Preparing to Build a Vegie Garden
Thursday, September 10 by Hamish Dodd
G’day green fingers,
Hamish here. Thanks for joining me again, I’ve got an exciting new project that I want to share with you. In these hard times when every dollar counts the best way to shave your grocery bill is to grow your own vegetables. The added bonus is it’s fun and the fresh produce tastes delicious coming straight from your garden to your plate.
I’ve decided to grow my vegetable garden in an inner-city Auckland area and will be demonstrating four ways to grow vegies; an open ground bed, raised bed made of Macrocarpa wood, glass house and Tuscan Edge self-watering pots. In all, I use premium Yates Potting Mix for the best results. I want to show you that a vegetable garden can be not only functional, but beautiful. It can take pride of place in any garden. I can’t imagine anything more enjoyable than enjoying a beer and a meal with family and being surrounded with my own produce. River Cottage eat your heart out.
Congratulations if you’ve just decided to give it a grow. For the more experienced gardeners some of this information will be old news but it’s important to canvas, none-the-less. Select a place in your garden that is sunny and sheltered from strong winds. Consider your climate, soil type and how much room you have. For more detailed information on these topics pick up the Yates Garden Guide. This book is a gardening bible with six chapters dedicated to garden design, soils, composting, organic gardening and water-saving gardens.
Gone are the days of the quarter-acre dream, so we’ve set ourselves the challenge to grow vegetables in a typical inner-city garden. With winter still upon us we are facing several difficulties, including limited sun light hours. Luckily, we have an Arthurs greenhouse, which gives a microclimate we can grow in year round. The excessive rainfall over the past month has made the ground very soggy, so the raised bed with free-draining soil has allowed us to control conditions a little more easily.
We are in the process of constructing an open ground bed. As you can imagine, the site has turned into a bog with all the rain. What hasn’t helped is that my site is at the bottom of a gully in Freeman’s Bay. Stay tuned for more updates. If anyone has some tips I’d love to hear from you. But just because I’ve had soggy nightmares and not currently growing anything here, doesn’t mean I can’t get ready for spring. Now is a great time to have a general garden groom. Check your soils and do any other general maintenance that is required to get it ready for spring. Yates has an amazing variety of soil conditioners available at leading stores.
Well, that’s it from me for now. Check back next week when I’ll talk more in depth about raised beds and show you how to get planting tomatoes and lettuces from seed and start ‘giving it a grow’.
Happy growing,
Hamish
“Back to blog >”:/hamish-dodd/
Comments (18)
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Jon
Yates site member
14:45, 10 September 2009
Thanks for posting this great blog Hamish! I can't wait to start growing my Tomatoes from the Give It a Grow kit!
Amy
Yates site member
05:50, 11 September 2009
Hey I'm in Freeman's Bay too-No gully though luckly.. Can wait to start on the tomatoes... I'm thinking the greenhouse could be a good idea too!
Jodie
Yates site member
08:20, 11 September 2009
Hi Hamish, I'm very excited about doing my own vege garden and have my starter kit ready for the weekend will have to invest in the garden guide as well to learn more about my soil :)
tui
Yates site member
20:40, 11 September 2009
Hi Hamish great to see your sharing you love of gargening with everyone im restarting my angelwings vege garden for our elderly & low income families and looking forward to learning alot more from you thank you
Maylene
Yates site member
21:23, 11 September 2009
Hi Hamish looking forward tohear what you are going to do about the soggy site as I have one too
Janene
Yates site member
05:58, 14 September 2009
Hi Hamish, great blog, look forward to learning more! Cheers, Janene.
Daniel
Yates site member
13:11, 14 September 2009
Hi Hamish. Your garden plans here look fantastic. I can't wait to see how this design comes to life. I would have never imagined fitting a glass house into my inner city garden before now. I am looking forward to seeing how the finished result looks. When will you have this garden finished and photos posted?
Hamish
Yates Garden Expert
09:06, 17 September 2009
Hi Tui Fantastic hearing about your Angel Wings vege garden - a great thing about vegetable gardening is that it is such a great way to build ciommunity spirit and help others around you.I love what you are doing and look forward to swapping ideas on the blog.
Hamish
Yates Garden Expert
09:08, 17 September 2009
Hi Maylene The site is still quite wet at the moment - thank goodness for the raised bed. I think drainage is going to be an issue with this site nearly all year round due to the nature of the terrain.I'd better put on my thinking cap and come up with some good ideas ha ha!
Hamish
Yates Garden Expert
09:11, 17 September 2009
Hi Dan Thanks for all your enthusiasm - it's an awesome project and I am really enjoying working on it. The owner of the site has been fantastic and I popped in there today and saw that they had the cutest puppy ever so I've got to make sure that we keep our Blitzem well out of reach and not let her into the greenhouse.
Miriana
Yates site member
11:57, 17 September 2009
Hi Hamish. My son is keen to start a vege garden. His first project is to make some compost. He would like to know if you can put egg shells and banana skins into the compost? Miriana
Andrea
Yates site member
12:46, 17 September 2009
Hi Hamish, I am an Early Childhood Teacher at Haumia Centre in South Auckland. We have been learning about healthy eating and where to find healthy foods.I found your starter pack in Pak'n'save and our manager purchased it for us. We are a 3year old centre with lovely grounds for growing fruit and veges, but at the moment, no gardens.We are excited to start growing with the children; using the starter pack. we will be using assistance from your blog as I am learning too.Maybe we can send you some pictures of our children preparing the garden.
Hamish
Yates Garden Expert
13:51, 22 September 2009
Hi Andrea That would be fantastic to have some pictures of your garden - maybe a photo of the garden as it progresses.I will get someone from Yates to jump on the blog and work out how best for you to get the pictures to us. Have fun - say hi to the kids for me.
Joanne
Yates Garden Expert
06:32, 23 September 2009
Hi Andrea, you can send your pics to: traffic@designprintltd.co.nz and I'll get them to the team at Yates. cheers
eddy
Yates site member
12:31, 18 September 2009
howzit im a new member just wondering where do u get a starter pack?
Joanne
Yates Garden Expert
14:53, 18 September 2009
HI Eddy You can get your starter pack from Bunnings, Mitre 10, Local garden centres or even Pak'nSave and New World.
eddy
Yates site member
12:24, 21 September 2009
Thanks for that
Diana
Yates site member
10:01, 19 September 2009
Hi Hamish, I'm a newbie at this gardening buzz, but willing to give it a go. Apart from the health benefits to my kids and I, I want to save some dosh. I am off to Bunnings to get started.
Hamish
Yates Garden Expert
13:47, 22 September 2009
Hi Miriana Wow that's fantastic - I love to hear about all the budding new gardeners out there. And in answer to your son's question, both egg shells and banana skins are great in your compost - make sure the banana skins are chopped up first.
Abigail
Yates site member
20:26, 26 September 2009
Hi ya, I've just bought my first house (move in shortly) and am keen to start a vege garden straight away as well as planting a few fruit trees. Have bought my starter pack. Just wondering how to go about making a raised vege garden - what sort of wood should I use and can you offer any other advice? Does it need to be lined or a special sort of timber so it doesn't rot? I'm on a pretty tight budget so I want to do it properly but also (hopefully) reasonably cheaply. Thanks :)
veronica
Yates site member
07:00, 06 June 2010
hi ive just got an alottment, so pleased cant wait to grow my own vege was watching river cottage and everythig about it is right , we all should grow are own vege , the program i wach all the time hes fantastic, well done him
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