Peta asked for a few tips on my garden. I am in the very fortunate position of living in an eco-village and when our area was developed the landscaper shipped in the best soil, loam compost mix. I had a huge hole in the front of my cottage, which was filled with 23 tonne of soil, yep that's right. I couldn't believe it myself, neither could he (the landscaper).
So I have learnt that in gardening it is very important to start with a very good soil mix. I have mostly planted bought seedlings, but I did have success with starting zucchini, corn, green beans, one watermelon, one cucumber and one tomato plant from seed (plus one tomato plant grew from nowhere).
I have really surprised myself with how well the garden is going, it has limited pests at the moment and everything is growing so well. During winter I had to weed a lot, but during summer all I do is water every 2 or 3 days, plus check for produce.
Out of my garden I have eaten, spinach, silverbeet, kale, garlic, parsley, rocket, chives, zucchini, green beans, potatoes (grown in pots) and cucumber. I've probably forgotten something.
I started it around February, March 2010 and my only failure would be the carrots I think. I bought round ones as seedlings, but harvested on the weekend and they were about the size of my thumb and tough.
I'm wondering if the limited pests in my garden are because the area is new (e.g. it was a barren construction site for quite a while) or because I have planted marigolds, which are a good companion plant. The main reason could be because there is no order to my garden. It is all growing over each other and I love it. I was looking at my carrots on the weekend and to my surprise and delight I found a watermelon hidden in the carrot tops the size of a soccer ball maybe. It is my largest yet. No idea how long to wait before harvesting?
I am waiting to harvest asparagus (takes 2 years before ready to harvest the spears), eggplant, watermelon and corn. Can't wait to see how these go!
