When you first move to acreage or get a garden your mind tends to think about growing your own vegetables. And chickens. And we’ve done neither since moving to acreage. So I decided that this weekend was it. We were lucky enough to have the garden beds already there next to our fruit trees. All that was needed was some hard yakka to turn over the soil, mix in some compost and get plants in the ground. I did do some watering and planting.
We have started with strawberries, zucchini, tomato, celery, rhubarb, silverbeet and lettuce. And we’ve decided just to start with one of the garden beds for the month to see how we go and then move on to the next garden bed. Then when the weather gets cooler we can use the other beds. We had lots of little helpers only too eager to help and get their hands dirty and hopefully that continues when I need help.
I found some good resources here, here and here and also have a couple of books and decided that starting small and with a few easy to grow things was the best way to go. This book is a good one if you are looking to grow your own food and its not limited to fruit and veg but includes meat, grains, nuts, bees and a lot more. A really great book if you want to get started. There are also loads of pins on pinterest with good advice.
And I look forward to sharing progress photos with you!
this is exciting Corrie, can’t wait to see your gardens progress!
have you thought about getting a worm farm? I love mine, it takes most of my fruit and veggie scraps, and turns them into amazing liquid fertiliser for my garden, as well as producing nutrient rich compost – so good for my garden!
The kids would be able to collect scraps and add them to the worm farm!
Do you know I went to a workshop on worm farms but we didn’t have a garden at the time, I must look into it again. It was fascinating and great for homeschool too. At the time if you went to a council course they gave you one! Such a great idea! Thanks for reminding me:)
I love the frame around the beds, I guess you put over netting or something to stop the birds etc getting in ? May have to look into that for ours. Once you start reaping the rewards of your garden you’ll never go back. We’ve had one for 2 years here in Melbourne and have found tomatoes, swiss chard, spinach, green beans, cucumbers grow like wildfire here. Strawberries have been good too, but watch the birds as they have grabbed ours out of the hanging baskets just after they are perfect to pick. Looking forward to seeing your progress pics : )
Yes! This weekend we need to go and get some bird netting to go over it so far, we were lucky the frame was already here but we have lots of birds and 3 rabbits who share our acreage so we want to keep them out. I’m so excited each day to see how they are growing, like my little babies:)
Thanks, Corrie:)