Vegetable Garden.... better late than never.

Well this year we have extended. Last year the garden was a disaster but this year I am determined to keep it watered and fed and get some productive food out of it.

Because our ground is so poor I'm trying the Ruth Stout No-dig gardening system. I've killed the grass with round up because it's couch and would be all through the garden otherwise. Then we built the new part of the garden right on top of the lawn. This appeals to the lazy person in me because I'm not strong enough to dig myself but I'm also hoping that we are going to get a good garden going.
Here is info on the whole no dig idea: No Dig Gardening

We got up at 6am to lay out the garden.  Usually you don't have to water the layers but because it's so dry here it's necessary, for that reason 6am Sunday was when we did it.

Cardboard layer:

Then pea straw

Cow Poo. 12 bags of it!

Compost on some areas, and another layer on other areas.  Then sawdust paths

And planting.

 

So far we have lettuce, beetroot, tomatoes, zucchinis, beans, capsicum, chillies and the garlic and sage that were there before we started.  I've also started a compost pile in one area,  I hope this will work well as lack of sun means our old compost pile takes a very, very long time to break down!

We are allowed to water Wednesdays and Sundays between 6 and 8 am and 8 and 10pm.  So hopefully I can keep it alive.  Last year the garden died because I felt dreadfully guilty about watering when we were in drought.  Then they brought out this new initiative "Target 155."   The idea is that you should aim to use no more than 155 litres of water per person per day.  Our average sits between 69 and 75 per day, clearly we are fine to do a little watering!  The average over Melbourne is generally about 155 when the weather is cold and considerably higher when it's hot.  Just about everyone I know uses substantially less that so someone is using a lot of water!  I no longer feel guilty for watering the veges.