Creating a vegetable patch
There’s nothing like the taste of fresh vegetables, just pulled from the earth or picked from the vine. A vegetable patch gives you the convenience of having instant produce to hand, and, by growing your own, you can minimise or avoid the use of pesticides or manufactured fertilisers.That’s good for your health and good for the environment. And if you plan carefully, it’s possible to have fresh vegetables all year.
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Vegie patch know-how
1. Don’t make your first vegetable patch too big. Start on a small scale, and if you find you need more space, you can extend the area later.
2. Choose disease- resistant varieties that will grow well in your climate or situation.
3. For a continuous supply of vegetables, make small, successive sowings. Use seeds or advanced seedlings rather than buy entire punnets that may have more plants than you need.
4. Use a mulch between the rows and between individual plants to sup- press weed growth. If any weeds do appear, pull them up straight away.
5. Provide shade for plantings made in summer with a tempo- rary shadecloth screen, which you can then remove as the plants become established.
6. Give the growing crops a quick check every day. All you need is 5 minutes for watering, harvesting any crops and keeping an eye out for pests and diseases.
7. Accept some damage to leaves and other parts of the plant that you won’t eat rather than use chemicals to control pests.Try companion planting as your first line of defence. If you need extra help, consider using biological controls or introduce some beneficial insects.
8. Water your vegetable garden in the early morning or evening, never in the heat of the day as the moisture will be lost through evaporation.
9. To maximise the use of nutrients and to prevent the build-up of pests and diseases, avoid growing members of the same vegetable family in the same part of your garden in successive sea- sons. For instance, don’t grow broccoli after a crop of cabbage – they are both members of the brassica family.
10. Plant flowering ornamentals such as lavender among vegetables to attract pollinating insects. Planting sweet peas next to runner beans will encourage early pollination of beans.
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3 of 6 Comments |
| RD Editor on 23 April 2012 ,10:33 We publish a book called Grow Your Own Fruit |
| a oliver on 16 April 2012 ,19:31 how much will it cost me to send a copy of your vegie patch book please thank you |
| RD Editor on 28 October 2011 ,11:52 Hi Vera, there is no sure fire way to keep veggies disease free but start by buying disease free seeds. There may be pathogens in the soil or some insects can introduce diseases. The best way to keep edibles healthy is to inspect them regularly for any problems and treat them accordingly as soon as they are noticed. There are numerous veggies to plant in North West Sydney at this time of year. Some are lettuce, rocket, tomatoes, beans, carrots, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, spinach, silver beet, zucchini and capsicum. Hope this helps! RD Editor | See More Comments |
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