WORK-IN-PROGRESS

We've been busy laying the groundwork for veggie gardens around Melbourne, and now coming into spring we're praying for sunny days and rainy nights so we can get the work done. We'll try as best we can to document some of the work.

Here is one patch that we thought looked great nestled amongst the old garden plants.

In case you're getting bored with displays of veggie gardens, here are some links that make interesting reading. One is to an article re the Kitchen Garden program that Stephaine Alexander champions - teaching kids the processes involved in growing and then eating your own food. A great and much needed initiative considering our obesity crisis and also simply for the enjoyment of good/natural food. www.theage.com.au/news/epicure/sowing-the-seeds/2008/08/24/1219516263720.html


Another worth a look at is http://coolmelbourne.org
As it states, coolmelbourne is "the one-stop info-shop for all things environmental, inpirational, practical and sustainable".

These are from a veggie patch we installed late May. The climbing peas happily making their journey; the beetroot shining with health and check out the monster radish! Trust me, that finger being used as a size comparison is gigantic! 

What you're willing to lose....?

To gain a little patch this client was more than happy to lose her courtyard paving. Tear it up, throw it away.

We did and now she has this veggie patch, with a chicken coop and other alterations on the way.

Everyone's got the capacity to grow vegetables, it's just a matter of what you're willing to lose.

And if anyone wants free pavers, with plenty more on the way, contact me asap!

Vacant Block Veggie Patch

No space for your own patch nor the wine barrels?.......There are other options. You just need a bit of lateral thinking and some friendly neighbours.

When doing a patch for some clients in Northcote, we took notice of a vacant block that seemed to have been left idle for a number of years - an ideal space for a temporary vegetable garden, we thought. Living in Fitzroy and constantly struggling within our space, this was the real opportunity to construct a larger garden and start growing a wider range of veggies for ourselves.....if the owners agreed.

Leverage and barter were important ingredients. We approached the owners and suggested the idea and asked what we could offer. As it turned out they were concerned with the block's upkeep, so we offered our wipper-snippering services in return for permission to grow vegetables. A win-win really because wipper-snippering is actually good fun.

All of a sudden we had this massive inner city block to grow to our heart's content.

First step was identifying the garden bed's position; sunlight of upmost importance with the only other consideration being what we thought we could manage. We ended up choosing a central spot that gathers both morning and afternoon sunlight, set far enough back from the north facing fence to gather winter sun. The patch size measured approximately 30m2, leaving sufficient space around its fringes for deck chairs and an esky - essentials of the summer maintenance program.

Next we put the rotary hoe to work. Despite the intention of raising the bed a further 25-30cms with a mixture of soils, compost and manure, the more you can do to open the earth and help the aerobic process of the organisms that live within the soil, the better.

We then matted old soaked newspapers on the first layer of hoed earth. We did this for two reasons - to block out sunlight from the green grasses and weeds contained in our soils, which in turn kills them off, and also because the newspaper acts as a mulch which later composts and provides nitrogen to the plants. On top of this we added sugar pea straw (5-10cms) and covered it with a combination of organic soils, composts and horse manure. Like the newspaper the straw will break down over time and compost within the soils, provide rich levels of nitrogen to the plants later down the track.

With all the layers of mulch and soils added and/or churned through, it's a good idea to let it settle down and compact before planting. Give it a few winter days to let it absorb some rain and find it's level.

Then we'll irrigate ('borrowing' water from our neighbours), set out our veggie seeds and seedlings, and go on admiring our brilliant work and fine stroke of luck at finding the site and the neighbours.

Grow your veggies in Pots

If you're not blessed with the idyllic quarter acre block and the potential for the earthed planting of your vegetables, there are other options.

Large pots, or in this case a halved old wine barrel, can be used to plant your vegetables. Since they're portable they can be placed in areas that satisfy their sunlight requirements. Pots are ideal for herbs and chillies but can also be used to grow tomatoes, eggplants, capsicums and many other deeper rooted plants.

It's imperative that the pots are deep dished to allow full root growth and that they drain well.

And apart from being a practical solution for those will limited ground space, they can also become a decorative element for your house and garden.

An example of a Veggie Patch

Here is an example of how a 'nothing' space can become a small veggie patch.

The space we used is no more than 5 metres in length and 4 across. We created a central veggie patch surrounded by a walking path that will be used to access and tend the vegetables from and then used the wall to grow the larger, climbing plants i.e. for autumn, we will have climbing peas, and then once the spring comes around, the tomatoes.

We put together a simple drip system that can legally be used twice a week (the nights dependent on your postal address - odds and evens) and will be installing a small 1000litre water tank that should suffice further watering needs. Of course, collecting grey water is also recommended to water the more water-hungry seeds before they germinate and the lettuces.

We will post more photos once the tank and remaining plants are in. And of course, once things start to take off!

Why install a veggie patch?

Back in the day it seemed as though every member of my family dedicated a plot in their backyards to vegetables. I must admit there was fierce competition amongst factions of the family as to whom could produce the largest yield of tomatoes or whose chillies reigned supreme, but set that aside, the veggie patch fed our family and friends two-fold and taught me to appreciate good produce and good food.

I don’t know what happened to those days, but the veggie patch seemed to become superfluous to our fast paced lifestyles. For far too long since we’ve relied on supermarket vegetables, or when enthusiasm and time mix favourably, the slightly superior market produce to suffice our needs. We’ve become lazy and complacent with our shopping choices, and for that our food has been suffering.

To emphasise the superiority of home-grown vegetables over their supermarket counterparts all you have to do it compare the same dish cooked using the different produces. Now unless you have the time and resource to shoot off to the kitchen and make two separate batches of a simple pasta sauce of fresh tomatoes cooked with garlic, chilli and basil, you’ll just have to take my word – there is no comparison!

The flavour of your chemical-free, love-filled, backyard-harvested vegetables shame their bland, supermarket impostures. That’s because your backyard veggies are grown as nature intended them (if you use heirloom or organic varieties which of course you will!) as opposed to the genetically modified versions you find on supermarket shelves. Those varieties are picked unripened and put together by science to withstand the long and cumbersome journey to the supermarket. They’re also made so as not to re-produce, which is the industry’s little reminder to all growers that they will need to return and purchase more seeds next year. It’s therefore quite easy to understand why their natural taste has been eroded by what is considered ‘biological progress’.

Though take away the taste difference and yet there are still many reasons to grow your own veggies.
- You will save on grocery bills. Fancy paying $6/kg for plain old tomatoes in March.
- A veggie patch will heighten the aesthetic appeal of your yard, because food is colourful and sexy (not just when it’s presented on plate at your favourite restaurant)
- It’s satisfying and rewarding, especially for kids as they learn to develop their knowledge and tastes
- And in the much grander scheme, growing veggies does your little bit for the environment by reducing carbon emissions

And amid the current environment of increasing carbon emissions, increasing cost of vegetables and the inability to water our lawns, the idea of a veggie patch becomes much more sensible and more possible - most houses have a burnt out piece of lawn that needs something done with it!

So get out in your front or back yards and choose the best area for a veggie patch. Make sure that you best utilise your sunlight available. Go about building the retaining walls, setting up a compost bin, bringing in the soil and installing the irrigation. Look into what you want to grow and what will grow. Sow them, nurture them, and then enjoy them.

If you don’t have the time, speak to The Little Veggie Patch Company and let us help you!