I’m all set up and ready for planting on Tuesday and Wednesday leafy planting days. I’m planting:
The box is full of a home-made seed germinating mix, mostly creek sand with a bit of compost for water retention. I like using mowed cow pats better – I collect old, dried cow pats and run over them with the mower to yield a catcher full of shredded cow manure. It has few nutrients to speak of but holds water beautifully.
It seems a waste to use compost for germinating seeds, when the seeds carry their own nutrient supply and I will be potting the seedlings on as soon as they are germinated anyhow, into individual pots with a nice rich seedling raising mix. But it’s right at the end of the dung beetle season, and they have been so busy I couldn’t find any cow pats.
I have been looking forward to this planting break – the first of the season’s spinach, cabbage, chinese cabbages, cauliflowers and kale!
I just found your blog via another – I have loved and mucked your book and am just in the planning stage for my second real big garden. So glad to have found your blog. Will be coming back for inspiration regularly. Where abouts in Australia are you?
Hi Umatji, I’m in northern NSW, near the Queensland border, but high so pretty well frost free sub-tropical climate. Where are you?
I am in the Adelaide Hills. My first ‘big’ garden was in the central desert so a bit of a change! Still coming to grips with it all…
Hi Linda,
I came across your book about a year ago now and have implemented your mandala system in a high sunny spot in my backyard. The first year was a big learning curve mostly around getting the timing of things right and working out what to plant. I’m now feeling much more confident and am incorporating a mix of veges, flowers, herbs and fruit into the system and getting better at working with nature rather than making it do what I want when I want it! We have just come out of a bumper crop of pumpkins (left in a lower section to roam wild) and I am inspired to try growing the ‘giant’ pumpkins next year (kids will get a kick out of that too). I have the bonus of very old fruit trees hanging over my fence from 3 different neighbours – Avocado, mango, macadamia and lime and my passionfuit vine has covered all the fences and half the shed with a trunk the size of my ankle (it’s in its 2nd year). I have just put in a couple of rosellas which are easy to grow, prolific fruiters and have pretty flowers – something is feasting on the leaves, but the flowers are untouched so I am not bothered (just have to find some recipes on how to use them now!). I only have a couple of chickens (plots are small) and they seem to have learnt what they are not allowed to eat and much to my enjoyment they will happily peck around me when I am in the garden. Thank you so much for your inspirational book and commitment, what started as a hobby has become a passion and is working its way into changing other parts of our lives as we become more ‘sustainability conscious’.
Let me know if there is anywhere I can submit photos if you want to see the idea you planted in our backyard!
Happy gardening – Gillian x
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