Weekend In The Garden – Ground Preparation

Spring has sprung in Australia and the ground temperature is slowly warming up. Last weekend and This past weekend I spent my free time preparing the well wintered vegetable garden block for planting. The first true Spring days seem to present themselves around the beginning of October providing the perfect conditions to prepare the garden bed for planting.

Some people prefer to begin preparing the ground for planting immediately after Winter – perhaps even during late winter. For those who use No-Dig gardening methods leaving the job a few extra weeks is a good thing.

We had some leftover cardboard boxes from recently moving into our current residence so I put these to use by placing over the old weeds and growth that had a full winter to develop. These weeds will become feed for the vegetable plants as they die under the cardboard. I placed semi-composted grass clippings over the cardboard to weigh the cardboard boxes down and provide another food source for the plants. I finish this by placing the sprinkler over this prepared bed to wet and soften the cardboard and settle everything in place before planting

A couple of old hay bales that had been waterlogged will be used later as mulch as the plants establish.

On one vegetable bed I prepared last weekend I cut holes in the cardboard to plant some Lettuce plants which had been started in the hothouse a couple of months ago. The holes need only be a couple of inches square to allow easy planting of the Seedlings. The smaller the hole the better to prevent weeds coming through.

Plastic 2 litre soft drink bottles cut in half make excellent protective surrounds while the plants are establishing. These can be removed when the plants have doubled or tripled in size or become too large for the cover. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough soft drink bottles so made some mini hothouses using bamboo stakes and clear plastic bread bags.

When using no dig garden methods I rarely feed newly planted seedlings. The semi-composted grass clippings when watered will leach nutrient into the plants and I believe this is ample feed until the plants establish. When feeding is required I use either liquid vermicast, sheep manure that has been soaked in water or a commercially available liquid Organic plant food. When watering leaf vegetables such as lettuce with liquid manures water the ground not the plant to avoid trapping liquid manure in the heart of the plant as it develops.

Next weekend I will begin preparing a bed in a similar No-Dig fashion to plant tomatoes which will be planted during the first week in November (traditionally) after frosts have finished.

Article written by Eric J. Smith

October 12, 2010  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Growing Organic Vegetables

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