04 - Veggie Patch Idea

This being a blog I assume it is meant to be like an online journal and if I did the bare minimum of this task assessment task I could easily just leave this and make final posts. Unfortunately for my work load I have gotten rather interested in the idea of sustainable living and in particular veggie patches. I like the idea of a veggie patch because not only can I play with gardening concepts such as organic and permaculture but it will be very relevant in schools with projects such as Kitchen Gardens popping up everywhere.

My family is sick of just the small changes and rather resistant to them but luckily I friend of mine has a large back yard and is also interested in figuring out a farming on a small scale.

So for a fair few posts onwards I will be posting our efforts to get out heads around sustainable farming techniques. I will add captions to the photos explaining what's going on and then at the end of the unit I will write a short reflection. 

For the record I have little if any knowledge of nature outside of controlled circumstances and no knowledge of farming other than the basic ideas presented in the media. The intent is to play with growing crops and try to learn from mistakes while we keep eyes open for a suitable course such as an introduction to permaculture.

So don't judge if we are making silly mistakes, at least we are giving it a go.

! COMMENT IF YOU SEE SOMETHING WE SHOULD IMPROVE!

Original Plot

These first 4 are photos of the veggie patch before we started work. It was used earlier that year but once left to its own devices, as shown in the photos; it was over run by weeds. As you will see in future shots we had a good area to work with so we left in what was working like the beans up the back...

Clearing the plot and turning the soil.

We spent a very long time clearing and weeding our section of the plot, and around what would remain. The surrounding path was also weeded to an extent to limit what was going to grow back. We did rush this step and were warned by Craig's (my fellow home farmer) father that many of the weeds will grow back. Hopefully constant maintenance down the track fixes this. The soil was turned to make it easier for new seeds to grow. In the process we found lots of worms which we are taking as a sign of healthy soil. Whilst working we found a few potatoes, one of decent size, and one very random pumpkin. Unfortunately we also found a lot of sails which may become a problem if we do not deal with them so there was more life than just weeds on our little plot.