Hi :)
I thought I'd share the series of photos covering the transformation I did on the front garden of a unit I was renting for a couple of years, sadly I have just moved out. The first photo of the house is the state of the garden bed when I moved in over 2 years ago, there was some shit useless soil with a couple of dead rose bushes.
The following photo's are the 2nd summer season I grew in the bed I created. The first season was a horrific battle with earwigs and other pests. That first season was more about establishing a haven for all the good insects such as praying mantis's and ladybirds among other creatures that help control the bad insects. The first season was still reasonably productive but the 2nd season was by far the best, not only due to having less pests but also because I had grown lots of legumes over the winter months to help improve the soil.
Some of the ROI upfront to keep you interested :)
The state of the front of the unit when I moved in.
First step was to build up the bed and make it look nice :) Then filled it in with some quality vegetable mix soil from the local nursery. The watering system was installed just before the 2nd summer season.
Some of the seedlings.
This is where I should mention I have become a strong believer in companion planting, especially when try to cram a lot of plants into a relatively small area, do your research and make sure the plant are arranged in a way they will compliment each other. A lot of the flowering plants I use have a purpose, as do the herbs. Marigolds attract lady birds and Nasturtiums attract the cabbage moth to lay their eggs on it's leaves which means they don't lay on your other plants! The aroma of some herbs also deter pests. Tansy is another good flowering plant that helps pest control, but when it rains the flowers smell like shit!
This site is a great resource for companion planting - http://www.sgaonline.org.au/companion-planting/
Planted the seedlings and spread seeds of various other herbs, I prefer herbs grow on the open soil, rather than weeds, at least the herbs are useful :)
After a few weeks everything was starting to get some really nice growth happening. You can also see the wheelbarrow I brought for $5 at a garage sale. I punched holes through the bottom and lined it with plastic and it grows very juicy strawberry's for at least 6 months of the year :) YUM!
Everything is going nuts a few moths after planting. The beans are all climbing and begging for more to climb. It looks cluttered and like the tomatoes, capsicums and eggplants (the three main veg in the big section) would be getting shaded and blocked from the sun, but they were thriving, the beans were generally sticking to their vertical climb and even the marigolds were still flowering away in the undergrowth :)
Just a sample of one of the first harvests, lots of beans, I was picking 40 or 50 beans a day for a good few months. I had too many to know what to do with, even my neighbors couldn't keep up with the supply, so they were being dropped over to friends and family for weeks and weeks.
Once the tomatoes started ripening and the eggplants and capsicums got going, there was a site like the one below at least once a week for a good two months.
In the end I really was surprised by the volume of produce I got from such a small area. Careful planning and research regarding companion planting, but also trial and error to learn what grows well in a spot, instead of trying to grow the veg that is expensive at the supermarket, I just grow the ones that I know work in the spot that I have available. That way I can be sure of good results.
Next post I will show some of the many chili sauces I made using some of the produce from my garden, the yellow trinidad scorpions and the carolina reapers.