House & Home The Vege Garden Thread

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by TadhgMor, 3rd Aug, 2017.

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  1. TadhgMor

    TadhgMor Well-Known Member

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    Know the feeling well!!

    I was busy weeding along the side of the house, saw something that looked weedy and removed it only to have the wife give me an earful the next day for pulling out a plant she had been growing for two years!! Doh!! :(
     
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  2. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    I'm feeling really proud of myself. Here's what it looks like now. The tomato didn't die & I went a little overboard getting some seedlings, so had to remove stuff & make up another bed. So the first photo is the original bed. The second one is a patch next to the pool that we've never been successful with growing anything, so I put the excess stuff over there, not really expecting it to grow & only a few have died off. Then the celery wasn't growing at all, so have stuck that in a pot & put the strawberries in a vertical garden thingy.
     
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  3. Ambit

    Ambit Well-Known Member

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    Had some catching up to do with this thread but just saw your soil, agree with the ph comment, it might be quite acidic. Get a testing kit or some nurseries will test it for you. Bunnings might.
    Also stick your finger in the soil after watering well, if soil is dry under the surface, application of a soil wetting agent will make the world of difference.
    I must have spent a fortune at nurseries over the years. Best hobby ever though.
     
  4. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    We've added a wetting agent, and have an automatic sprinkler on them now. They aren't drying out anymore.
     
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  5. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Perhaps not as big an issue down in Sydney but a dripper irrigation system that doesn't wet the leaves tends to reduce disease compared to sprayers.
     
  6. Kangabanga

    Kangabanga Well-Known Member

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  7. IbnBattuta

    IbnBattuta Member

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    And that turned into this...
    View attachment 17822

    We harvested about 50kgs of tomatoes, 20kg of Silverbeet, 5kg of dwarf beans and a bunch of other stuff. Fed us, the neighbours and a few others all summer :D[/QUOTE]

    Such a good thread, love everybody's work especially TadhgMor, very very impressive harvest.
    I've been trying unsuccessfully to start a vegie patch that would give me something to make it worthwhile. Have no idea where I am going wrong, the patch only gets a few hours of direct sunlight a day.
    It has few struggling plants in there at the moment, thinking of removing everything and starting all over again trying to catch the spring season.
     
  8. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    If successful this year, I might try that next time.
     
  9. TadhgMor

    TadhgMor Well-Known Member

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  10. TadhgMor

    TadhgMor Well-Known Member

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    @IbnBattuta - Thanks :)

    We have large trees to our north that cast substantial shadows so our little garden only gets 5 hours of direct sun per day. Just make sure yours is in the spot that gets the most.

    Good soil is the key, so you either need to improve that standard Sydney soil a lot or build a raised bed and truck in a tonne or two of "vegge mix" wihch you can get from most landscape suppliers. Thats what we did.

    We tried planting direct into the yard first with marginal success even with bags of manure etc. it was just too much clay and other stuff. Typical suburban dusty, hard dirt.

    Now we have the raised bed it gets turned over once a year, new compost and manure added, and the cycle repeats :)

    Its never too late to plant veges. We often plant numerous times since things like beans get spent quickly so we always have a few in seed trays to take over.

    Tomatos can be grown anytime and some types, anywhere!

    If you want to get a head start I noticed Bunnings have trays of well established Diggers Heriloom tomatos at the moment.
     
  11. PandS

    PandS Well-Known Member

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    tomatoes fruit to plant size ratio is higher than average so it sucks up a lot of magnesium
    if you got fresh soil and never had tomatoes growing in it then it fine but after a while, your yield won't be as good
     
  12. TadhgMor

    TadhgMor Well-Known Member

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    And ginger is something we're about to try since the wife came back from shopping today complaining about ginger being $30 a kilo !!

    I cut a couple of pointy bits from the ginger she bought to start our crop.

    Pity it will take 8 months to harvest!
     
  13. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Honestly we stuck the ginger in a large DIY self watering pot plus potting mix, forgot to water it many times and never fertilised it. It basically looked after itself.

    As for long time to harvest we were excited to see the bury it in a bucket of sand after harvesting idea. Apparently it will last up to 12 months using this method including those periods when ginger is very expensive to buy. So although it takes 8 months till harvest in theory you will be able to keep the existing crop till next lot is available.

    We're also going to experiment with grating it, freezing it in an ice cube container then removing and wrapping each frozen cube in glad wrap to stay in the freezer till needed. Then thaw out and use as required.
     
  14. Redwing

    Redwing Well-Known Member

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  15. MWI

    MWI Well-Known Member

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    Gee I wish I was your neighbour....great garden and stock of harvest!
     
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  16. TadhgMor

    TadhgMor Well-Known Member

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    +1 this :)

    We already do this and not just with ginger. My wife makes up mixes of various herbs, garlic and ginger and puts them in the ice trays.

    You dont need to wrap them, just leave them in the trays. Get more from Kmart if you need them.

    Leaving them in the trays allows you to keep track of how many you have so you know when to make a new batch.

    We have 4 trays mid freezer that are nothing but mixes for dropping into to the meals she makes.
     
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  17. paulF

    paulF Well-Known Member

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    Finally got to it over the weekend! Planted tomatoes, beans, bell peppers, cucumbers and lettuce, spinach to follow today. Carrots or radish too if the space permits. The left side gets the most sun so planted the sun loving plants there. Found another spot too where I'll be growing strawberries too so fingers crossed Will get a nice produce this season

    IMG_20171008_174424.jpg IMG_20171007_125447.jpg IMG_20171007_131312.jpg
     
    Last edited: 9th Oct, 2017
  18. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Picture of the finished fruit tree tunnel to protect against fruit fly. Designed to be separated into three sections as different fruit trees (multi-planting of peaches, plums, apples) start to set fruit:
    IMG_0460.JPG

    I do love cherry tomatoes. Once you grow the first lot they're forever popping up by themselves all over the yard. They look after themselves and are So sweet.

    Also in the photo is a loaf of my wife's home made, amazingly crusty "no knead" bread. Tastes just like you buy at artisan bakeries. Rediculously easy to make but requires a very long ferment. And I mean it's NO knead. The long ferment does the kneading for you. Almost has a slight sour dough flavour to it again because of the long ferment:
    IMG_0461.JPG
     
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  19. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Yes. I misunderstood my wife. She freezes the produce then empties the ice blocks into a single dated plastic bag. Then reuse the IceCube container for more.
     
  20. TadhgMor

    TadhgMor Well-Known Member

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    Nice! it does sound like a sour dough, thats one thing we've been meaning to try but not got there yet.

    The wife used to be a prolific bread maker when the kids were still at home, but she's hasnt made any in years. Might have to convince her to start again. :)
     
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