Do you have a green thumb? Gotta tout my own horn here.

[[1ponders]]

My good friends know me as a fairly quiet unassuming sorta guy. :D But every now and then I've just gotta tout my own horn.

I started a project last March. I wanted to build a productive veggie garden that could supply regular produce for the kitchen and not take all the time in the world to setup and establish and maintain. My constraints; only 1000gal tank of water to use on the garden, I could only supply minimal external additives (I could buy in mulch but only use a little imported fertilizers) & no insecticide spraying. My positives; hey I teach horticulture. If anyone could do it i should be able to, you'd hope. Why do this. Well actually it was the starter project for a new course I'm hoping to run, a Certificate II in Horticulture; Suburban Production. Call it a bit of a passion of mine.

Ok the first photo is from March 8 2009 after I dids some hard yards creating simple terraces with scrap material I had lying around. This is not the sort of thing you would start with if you've never had a veggie garden before. But I wanted to show what could be done with a bit of nouse and not a huge investment of time. Generally a few hours on a weekend (very relaxing) and the odd afternoon splashing some water, light weeding (shouldn't be any to start with after correct preparation and vigilance :lol:) and generally just enjoying the garden.

The second photo is from today, one week shy of 12 months. There are still a couple of beds that still aren't up to full fertility and production but they will be there withing 2 month if not by the end of March.

I'm pretty chuffed actually. I will admit here though that I did supplement the beds initially to get them going, but most of it has been green manure cropping, worm tea and castings (gallons and gallons of tea), and mulch Mulch, Mulch.

Any other Veggie Garden Slaves out there. ;)

[jjjnettie]

:thumbsup: My thumb is more brown than green.
It's looking very lush. The luffa and passion fruit look like they're taking over.:lol: What a difference a year makes!!

[[1ponders]]

They have. 3 passion fruit and 5 (?) Luffa take care of the fence for me. Somewhere in there are watermelon and rockmellon, corn, silverbeet, Asparagus, banana, Madagascar Bean, Monstera, Tomato, strawberry, shallots, chives, parsely, pidgeon pea, cauliflower, brochini (?) and who knows what else. Its been fun

[multiweb]

:eyepop: Very nice. What a difference. I'll have to contract you to do the same in my backyard to hide the two ducks and the pen. ;) Don't bother about the fertilizer, I have plenty... daily. Just bring the vines and the plants. :lol:

[[1ponders]]

If you want to get a tropical garden going then you need to talk to my dad. He lives at Tully Heads

[h0ughy]

well done mate - anything picked yet?

[[1ponders]]

:lol: Yeah Dave, from about 6 weeks from the start its been producing. Snowpeas, beans, brochini, shallots, corn, tomato, asparagus, passionfruit, silverbeet, swiss chard, chinese greens, paw paw, lettuce, strawberries, and stuff I've probably forgotten, oh yes blue berries for a while (they didn't make it this year but maybe next. ;) )

[GrahamL]

Great stuff Paul .. I 've worked in agriculture for 20 years my erb garden though well mulched is a mess .. The worm farm got very popular with
the local birds recently when I left the lid off.. fantastic and dedicated effort .. enjoy the rewards :)

[[1ponders]]

I've also been getting the orchard going as well. 13 different trees with room for another 5 or 6, plus getting rid of some that i don't want.

[h0ughy]

can you grow some clear weather paul:D;) you seem to have the touch:thumbsup:

[Waxing_Gibbous]

P*** OFF! :)






PS- Come and do mine please.

[[1ponders]]

It would clear up if people in this area (and others) would stop buying astronomy gear. There has been a lot of astronomy equipment bought over the last few months, Australia wide it seems.

I haven't done anything in the garden for weeks. I want it to stop raining for a while (my tanks and creeks are full to bursting) and I want to get my hands dirty without getting wet. :)

[GrahamL]

lychee in there yet ?

[[1ponders]]

Not yet. I love lychee but they get a lot of mite here and i don't know if its worth it.....though I do like them. :D The fig tree is fruiting really well this year. I just wish the rain would go away for a few weeks. The figs are splitting about 1-2 days before they are ripe enough for picking (I like tree ripened fruit :D). And hopefully the Kurawong will leave the citrus alone this year

[[1ponders]]

There is a Loquat (its gotta go its a weed), couple of guava (may get rid of them if they bring in too many fruitfly), white mulberry (gotta get some black), two types of mandarin, Meyer Lemon I think (I didn't plant it), valencia orange, banana, Avodado & Pawpaw.

[GrahamL]

Yes erinose mite is a problem with them Paul, aside dimeatoate ..yuck .. wettable sulfer does give some measure of control applied with the emerging leaf flushes spring to mid summer .

Kwai mai pink / bosworth 3 does well down our way , some of the
northern cultivars don't produce well around se/qld so best to avoid them .

cheers

[lacad01]

Great looking garden Paul, looks like really good progress. I'm certainly not a green thumb but a few weeks ago wifey and I set up a very small patch of our yard to grow some vegies. So far seems to be coming along. We have a few Asian greens, corn, rhubarb and couple of others I can't remember but we've got nothing on your patch :) First shot was from late Jan and the other two I took a couple of days ago.

[DavidU]

I would love to do that Paul, but when you rent it's a no go.
I agree about way too much Astro gear being purchased lately,basically ensuring cloud Aust wide for months. LOL

[jjjnettie]

David, I rent.
I grow my vegies in brocolli boxes. Most successful have been celery, silverbeet, cherry tomatoes and of course the herb box. I've planted basil in the flower bed and snow peas grow up a home made trellis up against the water tank.
I asked permission to put in a larger trellis to grow a passionfruit vine and they were quite happy for me to do that.

[DavidU]

The size of Pauls vegie patch is about the size of my whole back yard.
My real estate agent said they want the back garden left just how it is thankyou.:lol:

[Jules76]

Same here with the renting. Would love to have my own garden. At every place I've rented, I've always loved to imagine what I would do with the garden if I owned the house. Ferns, Fruschia's, Orchid's, would love to create a tropical garden.

But my tropical garden wouldn't be complete without Carnivorous Plants. Always been fascinated by these plants which turn the food chain upside down by supplementing their nutritional requirements by catching and digesting insects. They have even been known to catch small lizards/frogs on ocassion!

But for now, I just have to be content with growing them in pots. I brought a Hanging Pitcher Plant a few months back which has rekindled my interest after so many years. It's absolutely loving the humidity at the moment with all this rain. :D

[astroron]

As I said when I was round your place last week,it looks fantastic:)
I should start one to help supplement the budget:rolleyes:

[jjjnettie]

You've got to do it Ron.
I'll pot up some seedlings for you.
Though don't you have access to the neighbours vegie patch?

[astroron]

Thanks JJ :thanx: he's back now for a while:(
I am fairly lazy when it comes to gardening, but when I start I can get things done:D

[middy]

Wow Julian, you can buy Monkey Cups in Brisbane? I love Monkey Cups. You see a lot of those in the rainforests of Borneo and while climbing Mt. Kinabalu. I'm like you, I find carniverous plants intriguing. I had a Venus Fly Trap once many years ago but it didn't last long.

P.S. Nice vegie patch too Paul :thumbsup:

[astroron]

Andrew,Monkey Cups where part of our survival training when I was in the army we used to drink out them after the rain, that is if there where no insects in them.
When did you climb Mt Kinabalu?

[AlexN]

Looks great Paul! See, this is the reason I have time for a million pets.. I don't grow all my own food.. Mind you, a few carnivorous plants wouldn't go astray... I had a Venus flytrap for quite a few years when I was living in Melbourne..

Its amazing how lush that garden has gotten in just 12 months!! Great job indeed..

My dad grows some of his own veges hydroponically.. The taste is a little different, although the plants look incredibly healthy... Hydro seems to be a matter of getting the TDS right for whatever plant you're growing... As I said though, the taste is a bit weird...

[middy]

I first attempted the climb back in 1999. I reached the Laban Rata resthouse and that night it absolutely poured with rain all night. There were gushing torrents of water coming down from the peak. The guide decided it was too dangerous to attempt the rest of the climb to the peak so that was as far as I got. :sadeyes:

My second attempt was supposed to be last year when I was over there for a wedding. This time I caught a flu in Singapore the week before and I hadn't got rid of it fully before we were due to climb. I made the decision not to even attempt the climb that time. :sadeyes:

I might get another chance early next year (third time lucky), as I have another wedding to go to in Malaysia again. Let's hope there is no rain and I am fit and healthy enough this time. :prey: I'm not getting any younger. :lol:

P.S. Did I say your vegie patch looks great Paul. :thumbsup:

[Ric]

Hi Paul, that's a great looking garden that you have going.

I'm still building my vege garden and orchard along the permaculture lines, It's taking a while but we're getting there.

A friend of mine is having a lot of success with biodynamics so I might have to look into that as well.

Cheers

[Liz]

Fantastic job Paul!! Naked woman still visible too :lol::lol:

Great job everyone else as well .... I think vegie gardens in the back yard are the way to go .... am renting too but could do one if wasnt so lazy ;)

[rogerg]

Vege garden looks good Paul, sounds like it's been very successful too :thumbsup: Sure helps being in tropical Queensland I bet :)

My wife & I have enjoyed having our vege garden running for 5 years now. It was originally her thing, but I've become more active in it in the last couple of years. It produces quite a bit, but nothing like yours would be able to in Queensland. Our struggle is through summer, when it's impossible to water the plants enough to keep them happy - day after day above 35. We haven't had rain for over 3 months. And then in winter nothing grows because temps are so low.

Each meal we count how many of our own herbs & vege's we've managed to include.

Our biggest success is usually with spinach, tomatoes, pumpkins, beetroot, broad beans, zucchini and capsicums. Have had good years of squash, potatoes and eggplant. Can't grow onions or garlic, and our pashionfruit has only given us 2 fruits after 5 years.

I'm trying to make our vege garden more self sustaining and cost less, but it's a struggle. We have a worm farm now, with the hope of producing better fertiliser than we were getting from our compost bin, which had issues with tree roots always getting in to it.

We have a small orchard too, just enjoyed 25 nectarines over the last few weeks. Have two oranges, two apples, two mandarins, one nectarine, one peach, one almond, one grapefruit, one lemon. Most of the trees are only just starting to produce useable quantities of fruit, as they've all been in the ground only 1-4 years old.

What type of pest are you keeping out with the fence and wood etc around the base of the fence? Looks like you have someone keen on your produce :) Our biggest pest is portuguese millipede's, munch all the seedlings and hard to control.

[[1ponders]]

Passionfruit? Damn weeds here. They are like this all over the fence. :D

Good move getting the worm compost. When fully operational with only one persons scraps going in there I collect around 6-8 litres of concentrate a week which makes around 25-30 litres of liquid fert.

Forget onion and garlic. Some have the knack, others don't. I don't. :)

The barricading at the bottom of the fence is to keep bandicoots out. Because I'm very liberal with my worm stuff they love to help me turn my veggie patch over looking for them. One night I forgot to shut the gate and the next morning the bed that I'd lovingly spread worm casting, compost and mulch over the previous afternoon looked like the surface of the moon. At least they confined themselves to the one bed. If they get in on just a normal night the whole veggie patch looks like a mine field where all the mines have gone off.

[Jules76]

Yeah picked up my "Monkey Cup" lol from my local Bunnings (Oxley) of all places. Wish I remembered what time of the year it was (which is important) because you won't find them any other time.

Would love to see them in the wild!

Fly Traps are overrated. :P I prefer to stick with Pitcher Plants thesedays.

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: nice Paul, its coming along great ;)

[TrevorW]

Tops Paul

I can make weeds grow

Macadamia's mate around $22 kg and each tree will produce around 65 kg a year