New Brassica Garden Bed

Through the middle of summer I was trying to add a new garden bed.  The overall design of the garden is turning out fairly organically - where there is a little space available, I will try to grow veges in them.  By growing things in that space I also gradually clawback the grass that surrounds that space and in turn grow the size of the garden overall.

One garden bed I was wanting to create was some space for some brassica - specifically Brussels Sprouts.  It is again surrounded by strawberries until I get the space for a specific strawberry patch.  The inside space had some spent compost as a base which I then covered with lawn clippings and a layer of manure.

Then I continued to layer grass clippings and straw with manure and topped it off with a layer of straw.

Finally I added some bagged compost over the straw to plant out some Beetroot, Brussels Sprouts and mixed lettuce.  The seedlings then start to establish themselves in the compost as the straw and manure breaks down.

The level of the garden then allows for the strawberries to send runners into the garden bed and establish themselves.  After these get established, I'll transfer to the proper strawberry bed - at least once I've built one!

The Berry Field

Ok, so it mightn't be a field as such, but since we're heading into Spring I thought that it would be a good time to tidy up our raspberry patch.

I bought our first raspberry (Heritage) around 2 years ago, and keep getting good harvests from it. It started to run in the first year and I was fortunate to be able to propagate a second plant from one of the runners. The patch that we had these plants in though was starting to get a little overgrown.

To tidy it up a little, I thought it would be good in a raised garden bed. Our soil is a heavy clay and raspberries really prefer a deep rich soil. The raised bed allows for a no-dig or lasagna type garden, and by using the besser blocks I can grow strawberries around the outside. Now we shouldn't have any issues with berries this summer!

To start the no-dig garden, you place a layer of newspaper down. This will stop most weeds growing into the bed. While I'm intending to remove the turf because it is Kikuyu it is near impossible to completely remove. The newspaper makes one extra barrier to at least help control it a little. I've placed the besser blocks on the newspaper simply to stop the grass growing into where the strawberries will be planted.

Next up is a layer of mulch to help with drainage and a little aeration. I'd trimmed back some hedges this afternoon so they were conscripted in for this. I also added a layer of fresh chicken manure and charcoal. The charcoal had been soaked in some worm castings and should help with the delivery of nutrients to the garden.

At this point you then start alternating straw and manure in layers of around 10cms/4in. Because of the size of my bed, I probably went a bit smaller but I've not had any issues in previous years with this.

I topped it off with a layer of mushroom compost to plant the raspberries into (rich soil, but not too rich like the raw manure would be), and a layer of pea straw as a mulch to keep it all moist. The strawberries around the outside were simply planted in potting mix.
Last year we did reasonably well with our raspberries, although lost a few (and almost all our strawberries) to birds. With the rich soil and a bit of netting for protection, we should have a bumper harvest this summer!

Oh yes, oh yes, It's Springtime!

So Spring has sprung in a big way over the last few weeks! Winter has officially left, and the plants and chickens have taken their cue and started to get more productive.

Firstly, our Rhode Island Red chickens are almost a year old and up until two weeks ago they hadn't laid a single egg between them. With the warming of the weather, between the two RIRs and two Australorps we are getting up to three eggs a day. It's an awesome feeling to be getting more eggs than we can eat at the moment!

Secondly, the plants are definitely reacting to the warm weather too. The deciduous ornamental trees (such as our Liquid Amber) are starting to shoot again, along with the stone fruit trees. I think there are about 3 flowers on the Cherry trees, not quite a bumper harvest, but it's good to see they're establishing themselves.

Today I'd planned to do a fair bit of work, but the weather's conspired against me and we're in for rain most of the weekend. In between the showers, I've been pottering a little. My main aim this weekend was to build a small retaining wall for one of my raised garden beds. Lately they've been getting "attacked" by some of the local wild birds chasing bugs and worms. I find though that the birds prefer to dig at the base of the garden beds rather than from the top. Hopefully just a single layer of 20cm/8in besser blocks will help stop them digging as much.


This is the first garden bed I'm working on. The garden slopes a little, so I will backfill with dirt on the right side of the photo, but from the house you'll be able to see the blocks (rather than just the garden bed). To make it a little more interesting though, the blocks also provide a great planting space for other small plants, so this one will have a border of strawberries. The strawberries will also benefit from a sort of micro-climate in that the blocks will warm up in the sunshine, as well as having them elevated off the ground. We lost quite a few last year to rotting on the ground.

After filling the holes with potting mix, I then transplanted and divided a number of plants from elsewhere in the garden. When we moved in last year, I really just put plants where ever we had room at the time, now that we're getting more established, I'm finding more permanent places for them.

The remaining plants in the garden bed are a row of Savoy Cabbages, Garlic and Cauliflowers. There were more cabbages and cauli's, but the birds destroyed a few searching for worms. The garlic was simply some left over shop-bought garlic from the fridge - it's really just an experiment to see how it goes.

There's still a bit of work left to do, but I'm anticipating it will be a great summer harvest!

Growing the Strawberry Collection

As we prepare for our move to our new home, one thing that I'd love to grow more of are strawberries. Our kids go crazy for them, and can easily eat around 200grams (1/2 pound) a day if allowed. While I've grown a few plants in our current home, these don't provide much of a harvest. In keeping with the simple/affordable living focus of this blog, I've decided to grow more plants off the runners. As a result, we now have almost 30 plants.

I started with the original plants in small pots, and then lined up window boxes for the runners to grow into. These were filled with premium potting mix to encourage the runners to grow roots quickly. The runners are the reddish/brownish lengths of plant between the plants in the photo below.The first step is to simply cut the runners off. While you could do this a lot earlier than I have, leaving them a bit longer allows the roots to establish quite well. Otherwise, you may find that the plant doesn't survive.


Next you lift the individual plants out. In this case I'm using some old pots that I've still got around, but some other plants I've transplanted this year I've used milk pots. These pots I'm using this time around aren't ideal, but I figure that this is temporary until I can establish a permanent strawberry bed in our new home.
With the ten plants that I replanted today, I've now got 27 plants (off the initial 3). I'm pretty happy with that many (great starting point for next summer, although some plants look like they're fruiting already), but I'll probably buy a few more plants next summer to work as replacement stock and keep that supply going! From a budget perspective, the plants cost around $2 each initially, so now my unit cost is down to around 25c!