Been extremely busy... not just with the new baby (sophia who is now 8weeks old) but out in the spring sun (or outside when it isn't raining) weeding, pruning, sowing etc.
So to get to the point. i thought i'd quickly share some things weve discovered and done!
Seeds & seedlings
While its great fun to watch seeds grow into seedlings, we see no harm in getting the crop/garden going sooner and doing both! Buy seedlings (from nurseries or bunnings) and seeds (any will do but if you're in it for a tasteful experience & abundance of crops go with diggers.com.au or any other heirloom or organic veggie suppliers) I go with diggers from my experience with them, they also supply seedlings to bunnings, you can buy from them online and they are in my state.. so anything that grows with/for them will grow for me! To cut costs ive gone to the mark down section (usually right up the back) and bought many seedlings for 50c-$1. I still don't know if i have 6 chilli plants or if they are 6 capscium plants. (not that it matters) but its a downside of buying mark down stuff missing their labels! Other than that we have at least 3 different tomato seedlings growing well from the markdown and some digger seedlings (a $6 splash) of another 4 varieities including the tommy toe we had last year/early this year that made more than we could eat and made awesome tomato puree. Anyways my point is seedlings give you a crop at least 6weeks before your seeds will. (depending on type and how well you look after them from snails & toddlers!)
Easy raised beds/planter boxes.
We used some old fence/wood scraps laying around the backyard and more recently bought some pre-cut pine. The bought option came to about $52 in materials (the wood, screws & brackets) Hubby says he has done them the easy way which is using small metal brackets to hold them altogether instead of dove tail etc.
Our soil is bit to much on the sandy side... the top soil gets washed away and drains much to fast (not to mention sandy soil usually lacks minerals etc needed for good plants) so we have used composted cow manure & coir peat. Weve found the best source for coir peat is at K-mart (k-mart gardners choice brand) for $5 gets you a 5kg block which makes some 20litres???? i think. Not to mention its from New zealand and not Sri Lanka... so its a bit more local. coir peat is basically adding more organic material into the soil and also holds moisture!
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4 comments:
Good to get a gardening update.. I wish you lived closer to me so I could "share the wealth" of your crops!
I did all my vegie gardening in my twenties (as it happens) and used to pick on average 500 cherry tomatoes a day at one point.. yes I did count them (didn't realise they were cherry tomato plants when I bought them).
We'd give our friends about 1 to 2kg of tom's every time we visited or they visited us. I'm intersted in home grown vegies.. but just don't want to do it anymore.. Never say never.. but yeah!
I think the most delish way of enjoying fresh, sweet home-grown tomatoes is chopped and put on thick-cut crunchy bread stick that has been fried with butter in a pan.. Add chopped onion and herbs with the tomato..& salt + pepper. Just a simple yummy bruschetta.. which is what I had last night at The Phoenix Hotel here in Geelong.
It was $7.90 (an entree) and it took up a whole dinner plate. I'm used to bruschetta being 'morsels' of food.. not a meal in itself. The first meal cooked in the movie 'Julie and Julia' is bruschetta..and the tomatoes look beautiful.. you can almost taste them!
Do hope you have great crops this summer! ^^
Just found your blog and the title made me smile. My friend has a saying that cracks me up too that is similar "it's all gonna burn". I was going to get him a t shirt made up with it on once ;) looking forward to checking out more of your blog. Newbie follower
Hey you have followers that introduce themselves.. cool !
Hello former-blogger-buddy.. ;)
How goes it?!
It's been a while since I came here.. so I thought I'd see if you had any updates.
Bless you!
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