In the Beginning...

11th July



**I thought I'd start this thread for two reasons. The first being that it would be great for people living within roughly the same zone to be able to swap gardening ideas, and secondly, I will be posting my gardening experiences as they happen, so (hopefully) newbies to self sufficiency can get an idea on how to start.

So here goes.....

My garden so far:

I live on (very roughly) 500 sqm. It's not a lot, but I am always so surprised at how much you can acually fit into a garden of this size. This is a list of my edible plants so far:

Herb Garden - I won't list all my herbs here as there are way too many, I have a variety of medicinal and culinary herbs here in a spot measuring roughly 3m x 5m x 4m.

Fruit etc -

Golden Delicious apple
Peach
Josephine pear
Nectarine
Rose Apple
2 x blueberry
Josterberry
3 x orange
Stellar Cherry
Ice Cream Bean Tree
various berry canes including Rasberry and blackberry (both cultivated and wild) strawberries where ever I can fit them
Nellie Kelly passionfruit
2 x Kiwi Vines (1 male, 1 Female)
Chilean Guava
Grape Vine (new cutting)
Hops
Tea Camellia

Vegies -

so far 3 vegie patches, one productive, one the chooks have been in for a year (resting for a few weeks and then to be planted out) and the new patch that the chooks have been moved to to clear for us.

pea teepee and peas growing up the fence

Hot house - This is our newest addition as of this weekend. This is to give all those vegies that get a rough deal in Melbourne because it's not warm enough for long enough. Melons, cucumbers, gourds, etc have just been started in here

*My garden plans -

July is the time I tidy up the yard and get things moved, dug etc while the ground is soft and plants are dormant. I have started my Summer seeds off in the hothouse (perhaps too early, but it's all still an experiment), I will plant another lot in about 4 weeks (according to planting times on my moon planting calender). Next week I will be planting my potatoes into the new vegie garden in a pile of compost. I will also be scattering carrot seeds and planting onion, shallot and leek seedlings.

*What to plant from seed in July -

Carrots Onions Silverbeet Broccoli Lettuce Mustard Broad beans Peas Cress Swede Turnip Tubers - Rhubarb, Jeruselum (sp?) artichokes, Asparagus, potatoes Hot house plantings - Tomatoes Pumpkin Cucumber Zucchini Melons Corn Basil Eggplant Gourds Capsicum

*General garden Jobs - Pruning Fertilising Establishing garden beds

*Poultry I would never have a vegie garden without chooks now. They have reduced our rubbish by half. They eat meat scraps, vegie scraps, weevil infested food and stale stuff. They are quite good at getting rid of couch grass (our major problem in the garden), and they dig and fertilise and prepare garden beds for us. Not to mention the eggs and the entertainment.