No dig garden pictures!

I pretty happy with what I was able to achieve in one afternoon. Doesn't look like much but I have lettuce & brown onions already planted, also garlic. Hopefully they will really shoot up soon.

Though with all the hot weather we have been having I am having to water on a daily basis, so I will probably have to put in a irrigation system.

The no dig garden method has worked really well, it was easy and I didn't have to dig up a patch of ground that I knew was filled with palm tree roots. Hate palm trees

My husband now wants me to trim more of this palm tree that you can see at the top of the second picture back more so its easier for him to mow around it. Oh well, another task to add to my list.

Also noticed today that some of the seeds I planted in preparation for this new veggie garden have started to germinate, not sure what has actually germinated but I am sure that that little mystery will get cleared up as the plants get bigger. I now though have to find something else to plant the plants in when they get alittle bigger before planting them in the ground, want them to be alittle bit more established. Currently the seeds are germinating in egg cartoon, the lids I have found are the best. Think that I might use the rest of the egg cartoon (the bit where the eggs sit) to plants the small plants into so they can get really good root system established.

We had a lovely luch under our big tree with my family today, my brother was up from his airbase (he is an Aviation technition in the Airforce) so me and my husband thought that a BBQ was in order. We don't get to see my brother all that often as he is really busy. I made rissols and a salad and we all had a great time eatting and laughing. I am truly thankfull to God for my family, I am very lucky to have them.

No dig all done

Finally got into the garden today and built my no-dig-veggie-garden, I will defiantly post some pictures tomorrow (promise!) I was just too tired after I finished. I planned to go out at about 1-2pmish to avoid the heat of the day, that didn't work within 20mins I was dripping with sweat. but it was worth it. So far we only have 6 lettuce plants and some brown onion plants but as soon as the tomato plants & basil plants germinate there will be more for the new veggie patch. I will also be getting some carrots.

I really enjoyed building the veggie patch this afternoon. Something about being outside and just letting the hours pass moving dirt and playing with water. Above all else this garden means that I am contributing to the grocery bill, and it is healthier for us.

I am just so happy about what I have been able to achieve in one afternoon, I know that I can do almost anything that I set my mind to, and alittle planning too. It has taken me three days to get this veggie patch going. I don't like to do things too quickly, I find that you don't do things well if you do things too quickly. There really is nothing wrong with doing alittle planning before doing anything.

I plan to the point where I have a written plan of my new veggie patch and am already mentally planning the idea of having a compost heap or worm farm. Thinking the later is the best bet as we don't produce alot of scraps only being the two of us. There I go! More planning, I really think that my natural want to plan is the key to surviving being unemployed, though it is still important to remember that ultimately no matter how much I plan I am not incharge and that God has a plan for me.

Tomorrow I am itching to get into the garden again, this time I want to weed some of the other garden beds. We also have Youth Group tomorrow night, we are playing basketball, which means that we will have a good turn out. We have a big turn out when we play netball and basketball is more of a game that more of the Youth (particularly the boys) enjoy so we could very well have a huge turn out!

I have a plan....No digging!

I have wanted to get a new veggie patch going, since our other one was shaded out by our neighbours trees. But finding a new place to build a veggie patch hasn't been easy, our backyard has a beautiful big tree right in the middle that unfortunately casts shade on one side of the backyard in the morning, and casts a shadow on the other side in the afternoon. Makes it difficult, but up against the fence there is a space that I think that I can build a garden. It is right next to a old palm tree, which have a nightmare of a root system, so I don't think that I am going to dig a garden. So I found....No Dig Garden.

This concept that I have heard before and I found this website No Dig Vegetable Garden and I found that it is an easy to do concept.

Basically what you do is make layers on top of the dirt/grass/concrete hence 'no dig', the recipe I am going to use is basically;

Layer 1 - cardboard/newspaper 5mm depth
Layer 2 - hay (but I am going to use sugarcane mulch as I already have a bale) 10cm depth
Layer 3 - Fertiliser/manure 20mm depth
Layer 4 - Straw (again I am using sugarcane mulch) 20cm depth
Layer 5 - Fertiliser / manure 20mm
Layer 6 - Compost 10cm

Then you water the garden bed, and that's it. I did find on the site in a discussion board that when you plant you make a hole and add some more compost or potting mix. The thing that I really like is that planting can happen straight away. I am going to get the boxes from my husbands work and the manure & compost from Bunnings. So hopefully by this time tomorrow I should that a new veggie patch up and running. Yeah!

I'll try to remember to take some pictures and I'll post them later this week.

On the job front I didn't get the job that I had an interview for at the beginning of the week, I really love the feeling when you get an interview. You get this great feeling that you are a worthy person, that you have worth. Now I must make it clear that my worth does come from my relationship with my Heavenly Father, but being unemployed does make you feel less than human alittle. The worse feeling is after the interview is over and all you have to do is wait, waiting is the hardest. And the longer you wait the more your self worth feels like it is being sucked out.

I really don't know how people willingly stay unemployed, I find it so hard. I have to make specific plans and lists to keep myself as busy as possible just to stop myself from getting down and depressed. But I will keep going, I need to get a job, so we can save more and get our house sooner. It is really good to have that goal, something to look towards.