing Without Digging.
I've had my copy for ages, actually originally it was my mums, so I'm not sure if it's still in print, but you should be able to get a second hand one.
It covers how to set up the no dig gardens, companion planting, natural pest control, how to make your own compost & fertilizers etc. I love mine!
Good luck setting up your gardens, & hope you're soon enjoying the fruits of your labour!
jacandwill
oooh, I will look that book up, it sounds really good Sarah.
would I just type in 'no dig gardens' ? on the net
(I'm really not that good with the web, I love it but still have a lot to learn.)
I have picked a spot out the back of, what is atm my dads house, as I will be renting from dad I can do pretty much what ever but I did run the garden idea past him first.
I thought if I did a no dig one then he could take it away if we ever leave.
I hope to grow most of the vegies that we buy and give some fruit ago too.
I am so excited to get started!
I will let you all know how I get on and hopefully by the time I have something to take a pic of I would have worked out how to put it on here to show you all
funkymama
Hi jac
Esther Dean's no digging book is available at the Good Life Bookclub for about $20 here's the link:
http://www.goodlifebookclub.com
I love it too and the gardens we made after reading it have been great.
Good luck
Ceres
Come and have a look at the earth garden website http://www.earthgarden.com.au and there is a forum there as well.
How's your soil?
Best place to start is by improving the soil. Consider planting a green manure crop or buying in heaps of compost and mulch.
Easiest no dig garden - buy some bales of straw or lucerne, lay them out in a large rectangle shape, fill them with soil / manure / compost /mulch on top and plant into it. The worms will come up to munch on the compost, improving the soil underneath, and the straw will break down, making your mulch for the next growing season.
Sam
If you get a book it's easier if it's written for the Southern Hemisphere when it comes to the planing guides.
Using a moon planting guide means you loose less seeds because more germinate and less rot in the soil.
Planing heritage varieties is nice and if you get them through a seed saving group you can save your excess seeds and sell/give them back.
I read Earth Garden, Warm Earth - both very long running Aussie mags.
Jackie French has some good books that are great for beginners http://www.jackiefrench.com/booklist.html From that list I have Back Yard Self Sufficiency, Making Money From Your Garden, The Earth gardener's Companion, The Earth Gardeners Companion- a month by month Guide and all are good.
The Little Compost Book has everything you would ever want to know about composting.
- Mulch, mulch, mulch (using compost, lucerne hay or something similar - not straw which depletes the soil when breaking down)
- Plant extra to share with insects and birds and human friends
- Don't overwater the plants (less watering encourages deeper root system and therefore the plant needs less water)
- Snap off seed heads to get a longer harvest out of a plant (unless you are saving the seeds in which case you want a seed head to develop).
- Don't harvest whole plants e.g. take two stalks of celery from each plant rather than pull up a whole celery plant.
- For vegies in large pots fill the pot or the soil can sour e.g. if you are trying to grow a capsicum plant in a pot while it is little fill the rest of the pot with something like lettuce to harvest the baby leaves for salad and this will also prevent the pot from drying out which is a problem for pot gardens.
- If you don't have much space use dwarf varieties and vines that grow up.
- Some Yates Organic seeds are cheaper than their regular seeds.
- Grow varieties that grow well for your neighbours.
Really, trial and error are the way to learn.
jacandwill
Hi there,
I would realy like to staret a veg garden in the back yard and have no idea where to start.
any one point me in the right direction?
what books would you recomend?
How about websites?
looking at maybe doing a no dig garden. how big would you need to go ?
How many garden beds?
jac
Sarah
How exciting!
The best book I know of for no dig is Esther Deans Gardening Book: Growing Without Digging.
I've had my copy for ages, actually originally it was my mums, so I'm not sure if it's still in print, but you should be able to get a second hand one.
It covers how to set up the no dig gardens, companion planting, natural pest control, how to make your own compost & fertilizers etc. I love mine!
Good luck setting up your gardens, & hope you're soon enjoying the fruits of your labour!
jacandwill
oooh, I will look that book up, it sounds really good Sarah.
would I just type in 'no dig gardens' ? on the net
(I'm really not that good with the web, I love it but still have a lot to learn.)
I have picked a spot out the back of, what is atm my dads house, as I will be renting from dad I can do pretty much what ever but I did run the garden idea past him first.
I thought if I did a no dig one then he could take it away if we ever leave.
I hope to grow most of the vegies that we buy and give some fruit ago too.
I am so excited to get started!
I will let you all know how I get on and hopefully by the time I have something to take a pic of I would have worked out how to put it on here to show you all
funkymama
Hi jac
Esther Dean's no digging book is available at the Good Life Bookclub for about $20 here's the link:
http://www.goodlifebookclub.com
I love it too and the gardens we made after reading it have been great.
Good luck
Ceres
Come and have a look at the earth garden website http://www.earthgarden.com.au and there is a forum there as well.
How's your soil?
Best place to start is by improving the soil. Consider planting a green manure crop or buying in heaps of compost and mulch.
Easiest no dig garden - buy some bales of straw or lucerne, lay them out in a large rectangle shape, fill them with soil / manure / compost /mulch on top and plant into it. The worms will come up to munch on the compost, improving the soil underneath, and the straw will break down, making your mulch for the next growing season.
Sam
If you get a book it's easier if it's written for the Southern Hemisphere when it comes to the planing guides.
Using a moon planting guide means you loose less seeds because more germinate and less rot in the soil.
Planing heritage varieties is nice and if you get them through a seed saving group you can save your excess seeds and sell/give them back.
I read Earth Garden, Warm Earth - both very long running Aussie mags.
Jackie French has some good books that are great for beginners http://www.jackiefrench.com/booklist.html From that list I have Back Yard Self Sufficiency, Making Money From Your Garden, The Earth gardener's Companion, The Earth Gardeners Companion- a month by month Guide and all are good.
The Little Compost Book has everything you would ever want to know about composting.
- Mulch, mulch, mulch (using compost, lucerne hay or something similar - not straw which depletes the soil when breaking down)
- Plant extra to share with insects and birds and human friends
- Don't overwater the plants (less watering encourages deeper root system and therefore the plant needs less water)
- Snap off seed heads to get a longer harvest out of a plant (unless you are saving the seeds in which case you want a seed head to develop).
- Don't harvest whole plants e.g. take two stalks of celery from each plant rather than pull up a whole celery plant.
- For vegies in large pots fill the pot or the soil can sour e.g. if you are trying to grow a capsicum plant in a pot while it is little fill the rest of the pot with something like lettuce to harvest the baby leaves for salad and this will also prevent the pot from drying out which is a problem for pot gardens.
- If you don't have much space use dwarf varieties and vines that grow up.
- Some Yates Organic seeds are cheaper than their regular seeds.
- Grow varieties that grow well for your neighbours.
Really, trial and error are the way to learn.