"Trish Brown" wrote in message
node...
0tterbot wrote:


you'll work it out over the next 50 years g!

Fnf! I've not long achieved the first fifty, so go easy, eh? ;-D

the best gardeners are the old farts who've been doing it forever - it's
just the way it is ;-)

winter spinach, spring onions, some other types of winter onions
(actually, if you plant onions for sowing in winter into punnets now
(today), they can be something to put in shortly, when they are big
enough), and several types of peas i believe should be ok in newcastle to
go in in winter. mizuna in punnets now! mizuna will NOT let you down &
can be sown all year. and check what else in your new veggie books ;-)
well-progressed seedlings of lettuce & stuff maybe, if you want to get
seedlings at the nursery.
you probably can't plant much but you can take the opportunity to plan
for spring. :-)

Hmmm... I like the sound of spinach!

i like the taste of it, too!! "medina" is one you can plant all winter long
& is pretty quick to grow.

My unnatural daughter wants
brussels sprouts (bleargh!)

don't worry - my son likes them too(!). it's bizarre. notwithstanding that,
i've found them just too difficult (couldn't get them to make proper heads -
they were just weird leafy little things)so i've ditched the idea for now.
anyway, it's far too late in the season. plant b-sprout seeds in punnets
towards the end of next summer ;-)

And sadly, I'm allergic to onions and most
of their family. Leeks, I can just keep down, but even the smell of onions
cooking on a barbie or of garlic in anything - watch out! Part of the fun
of this is going to be trying the new varieties of veggies we can grow.

was just checking my digger's planting chart; also included for planting
"any time" are pak choy (! not sure about that), cabbage (not ALL kinds, i'm
sure, but i grow red drumhead all year), radishes, rocket, tatsoi (wtf is
that?); and some others which are ok to plant now in a warm area include
broad beans (those are good - no effort, big crops!), various carrots, kale
(which is pretty good value, i must say) and so forth. bugger it, get a
digger's planting chart - they're good!

It's an access issue. I just can't get down to ground level to maintain
the garden, so I've saved up for this one. 60cm is a good height for me
and will work in a number of ways. For example: we have a bull terrier who
just loves the smell and feel of freshly turned soil. But she can't jump,
so she won't be visiting the caulies in my garden. I reckon I can fill it
at least half-way with ordinary soil dug from another patch on our block
and then pay for the good gear to go at the top. Our soil is good: nice
dark and loamy with lots of organic matter and billions of worms. I've got
violets and camellias rioting away out the front, but sadly I don't want
my veggies there, I want them out the back.

i see! using your own soil as well is a good idea i reckon (even if not so
good, it does become so). and cheaper.


for drainage, you shouldn't need to allow for the entire length of the
plants' roots, but rather, a decent amount at the top so some or most of
the plants' roots can still breathe when weather is wet. most veg have
lots of near-to-surface roots to breathe with. i'm not sure if i'd use
aggregate underneath or not; the plants will have roots going down into
the original soil, too, & not sure what pebbles would achieve in terms of
drainage when you think about it that way.

Our local council generously tar-sealed the lane behind our place. Ever
since, the water drains down into our block and the neighboring ones
instead of off into the culvert on the opposite side of the lane. Winter
is a real headache with significant quantities of backyard soil washing
down to my back step and even the grass drowns until the rain dries up
toward spring!

you might need to put in some drainage trenches. nobody wants to hear that,
but even so...

was also thinking it might be worthwhile to break up the ground under the
new bed with a mattock.

I'd be *really* grateful for any feedback you can offer and hope
this might prompt a bit of a discussion on the ways in which others have
started their gardens.

any time i go a-gardening i just jump into it (none of your "planning"
for spring for me! ;-) so i guess that's how my garden started. :-)

Hmm... I've tried that in the past, but never had this #(%&$^@$# drainage
problem before. What's worse is, every rose bush I've tried to grow has
first succumbed to vile phungus diseases and then drowned (glub glub glub)
in its first winter. If I can get the veggies to happen, next will be a
flower garden!

how big will the garden be?
kylie
Starting off at 2m by 1m with the option to branch out if (when) things
succeed. I've no idea how things crop or even how much of stuff my lot
will eat, once I've grown it. It's going to be great fun finding out, I
think. Also, my daughter is a Scout and has been *longing* to earn her
Agriculture badge by starting a garden. Brussels sprouts, she wants!
Eurgh! =:-0

i can promise you you're going to find 2x1m just too small pretty quickly
g! although with a high, nutritious bed you can plant closely & that will
help. and anyway, all the experts say to take it steady so you don't
overwhelm yourself. damn experts! ;-)
have fun. i just love veggie gardening, exasperating though it can sometimes
be.
kylie