Automatic vegetable gardening.

I recently prepared a 'no dig garden' so that I wouldn't have to dig, obviously.   I was, however planning on planting it out.  

But look!  It planted itself!  

A large part of it is full of potatoes that I obviously didn't dig up properly last year.  How about that for automatic gardening.  

This garden is inside a large netted cube and I really wanted to use it to plant veggies at risk of bird attack.  So, I did pull some potatoes out to make room for other things but then I mounded up some soil and lots of straw.  I hope they are productive so that they warrant the space they take up.  That gap in the middle is going to be a patch of sweet corn.  Apparently it goes well with tatties.

I have grown lots of tomatoes from seed this year but they are still small and may take a while to get going.  So I brought two larger seedlings.  Both are early fruiters.  This one is a 'Burke's Backyard, italian tomato'.  If you look closely you can see tiny basil and marigolds too.  Both are great companion plants for tomatoes.

I watered them in with Charlie Carp.  This is a liquid fertilizer made from European Carp which are an introduced pest in our waterways in Australia.  I like the idea of a pest becoming something useful.

If you are interested in finding out more about companion planting there is a link in my sidebar to a good site. 

Little baby carrots!

For the record

Today I planted:

• 1 Burke's Backyard Italian Tomato
• 6 Grosse Lisse tomatoes (grown from seed)
• 6 Heirloom tomatoes (mixed - grown from Diggers seeds)
• 6 Mortgage Buster tomatoes (grown from seed)
• 6 Big Momma Capsicums (green/red)
• 1 Chocolate Capsicum (Small fruit/Diggers)
• 1 Perennial Basil (seedling - never heard of that one before)
• 2 Black zucchini seedlings to replace 2 eaten by snails (grrr)
• Basil and marigolds grown from seed.

This is a lot of tomatoes but I have the space.  I plan to do a lot of sauce making and I want to have a go at sun drying some.  If you cut them in quarters, drizzle with olive oil and cook them in the oven until they slump, they freeze well and make a good replacement for canned tomatoes.  And of course, I will be giving lots away to my neighbours and non-gardening relatives.

Preparations for the new tenants

Ah!  More wonderful Spring weather.  I am still holding off on planting out but I have been working on the veggie patch so it will be ready for when I do.

First was the pea straw, then the grass clippings and now the cow manure.  Next year I hope to get enough manure in Autumn and Winter to age so that I won't have to buy these bags.  I used four today.

This what it looked like after I applied it. 

And this is what it looked like after the chooks had had a good scratch...all mixed up!

Then I hung an old gate I had, using twine from the pea straw bales...ready for some climbing beans.

The seedlings are growing well so I will be able to move them into their new quarters very soon.

I also planted some eggplant, marigold, petunia and cosmos seeds for transplanting later.

The next layer

I put a layer of lawn clippings on top of the pea straw in my vegetable garden.  Fresh grass clippings often form a crust on top and then get stinky underneath so don't make very good mulch unless spread very thinly.  I have laid a thick layer but I don't think there will be a problem because:

•  the straw underneath will allow air flow and 
•  the chooks will have endless hours of joy scratching and mixing it.

I will buy some bags of animal manure and add it to the mix and when I plant I will plant into compost.