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[description] => From windowsill herbs to a kitchen garden our step-by-step growing guides make it easy to raise fresh food at home. You can have a tomato plant in a pot, rows of vegies in the ground or a mini orchard of citrus trees. Learn when to sow, transplant, water, feed and prune to harvest crops year-round.
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[category_description] => From windowsill herbs to a kitchen garden our step-by-step growing guides make it easy to raise fresh food at home. You can have a tomato plant in a pot, rows of vegies in the ground or a mini orchard of citrus trees. Learn when to sow, transplant, water, feed and prune to harvest crops year-round.
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check====
Put fresh produce on your table just as nature intended by growing your own vegetables organically.
By Cheryl Maddocks
Nothing tastes better than homegrown ingredients picked fresh from the vegie patch.
And if you garden as organically as possible, your crops will be rich in vitamins and minerals, and free from poisonous chemicals.
The summer holidays are a great time to start a new vegetable garden, so you can get the children involved.
This means they can feel connected with their food and have fun planting seeds and tending the garden. After all, kids are the gardeners of the future.
Before you begin
It’s important to decide on how much free time you have to tend your new organic vegetable patch before you get going.
If in doubt, start off small because you can always expand.
If your chosen plot is covered with weeds, they must be completely removed using a hoe.
Another chemical-free method of killing weeds is to solarise the soil.
Simply position black plastic over the entire area, anchor it with rocks, then leave it for a month.
The heat will cook and destroy the weeds.
Once they’ve been removed, dig the garden bed to the depth of your spade, taking care to remove any rocks.
Dig in compost and cow or chicken manure over the whole garden bed.
The more you add, the richer the soil will become, and the healthier your vegetables will be.
Check the level of acidity in the soil with a pH kit, and add dolomite or liquid lime if it is acidic.
Vegetables like a pH of about 6.5.
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Going chemical-free
To garden organically means you have to become more aware of the environment and also respect the balance of nature.
Using sprays that contain chemicals can alter this balance by killing off beneficial insects, such as ladybirds, parasitic wasps, and hoverflies.
The organic gardener observes the laws of nature and puts plant residues back into the soil through mulching and composting.
This in turn feeds the bacteria, fungi, insects and earthworms that prepare the soil for living plants.
Summer selection - climbing beans
These can be grown on wire attached to a sunny fence or wall, on a frame made from upright timber posts and covered in chicken wire, or on a teepee in a large pot.
Use the same frame for growing peas in the cooler months.
Care
Sow the seeds directly where the plants are to grow.
Fertilise when the flowers appear and water regularly as the pods begin to swell.
Tip
Make a cubbyhouse by creating a three-sided teepee. Get the kids to plant seeds at the base and after a few weeks it will be covered in foliage.
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Nothing tastes better than homegrown ingredients picked fresh from the vegie patch.
And if you garden as organically as possible, your crops will be rich in vitamins and minerals, and free from poisonous chemicals.
The summer holidays are a great time to start a new vegetable garden, so you can get the children involved.
This means they can feel connected with their food and have fun planting seeds and tending the garden. After all, kids are the gardeners of the future.
Carrots
An adaptable crop, carrots need deep, well-drained soil so the roots expand and grow quickly.
It should be free from stones or lumpy organic matter to prevent the roots becoming misshapen.
Baby carrots can be grown in pots.
Care
Sow the seeds directly where the plants are to grow.
The seedlings may take 2-3 weeks to emerge and need thinning to 50mm apart.
Tip
Carrot seeds are also available in seed tape and the spaced seeds don’t need to be thinned out.
Capsicums
Also known as peppers, capsicums start out green, then turn red, yellow or purple as they mature.
At this time of the year, they’re best planted from seedlings so the fruit can mature before the cold weather arrives.
Care
Fertilise with a complete plant food when the flowers appear.
Water regularly to prevent blossom end rot.
Beetroot
This vegetable can be grown in garden beds or containers.
The roots are full of vitamins and the young leaves are delicious in salads.
Beetroot is ready to harvest about 10 weeks from sowing.
Pull alternate roots early and the roots left in the soil will increase in size.
Care
Sow the seeds directly where the plants are to grow and thin them to 70mm apart.
Feed fortnightly with a soluble plant food for quality roots.
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Advertisement
Nothing tastes better than homegrown ingredients picked fresh from the vegie patch.
And if you garden as organically as possible, your crops will be rich in vitamins and minerals, and free from poisonous chemicals.
The summer holidays are a great time to start a new vegetable garden, so you can get the children involved.
This means they can feel connected with their food and have fun planting seeds and tending the garden. After all, kids are the gardeners of the future.
Celery
An easy-to-grow vegetable, celery can provide a continuous harvest for 2-3 months if the outside stems are picked like silverbeet.
Sow the seeds in punnets and transplant them to the garden when they’re 75mm high.
Care
Regular watering is essential as celery is shallow-rooted.
Feed every two weeks so the stems don’t turn coarse.
Cucumbers
This vegetable comes in different shapes and sizes.
Pick telegraph cucumbers when they’re 300mm long, apple cucumbers when they’re the size of a tennis ball and Lebanese cucumbers at about 100mm in length.
Care
Sow the seeds where the plants are to grow.
To save space, tie them to a support so they can climb.
Eggplants
At this time of the year, it’s best to plant this vegetable from a seedling to allow the fruit to mature before the cold weather arrives.
Their silvery leaves look good in large pots.
Care
Feed with a complete soluble plant food when the flowers first appear.
Regular watering is essential.
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Advertisement
Nothing tastes better than homegrown ingredients picked fresh from the vegie patch.
And if you garden as organically as possible, your crops will be rich in vitamins and minerals, and free from poisonous chemicals.
The summer holidays are a great time to start a new vegetable garden, so you can get the children involved.
This means they can feel connected with their food and have fun planting seeds and tending the garden. After all, kids are the gardeners of the future.
Zucchinis
Also known as courgettes, zucchinis are immature marrows.
Pick them when they’re about 100-150mm long to encourage further crops.
They crop quickly, so you’ll be harvesting fruit about 8-10 weeks after sowing.
Care
Sow the seeds directly into a slight depression on top of a raised mound, allowing 1m between the plants.