Saturday 18 October 2008

vegie patch update

Here's the front yard vegie patch filled with dirt, seeded, lightly mulched and with pea frames installed.



I'm behind on this - the pic is from almost two weeks ago and since then most of the seeds are up & we've put in the tomato seedlings.

Growing food must be so easy if you have water. It isn't raining in Melbourne at all. We don't have a rainwater tank because of the roof (although I doubt any but the largest tanks would have any water in them by this stage), and we can only water this from 6 to 8 on Wednesday and Sunday mornings. The rest of the time we're using every bit of grey water we can save. If we time the laundry right we can keep the bed reasonably moist all the time. Because this bed is very visible from the street I feel very self-conscious grey-watering it when mains watering isn't allowed. I'm thinking about getting a 'recycled water used here' sign for the garden but we do also use mains water so it's not really accurate. On the other hand, standing around on the front lawn a lot is not a bad way to get to know your neighbours a little bit better.

The grey water option is really fine for now and most of what's in here is peas, beans, cucmbers, pumpkins tomatoes etc, stuff where you don't eat the parts of the plant that come in direct contact with the water. But there's a section up the end of root vegies and leafy ones which at some point soon will need to be switched over to cleaner water - water from washing food in etc. I hope it will live.

Dreading the hot weather. When the seedlings are just a little bit bigger we'll mulch the bed deeply with a little clearance around each plant. Hopefully that'll help keep the roots damp & cool.

Elsewhere in the garden:

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

(at work - reading your blog at the i-desk when i should be helping people!)
Your vegie garden looks excellent.
Water (or lack of it) is always a worry for we gardeners. Our tank is 3000 litres and I think only half full at the moment. Hoping for a dreary cooler and wet summer... (frightfully un-Austrayan, I know)

Ann ODyne said...

Puddy Tat is just resting while the peas grow up those frames he wants to climb.

BwcaBrownie said...

"filled with dirt"?
na na na naaah - EARTH.
Earth grows food.

'dirt' is another thing altogether.

No doubt you are merely rattled by the thought of Colleen McCullough's earthy Mary Bennet novel.
I know I am.

lucy tartan said...

So rattled I almost bought a copy - but at the last minute I remembered that would mean I'd have to read it...

Anonymous said...

Oh you don't have to read it - just read Daphne Guinness's review in this Sat's SMH - the literary review version of an overweight 47 male wearing speedos two sizes too small.

Anonymous said...

" we can keep the bed reasonably moist all the time. Because this bed is very visible from the street I feel very self-conscious"

So would I - So would I.

Anonymous said...

I've got no vegies because getting up and hand watering between 6am and 8 am two mornings a week is stupid. If I have to get up that early I'm usually going somewhere and so can't water and if I'm not on the road then what normal owlish person gets up at 6am and hold a hose for two hours? Its made for those annoying persons who just love jumping out of bed at 5am full of beans - idiots.

Anyway even when I've made the effort its usually rained the night before my watering day but it will be hot and dry and windy when I can't water.

I'm looking into a drip system as it can be legally turned on and off automagically at midnight for a few hours twice a week.