I love being out in the garden, and having the opportunity to work on a garden transformation helping someone create their very first vegetable garden was the icing on the cake!
A veggie garden doesn’t have to be pretty and it doesn’t have to be a huge space, just simply work with the space you have. The important thing as you know, is to start somewhere!
Last weekend I had the pleasure of working on a vegetable garden transformation for my lovely sister-in-law. With two young kids and a busy household, gardening doesn’t often make its way onto her endless to-do-list. So with her birthday coming up, it made the perfect gift!
The area we had to work with was against the side of the house. It was full of weeds and river stones but a good size and close to the kitchen for convenience. In my beginners guide to vegetable gardening you’ll remember the importance of soil and sunlight for a garden; the spot received full sun from midday onwards so we were mindful of this when positioning our plants.
What we did for this Garden Transformation
- The biggest job was clearing the garden. First we removed a large shrub that was taking up the majority of the space (with a lot of tugging and attacking with a pruning saw!)
- We then removed countless river stones one by one (whoever thought these were a good idea in a garden!?) This took two of us the better part of an hour!
- With a garden spade we then turned the soil for aeration and to free the last of the weed roots
- We then added 100L of fresh bagged compost and mixed it through
- The next step was to plant our new seedlings (after soaking them in some organic seaweed solution first), being aware of which plants needed more sun (e.g. capsicum) and which could go in the shadier spots (e.g. lettuce)
- To keep the weeds at bay, we added a layer of leaves on top of the soil
- The last step was to water everything in and give the plants a good feed of diluted seaweed solution to help the plants settle into their new home
What we Planted
We chose vegetables that the family would eat (very important!) and were easy to grow. We planted a combination of seeds and seedlings as well as re-homed a few silverbeet and spring onions that were root bound in their pots.
- Seedlings: Cucumber, Capsicum, Zucchini, Lettuce, Spinach
- Seeds: Carrots
- Transplanted: Spring Onions and Silverbeet that were growing in containers (and extremely root bound)
Before planting our new seedlings we soaked them in an organic seaweed mixture to give them a good boost before planting them into their new home.
I’ve always wanted a vegetable garden; it’s been 6yrs in the making! Can’t thank you enough for making it happen!
Faye B.
About the Author
Elle Reed is a passionate gardener and advocate for teaching beginner gardeners how to grow their own food. Elle’s mission is to inspire and empower people to get back to basics, grow their own produce, and embrace a sustainable lifestyle. “Whether it’s a few herb pots in an apartment, a potager or a full garden plot, we can all ‘start somewhere’ to grow our own food, and in doing so, provide healthier food for ourselves and those we love”.
