Beans

Frost beans - looking plumper, larger and shinier than the original beans I received due to seed saving practices.

This year I am focusing my efforts on various bean types. Mainly to get used to how they grow, build up sufficient quantities for larger crops in the future and to keep producing quality stock. I also like how they grow and the various shapes and colours.

I'm growing bush beans and climbing beans along with some snow peas and Dutch Purple Podded peas which are nearly as tall as me at 6 foot.

 

Container Gardening

This is the first of a number of related posts where I am recording some of the techniques and ideas I have used in my own garden.

People are amazed at the 'intensive' nature of our garden. That is, at this time of the year through to the beginning of winter it is crowded with plants at various stages of their cycles. One of the main ways I manage this is with container gardening.

By growing our edibles in containers I have managed to solve several of our 'problems'.

1. Through our mainly 'natural' diet we generate a lot of kitchen waste. The garden also creates a huge amount of green material that we cycle back through our system. Initially I set about digging much of this straight into the garden beds themselves. The chooks also got a good look in at selected stuff also. After a while I had the garden planted out and had nowhere to bury the ever-expanding green waste and kitchen scraps. This is when the garden evolved to its current container garden state. As I explain to people, think of these containers as mini worm farms that just happen to be planted out with vegetables, because that is basically what they are.
2. I am well aware that many home gardeners prefer to rip up any bolting plants and start a new garden rather than allow plants to complete their cycle and collect the seeds for future crops. By growing in containers it permits us to retain some of our selected plants and enable them to go to seed so we have seed for the future with the traits we are seeking for our garden and our use. It doesn't tie up extra planting area and if the plant needs moving I can easily pick it up and move it to another spot in the garden where it is out of the way and can complete its cycle to produce seed.
3. Water preservation and use is important where we live. I will concede that containers tend to use more water than the plants would require if planted in the earth, however in our situation we use our greywater which enables me to keep much of the garden (mainly the containers) well watered. I can also tailor the water usage per container if some plants are requiring more than others. This is part of the reason that small gardens like this are able to be so intensively used - we can spend more time observing the intimacies of what is occurring in the garden. Over time, the water retention of the containers is increased as the soil improves. There is very little tilling that occurs. It is more likely that a layer of compost will be added to the container to build up the level again and plant out seeds or seedlings into.
4. Nutrients is better utilised and recycled. Whatever nutrients I add to the containers isn't easily flushed away, so it is more likely to be present and available when the plants have use for it. Periodically I may tip the soil out into another container to bulk up the soil a bit and start over with more scraps and dirt and a new family of compost worms.
5. Container gardens leave smaller spaces bare. Sometimes between crops I will have a container left in fallow for a short time. Usually this is something like one or two containers among many, so rather than having a large area of ground left bare there may be only a couple of containers scattered amongst others. Visually, this a appealing and pleasing to the eye and makes the garden at joy to look at most times of the year in our climate. Periodically there may be times at the turn of the seasons when there are more containers starting over again, but usually they are not far from making themselves available for seedlings. This brings me to the next point.
6. As with other intensive gardening methods I will also start seedlings in small pots or trays and then plant them out into the containers when ready. If this is managed in good time then there isn't much of a gap between an empty container and a productive one.
7. Containers can be moved to different spots in the garden according to the needs of the plants it holds. I have banana plants in some containers that are developing and I can move these into sunny parts of the garden depending on the time of year to maximise their exposure to the sun and warmth. This is important for our climate because although it is temperate, some plants in our garden are sub-tropical and do benefit from a bit of special care.
8. Our Babaco (paw paw hybrid) are planted into large containers which they prefer as they don't like to be too wet. So containers are ideal for such plants that require good drainage.

Tomatoes, lettuce and zucchini in various spots.

November Update 2013

The last five months have kept us busy and distracted. So I have not posted any updates. Here is the latest.

We have taken on a big project which will eventually involve us re-locating and has had us taking into consideration the type of house we want to live in and the form and function of the garden. More on this later.

For now, the garden has been planted out since August with tomatoes, sunflowers, beans, lettuce, pumpkins, corn and much more. This is mainly so that I can get a large variety of fresh, new seed to see me through the next few years gardens and to increase the seed stock we have.

Another consideration is for our growing family. Now standing at two adults, an inquisitive toddler - not quite two and a small, loud newborn as of early November. There is plenty of salad greens growing for the summer to supplement our food intake.

I have had to really stack a lot of things into the garden in order to accommodate the various 'demands' on the garden. Some of these are:

• Seed saving and growing out plants for new, viable seeds or greater seed supply
• Growing plants for feeding the family
• Propagating plants for getting ready to establish for the relocation
• Seedling raising for planting out in the Seed Sanctuary at the Community Garden
• Trialing new seeds to test for suitability and use. ie. Chia, buckwheat, chickpea, linseed (Some of these are being trialled for non-edible uses. For example insect attracting capabilites.)

More on this later also. In the meantime I will be logging posts that record some of the techniques I have found to be successful in the way that we use our garden.

Backyard Update July 2013

 Its been a while between posts. So many things to do and the garden was left to its own devices. The choko vines took over the backyard for a while and gave an abundance of fruit. Yesterday I got to spend a little bit of time out in the garden and decided to bandicoot around for some sweet potatoes. I was happy to find the above harvest which we had roasted for dinner and taste tested with a visiting friend.

This little jungle of tomatoes and cape gooseberries has been growing steadily through the cold winter temperatures and making the most of the bright sunny days we have been having. We have had a small harvest of cherry tomatoes over the last week. You can also see a few bean pods that are left to dry. These were planted in early autumn and gave a small harvest, most of which I have left for seed saving.

Our chooks began laying again about a month ago and are gifting us with an egg or two a day. The koi are growing well and looking really nice in their dark pond surroundings. We have been taking a small helping of salad greens from the garden each day. Enough to garnish or enhance a curry or a lunch salad.

Open Garden (2012)

September just flew past and it took October with it. November had come and our Open Garden was fast approaching. Before I knew it the day had arrived and the garden had actually conspired to make a little show of itself.

After only two years in the garden the banana has produced an inflorescence and is now gradually revealing its small fruit. The Goji Berry has fruit, the ever-productive Babaco had forming fruit to show off and a multitude of plants were in various stages of flowering or setting seed. The weather has been kind with a light afternoon sprinkle on Friday and over-cast to sunny the rest of the time. After Friday afternoons visitors, Saturday was a steady stream of folks coming down into the garden for a peak.

I was not sure exactly how the garden would be received but everyone showed either surprise, delight or amazement on various levels which are reactions I will cherish.

The main reaction from people seemed to be something along the lines of:

• There is so much stuff growing in such a small area!
• Look at how packed it is and why aren't I doing this too?
• I never thought of growing that here!
• I never thought of growing it that way!
• What an amazing little garden.

In the conversations with people there was also a general consensus that it is probably better to do something with the space you have rather than thinking more land is better. I too had a dream in my teens to one day have a large area of land to grow fruit and veges and plant areas of native vegetation for wildlife. I still think the latter reason is a good one, but as far as land size I've looked at different sizes and I keep settling on less might be more appropriate - at least for the near future and for household means. The main reason - and others I spoke to agreed completely - is that more land can be a lot of work and a whole lot more intimidating and overwhelming when it comes to maintaining a garden, especially of edibles.

I can count the number of gardeners on one hand that I know personally that have reasonably sized land areas and keep them maintained and producing quite well.