Ready, Set.....Plant!!

Starting a gardening journey?

There is so many reasons to get started, whether it be the constant rising prices of fresh produce in stores, becoming aware of all the chemicals used in and around the food we consume or maybe you are wanting to have some control over your food security, all of these and many others are great reasons to start a backyard food garden.

I first started my food garden here in south Marlborough NZ in 2017, after experiencing the major Kaikoura earthquake. This experience was quite traumatic for myself and many people around me.

After being cut off from the rest of the South Island I started thinking about what would happen if just one of the many bridges between Seddon and Blenheim were severely damaged. Of course, my brain went into panic mode but after more thinking I went with what would be a practical step forward.

I remember someone once said if you have eggs, you have a meal... thus lead me into getting our first flock of chickens. I have always loved chickens so to actually have my own was such a joyful experience. The night we got them we were letting them free range our section and ended up just watching them for 2 hours just walking around pecking at bugs and scratching at the grass and dirt, they are so funny to watch with their little personalities. It would be later on when I started composting, I realised chickens weren’t just good at producing eggs but their manure would also be very valuable in my future garden, a great organic material to add much needed nitrogen for plant growth.

Shortly after the chickens arrived my husband carved out a small space in our rather large back yard where I could give growing simple things ago, such as tomatoes and lettuces for summer salads.

Well, that was quickly extended to over 10 times the garden space and counting.

Gardening become addictive and soon I had a full fully fenced area right next to the chickens, complete with a tunnel house to extend my growing season. I paved out the bordering beds and added more where I could.

Now there is a myth that you spend more on starting a garden than you will save on buying produce at the store, and yes that can be the case, however growing food is an investment, and you can either make that investment as cheap of as expensive as you are comfortable with.

90% of my garden is made from recycled materials, I paid for half of the materials for my fence, and I brought a full tunnel house kit. That is the extent of my financial investment for my set up.

Now I was extremely lucky, my Husbands job offered a lot of second-hand materials we used to build the boarder and middle garden beds, I found someone giving away old bricks so i used those to create a round and sloping “cottage style” garden in the middle. For my arches we used second hand cut offs of concrete wire and bended them with the aid of waratahs to keep them in place.

You can get creative when using recycled materials, I have seen great examples, such as using old house bricks, used bath tubs (prop up old tubs up with blocks to ensure it has drainage), mussel floats cut in half or simply use second hand timber and corrugated iron.

When it comes to building garden beds you don’t want them too deep, I would say half a metre 50cm max, this depth gives plenty of room for root growth while much more you would be spending a lot of money on soil to full them.

Alternatively, you can use the no dig method, laying cardboard over your intended garden area then add a good layer (12 inches) of composted soil over the top. I have done both of these methods, and each have their pros and cons. Raised garden beds have less weed growth and no dig require less brought in soil and less materials to build them. Ultimately it really is personal preference on how you would like to garden, would you like practicality on a minimal budget or have a design in your mind you would love to bring to life.

If you are going for raised beds think of what materials, you may be able to use to fill your new garden beds. You can get all new soil brought in or if you want to save on money and trailer loads you can fill the bottom half with organic material like lawn clipping or tree trimmings to fill in space, this organic material will break down over time and add nutrients to your beds over time. A real benefit to your future plants!

There is so much information out there, take in what you can and you will learn along the way.

But the best advice is to simply start!