Vegie Garden Tips
It’s very important when designing a vegetable garden, to make it functional and to also make it a nice area to be in.
We had a look at a lovely vegie garden complete with a picket fence to keep the rabbits and dogs out and the garden beds are laid out in rectangles with paths around them so you can pick your food without trampling in the garden. The area needs to look inviting because a vegie garden does take a bit of work so it’s nice to spend time with the family in a pleasant space.
One of the problems we faced with this particular garden was bad fertilisers, the plants were not happy at all. We scraped back the mulch which served to keep the weeds down and make the garden look pretty, added some organic pelleted chicken manure or cow manure to the soil (cow manure is a little gentler than chicken manure and is a great soil conditioner too), and dug it in. With leafy green vegetables you’d need to do this every few weeks to keep the soil nice and rich.
We then placed the ornamental mulch back over the soil. Don prefers to use alfalfa, loosen hay or pea straw mulch. Always make sure, after fertilising, to water it in well so the fertiliser doesn’t burn the plant roots.
Don likes to use the soft water nozzle ‘Water Breaker’ when watering so not to damage your plants and it usually comes with a long arm for watering the rear of the bed.
The only other problem Don faced with this garden was the gate around the vegie garden wasn’t wide enough to fit a wheel-barrow through, an absolute necessity.
