Belles Veggie Garden

SOILS

 

Soil in the veggie garden

 

 

 

 

Because W.A. soils are basically just sand they lack nutrients, compost and they also tend to repel water. To overcome this water repelling it is important to use a soil wetting agent like Wetta Soil or Easy wet. This comes in a container that can also be used as a spray on applicator. All you have to do is attach the garden hose and spray it over the area you have prepared for your veggie bed. You need to do this about once a year, usually in spring.

When I started my first garden I had only been in the house a few weeks so I did not have the time to add much organic material to the soil. To kick things off I bought some cheap potting mix, used a spade to turn over the soil and added some granulated NPK fertilizer. I also dug a series of pits in areas not initially planted with vegetables and filled each pit with kitchen scraps before levelling the surface.

Over time I have added more and more organic material to the soil and eventually the veggie beds would have become the right consistency. As it turned out we had to move after about 18 months so the first garden was abandoned.

The garden beds shown on this page were nothing more than beach sand when I started.

Before each new planting we dig the veggie beds over to aerate them and add some extra slow release fertiliser.

 

Soil in the veggie garden

 

We have tried different methods in each of the garden beds with the latest bed being well prepared with a good organic fertiliser and mulch mix. The results did not show any better performance in this bed than in beds that had just sand and NPK granulated fertiliser.

We have now moved to a new property and decided to start off by trucking in some really good gardening soil. This cost quite a lot of money. We added compost and fertiliser and found that we may have just been wasting our money.

We put in a second veggie bed and added only cheap bags of animal manure (sheep and cow poo) and the results have been as good, if not better, than the beds with all the expensive soil.

Over all the results in the new garden have been patchy and no better than the garden where we had nothing but sand

 

Soil in the veggie garden

 

MAKING A CHEAP SHADE HOUSE

Items needed

Shade cloth (preferably already edged with eyelets) $30-40.
6 38mm x 38mm x1.5metre wooden posts 6 x $3.76
20 Metres 19mm black poly pipe $12
Packet of large strong zip ties $7
Packet of screws $6

Tools needed

Electric Drill
Screw driver
Hammer
Stanley knife (box cutter)

Method

Measure out the post placement using the shade cloth as a guide.
Hammer the posts into the ground until at least 500mm is buried.
Cut three lengths of poly pipe to use as arches from one post to another. Make the arches low as the poly pipe is not very strong.
Drill three holes in each upright post and corresponding holes in the ends of the poly pipe.
Screw the poly pipe in to place.
Cut two more lengths of poly pipe to run horizontally along the tops of the posts and affix using zip ties.
Cover the poly tube arches with shade cloth (30% is probably best) and fix with zip ties.
To give more shade simply attach shade cloth to the sides if required.

 

 

A cheap DIY shade house A cheap DIY shade house A cheap DIY shade house A cheap DIY shade house A cheap DIY shade house