News from the Square Foot Garden

The girls and I went for a walk to our plots today at the Community Garden and for the first time we found someone there who was visiting at the same time as us. We usually go out of hours just because it suits us better but we often wonder who owns all the other plots. Today a lovely older gentlemen riding his bike followed us in and Chloe started asking him questions straight away (of course!) and asked him which plot was his. He showed her both of his plots and exlained all the different things he had growing. By the time Chloe came back to me she was holding her hat and it was full of broad beans and dill. What a lovely fellow! So for dinner tonight we had broadbeans with our Apricot Chicken curry. Chloe had fun podding them with Ben. We also picked some Spinach for dinner tomorrow night and heaps of Rhubarb as it was starting to take over the garden bed. I offered some to our new friend but he refused. I think he just liked the idea of little kids eating the food he had grown.

 

Podding the Broad Beans

A little bowl of goodness

Rhubarb

I haven't decided what to do with the Rhubarb yet. I might make some Jam and then cook up the rest and freeze it.

Other than the rhubarb and Spinach though, some of my vegies are definitly not thriving. My tomato plants are doing ok but my celery is going yellow and my peas have died. My Rocket has gone to flower but they were a dodgy looking plant from the beginning, I got them for $1 reduced to clear. My lettuce is finally growing but my Beetroot hasn't grown at all. Im about to do a google search to see what is going wrong. I wonder if I have over fertilised or if they just aren't getting enough water....

Planting the Square Foot Garden - Spring

I decided this morning that today was the day to get planting. Chloe had Kinder this morning so I went and purchased all of the seedlings and seeds while I was one child down. I had my garden plan with me and pretty much stuck to it although I was able to pick up a few bargains of reduced to clear seedlings so I bought them as well, even though they weren't a part of the original plan. Im glad I did because when I actually measured the garden out it was bigger than I had planned for so I definitly had the space for a few add ons.

I also purchased a big triangular wooden trellis that expands and collapses. It fits really well in one of the plots and I'll use it for all of the climbing plants and the plants that need a bit of support. It was the perfect gardening afternoon, not too hot and not too cold. I packed the picnic blanket, drinks, should have packed snacks but didn't, hats and all the gardening tools. I also threw in a bag of Blood and Bone.

This plot has Tomato, Eggplant, Lettuce, Spinach, Silverbeet, Pumpkin and 4 Cucumber seeds. Lots more plants to be added tomorrow including Roma tomatoes and Rocket

I was wondering what I was getting myself into, trying to do both plots while keeping two kids occupied. One that desperatly wants to help and one that desperatly wants to explore, eat little things and climb. Luckily Elyssa had a big sleep in the stroller under a tree and Chloe used her little watering can to make mud up one end of the garden bed. She loved it but was covered in it!

Chloe also ammused herself by watering everyone elses gardens with her little watering can and by picking snails out of everyones gardens. I don't think anyone will mind....

It all went a bit pear shaped towards the end though, we had been there for two hours, Elyssa woke up grumpy and I didnt want to pick her up because I was covered in the mud Chloe had made. Chloe was being a pain because she wanted to go play at the park next door. I had a sore back from all of the planting and we were all hungry. We packed everything up, loaded up the car and Chloe had a play at the park. I put a blanket out on the ground and had a lie down while Elyssa sucked on my keys and climbed on me. I knew it was time to go when Chloe screamed 'wake up Jeff!'. The Wiggles have alot to answer for! Then Chloe lay down next to me and Elyssa climbed on top of both of us. I convinced Chloe to go home without a drama by reminding her there was yoghurt in the fridge at home and Daddy was home from work. We all had a big bath when we got home.

So far in this plot is 2 Chillis, 2 Capsicum, 8 Dwarf Bean plants, lots of Beetroot and the Rhubarb plant

The Dwarf Beans in their square foot. I marked every 30cm with an oil pastel

More Beetroot! This wasn't on the plan but I don't think the winter crop will last long :)

I moved the silverbeat from one plot to the other so that it was with the spinach

A grumpy, tired Elyssa

Overall I think the garden is looking fantastic, but I need to get quite a few more plants though. Its amazing how much fits in such a small space. Im going to head back tomorrow while Chloe is at daycare and finish it all off...ssshhhh! don't tell Chloe....

Planning the Spring square foot garden

See? I didnt kill it last year afterall

Usually when I do a vegie garden I just do it on a whim. I go to Bunnings, see what they have, decide what we like to eat and buy seedlings. I then randomly stick them in the ground and wait for them to grow. This method seems to work quite well although I do tend to go a long time with nothing to harvest while everything grows, then I end up with a heap of the same thing. Like the Beetroot and Leeks I planted over winter. I pulled out ten Leeks today. Im going to have to slice them up and freeze them. See them all in the right of the pic?

Over the past couple of weeks I have been looking into the square foot garden method of gardening. Basically the idea is you plant alot more different vegies, alot closer together than the pack recommends. You get fewer weeds because everything is so crowded. I really like this idea and it suits my two little plots because they don't have alot of room in them. I followed the advice on the 'My Square Foot Garden' blog (see side bar for button/link) and drew up a plan. I used the advice on the blog about how many plants to put in each square, depending on what type of plant it is. For example, a tomato plant needs 1 square foot (I decided to do 30cm squares, since we are metric) whereas you can put 9 dwarf bean plants in 1 square foot. I decided on what plants to buy based on the types of food we like to eat and the quantities of things we like to eat. Tomato and tomato products are very popular here so I planned to plant alot of them. I also considered space in my planning because it would be best if I didn't have too many over hanging plants as Im not sure how much space outside of my garden bed I am able to use. Below is the picture of my plan. See all the dirty finger prints from all the gardening?

After drawing up the plan Chloe and I went on a walk to the garden with our wheely bucket of garden tools (thats what Chloe calls it) and pulled out as many weeds as we could in preperation for planting the following weekend. She is very excited about the whole process which I love. She is definitly eating alot more veg now that she is helping to grow it. She LOVES the pickled Beetroot.

A Square Foot Garden

One of the things I have been looking forward to since I leased our two little garden plots last year at the community garden is Spring. I love Spring, it is my favourite season. I have waited along time for Spring to come this year...Winter did not treat us well and it kept going on and on and on. We have all been sick more than once and the two kids have faired the worst, as kids do. In the last week Spring has finally sprung a month late. We have been outside constantly soaking up all those good sun rays and I can already see an improvement in the energy and health of my oldest. Chloe has been sick almost constantly for over two months and it is like she has just been waiting for the sun to return so she can get out and about. Elyssa however is still quie sick with a possible case of the Measles which has become a chest and throat infection. I am confident we are at the end of it all though!

This week we returned to our garden plots for the first time in about a month and pulled out the last of the Winter harvest. About 7 Beetroot, 12 Leeks (although we only pulled out a few and left the rest in the ground until needed) and some Spinach. I was delighted and surprised to see the rhubarb plant starting to grow again because I was certain I had killed it by accident last summer. Im thinking about taking it out and putting it in a pot because it takes up heaps of space in our small plot, about half a bed. Chloe and I also got to work pulling all the weeds and snails out in preperation for putting more vegies in.

When we arrived home I started thinking about what I wanted to put back in for the Spring and I have decided to go way out and try to grow as much as we possibly can. My plan is to grow Tomato, Chilli and Capsicum plants on our upstairs balcony as well as Strawberries, Basil, Chives, parsley and Corriander. Downstairs in a garbage bin I am going to plant Potatoes and keep adding soil so they keep growing up and I end up with a bin full of potatoes. I have some organic potatoes that have sprouted in the pantry that I am going to use. I just need to cut them up and let them dry out a bit. Im also going to attempt to plant a pumpkin vine in our backyard which might not be very successful considering how small our little deck area is but Im willing to give it a go! I also want to get a compost bin going and maybe even plant a zucchini. I think our little yard may end up looking like a wild vegie patch though!

Over at the garden plots I am going to try and use the square foot garden method of planting. I have been researching it on the net and came across this site that explains it really well. Basically you divide your bed into 30cm squares and each plant or variety of plant takes up a square. I am going to plant lots of salad greens, peas, dwarf beans, lebanese cucumber, asparagus, beetroot, celery, radish, spring onion and zuchini. My ultimate aim is to grow enough that we should be able to eat mainly just from our garden without having to buy too many vegies from the supermarket. Im going to try and preserve alot of it so that we can keep eating our produce through out winter.

I also really want to get the kids involved. Chloe loves coming to the garden with me and exploring. She really loves pulling out the weeds and watering the plants. She also loves washing up the dirty veg in the sink when we get home which is fine with me! Its not my favourite job! We visited my parents place on the school holidays and came away with a huge bag of lemons to cook and preserve with. Chloe helped Nan get the Lemons off the top of the tree and was so excited that we were taking them home with us. She keeps coming up with all these wonderful and unusual things we can do with them, like lemon soup? and Lemon drink. She is carrying them around the house and trully thinks they are the best thing since sliced bread! To quieten her down the other day I made an Impossible pie with one of them that was trully the most beautiful and easy pie. Then when Ben arrived home from work he made up a small amount of lemon cordial with her. She loved the process so much (not the taste though!) that she has managed to talk him into doing it the last two nights as well. I don't mind, I think it tastes sooooo good and sooooo fresh! On the weekend I am going to make some lemon butter with Chloe, I know she will love that!! Tomorrow I am also going to pickle some beetroots for the first time. Ill post the recipe and pics tomorrow.

Vegie Garden

I thought today would be a good day to report back on how our little vegie plots are going. We have two plots at a nearby community garden. Chloe and I originally planted brocolli, cauliflower, spinach, beetroot and peas. The garden already had capsicum, potato and rhubarb in it growing. Since planting out the garden almost three months ago we have eaten alot of rhubarb, stewed with apples, we have also eaten capsicum, spinach and potato. We had stuffed capsicums for dinner last night (stuffed with chicken and rice) and we eat the stewed fruit with custard. Both the girls have been eating the spinach in different meals which I love. I have only pulled out a few potatoes so far and I mashed those up for Elyssa with some other veg. We are loving looking after our garden, we try and get there a couple of times a week. It is next to a park so Chloe usually rides her bike, we stop at the garden then we go over to the park. Ben came this morning for the first time. He isn't really into gardening!

The garden was recently over run with snails and cabbage moths but I have dealt with that now and the garden is starting to recover. The peas however where the first to go, they literally disapeared over night when they were just seedlings. I am trying to decide what else to plant in there place. Here are some pics..

Planting out the vegie garden

We had lots of fun! I think Chloe liked it best because it was an opportunity to run under a sprinkler. I turned the tap (tank water) up just enough that the water splashed just a little bit out of the garden bed and she had a great time. She also loved digging in the garden. We go back most days and water. I put the sprinkler on for 15 minutes, we go play at the park next door, then go back and move the sprinkler to the next garden plot. Its on a timer so we set it for another 15 minutes and off we go! Chloe likes to ride her bike to the park/garden.

My little garden patch!!

Well today I am very excited! I recieved a leaflet in the mail yesterday from our local community house saying they had garden plots available for people to rent for $10 a year. I rang first thing this morning because since moving into our new place I have started to miss having a backyard. We have a very small deck but thats it. I arranged to meet the couple that run the garden this afternoon and they showed me around. There were two plots available so I took both! A whole $20!! I can't wait to get started. There is a shed there that has all the gardening equipment and two big water tanks for watering. Chloe loved the garden too and Im also doing it for her. It gives us somewhere else to go each week and she can learn all about growing a vegie garden. Im going to take some of her gardening toys down there as well and leave them in a tub in the shed so that she can really be a part of it. Its also fenced in which I like because she can't get away when my back is turned!

The plots aren't huge but will do the job nicely. Each would be about 2m by 1m. There is already rhubarb growing in one plot along with potato. In the other plot there is capsicum growing. Im going to leave them all there so that Chloe can see some instant results. I think I am going to plant brocolli, cauliflower, french beans, spinach and leeks. I also have some tomato and strawberries growing on my deck so I might transplant them and see what happens!

So I am really excited and will blog about the entire project. I haven't taken pics yet but will next time I visit