The weekend was a busy one but some important work was done.
I have 4 vegetable garden beds that I am trying to rotate my crops through. 2 of the beds are close to the house are about 1.5 by 4m and are raised to a height of 40 cm and we have filled them with good soil and lots of organic matter. The other 2 beds are out the back and used to be in the what was a paddock till we extended the yard, they are both about 3 x 3 m.
I had planted a green manure crop in one of the beds and it all needed to be dug in. I had planted barley but you would have thought that I had mixed it 1 to 1 with dandelions. Thankfully they were young and fleshy so they dug in well but I will have to wait and see if they try and grow again.
After digging all the green manure in I covered the bed in a thick layer of sugar cane mulch to keep the weeds out more so that the moisture in as our soil is quite wet at the moment. I plan on growing cucumbers (Mini White and Lebanese), Zucchini (Tri Colour), Squash (Jaune Et Verte) and Watermelon (Golden Midget). I am going to install some climbing frames for the cucumbers and will just let the rest ramble along the ground outside of the bed where there is plenty of room.
Right out the front of our house next to the garage we had this space where until now we had all of the sugar cane bales stacked and covered in a blue tarp. We lets face it it was not the best look for the front entry of a house. So my handy Hubby has put up some sides and made another garden bed for me. This one is only about 1.5 x1.5 but it faces west so gets a lot of heat. I plan on using this one for capsicums and I have no doubt they will be far more attractive that a bright blue tarp.
Hubby also tackled a few other jobs but more about that tomorrow.
It all looks so great! Where do you get your sugar cane mulch from? I haven't come across that before, but it makes sense. I tend to use pea and lucerne straw because it's what I know and it's readily available at garden centres.
ReplyDeleteSide note: (and this is just the editor in me who can't help herself) "preperation" should be spelt "preparation". I normally wouldn't say anything, but seeing as it's in the title of your post, I thought you might want to know.
Thanks Emma, spelling is not my strong suit. Sugar cane mulch is really commen where I come from but it does not add a huge amunt of nutrients to the soil. Pea and lucerne are much better for that.
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