Raw Food Forums

Hi, guys,

Just curious about the subject :) and about how easy it is to maintain your veggie patches/fruit trees/pot grown herbs :)

The easiest thing to maintain that I ever planted was my 'kitchen garden' filled with perennial herbs: 

A rosemary 'tree' in the middle (I pruned it to make a tree shape as it grew, taking away the lower 'branches' so light could get to things planted around it).  Oregano, Marjoram, and thyme growing as ground covers around it.  Chives forming a border.  I loved it so much I extended it to one side, to put a sage bush, parsley, spring onions and basil in spring/summer.  But the basil never grew well in the ground, so that graduated to a pot full of home-made compost, where it LOVES life.  Now I plant radishes in the empty spot.

Veggie gardens are great, but frankly I don't always have the constant attention span required for them.  Some years I get into it and grow a heap of my own food, sometimes I get distracted and things don't get planted/watered etc. I find watching shows like "Gardening Australia" on ABC can be good for keeping up motivation, because you're prompted when to plant what, and when to maintain what.

Fruit trees and herbs suit me wonderfully, because I really only need to tend to them a couple of times a year... at pruning and fertilising times.  And of course harvest time, for the fruit :)

Berry bushes and canes also suit me well, same reasons :)

Happy growing!

That's really interesting, thanks, waterberry :)

Do you grow all of your herbs in a sort of a box or in separate pots? Ah, sorry, just read your post again and it looks like you grow some in a box and some in pots. I have a so called "strawberry" pot with 5 openings for different herbs. Do you think I can put it inside the house? The reason why I'm asking is because it's quite cool outside these days.

Also, where do you normally buy organic seeds?

Did you have any experience with growing your own spinach? I seem to consume a lot of it, so I thought I could as well grow it. Do you have to grow it in a veggie patch?

Yeah, I was thinking about planting some fruit trees too coz they are sort of "unpretentious"  :mellow:

Sorry for a lot of questions, I'm such a dummy when it comes to growing stuff but I'm getting there, slowly but surely - learnt how to sprout already  rofl

Hello,

I have horrible clay soil at home and so have managed to kill a few things by putting them in the ground.  I have also found a few things that are growing well - I have two papaya trees that are growing well - hopefully I will get fruit next year.  I also have a grapevine and a goji vine that are growing well.  The goji is in an old toilet that I put in the yard and filled with compost.  I have every intention of putting in a no dig veggie patch at some stage.

My parents recently purchase property at Sunshine Coast and the soil is fantastic.  I have planed lots of fruit trees in their yard including - avocado, mango, lychee, apples, nectarines,  jackfruit, canistel, white sapote, pomegrante, macadameia, others too but can't remember.  My Dad has a great veggie patch happening as well.

I don't know much about gardening - I just get the best compost/potting mix I can, water the plants.  If they live - great.  If they die - I try to adjust the soil or the plant and start again.

Take Care,
S.

lol stop, sprouting is a start!

Sharon, you could try breaking up clay soil with some organic dolomite...worked for me.

Just a quick reply though I could ramble passionately for hours about the topic!

Spinach you could grow in foam boxes or pots. Winter spinach at the moment is the go. Tis also a good time to plant lettuces and other greens like kale. I'm concentrating on growing greens cause like you I'm a big consumer! I have kale, broccoli, mesculin mix (rocket, various lettuce, mizuna), cherry tomatoes, spinach, parsley, coriander, mint, silverbeet, beetroot for the leaves, lemon balm. This is all in amongst rose bushes, in pots, or in a patch of lawn that was bare ground that's now a garden (dunno what the landlord would think!). This is my first time I've had a garden - not just pots. It was so fulfilling over summer to have daily abundance of greens, tomatoes, huge cucumbers, zucchini, peas, beans etc. I highly reccommend having some food growing however you can - it is just sooo rewarding! A very important skill to have too. It would be a large area needed for growing enough greens for the average raw vegan. I am lucky to have my supply supplemented from my mum's huge organic garden.

I'm also starting my fruit colection which is just an avo, olive, grapes, strawberries, blueberries and raspberry canes at present but am researching the best varieties for chilly areas!

I've just started making my own potting mix with coconut coir soaked in liquid manure I made (from now happy cows/horses rescued from saleyards and orher abuse), mushroom compost and sand...Beautiful! I make seed raising mix from sand and coconut coir.
I buy my seeds from local Tassie company The Lost Seed from a hardware store here but they have a website www.thelostseed.com.au (http://www.thelostseed.com.au). I never buy hybrid seeds these days yuk!

Okay I get excited by gardening, yes!

Happy gardening!

I'm a bit of a veggie gardener.. I have a circular (mandala design, 16 meter diameter) garden with 8 pie shaped segments and a circular border (about a meter wide).. I also have a large rectangular raised bed, but my most consistent gardening is with trays on an outdoor table top. I have 16 large nursery trays which I use to grow wheat grass, buckwheat, and sunflower greens.. I dabble with other greens from time to time (mustard, lettuce, radish, celery, etc), but those are the main 3. Even though I live on an acre, i only use an area that would fit in the average back yard. My tray garden would fit on a balcony of a high rise unit. A lot of the garden food I grow, just goes to waste, I must confess.... I do eat from it while I'm gardening.. every day... but at this stage, I just want to keep the thing producing, so i let a lot of stuff just go to seed. It's a work in progress.. eventually, I'd like to be producing most of my own food.

i've got a small bed with lettuce, silverbeet, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, parsley, dill, baby corn growing in a pot, chives and oregano at the moment. all very young but i'm hoping to do alot of greens. the block i recently moved to has a lemon tree, orange trees, bananas (lady fingers but i prefer cavandish), a papaya tree and a mango tree. at them moment to oranges, lemons and bananas are fruiting.