A tale of a veggie patch

What is in a vegetable garden?
Well I don’t know what’s it your vegetable garden but this is what is in mine. This will be the third veggie patch I’ve set about building since moving into Pine Haven. From the first one to this one, I have learnt many lessons, mostly from experience of failed crops. I’ve learnt about plenty of bug like the cabbage moth, caterpillar, grasshoppers and little orange lady bugs and last but not least are the army of ants. Striving for an organic garden I’m reluctant to use pesticides so have decided to try a homemade solution of crushed garlic, oil and some dishwashing liquid. So getting back to the veggie patch this is what happens from scratch for me. In a boxed off area with a little soil and lots of weeds which were the first to go. I added two to three bags of organic soil purchased before hand from the local Bunning’s, added to that a bag of homemade chicken and cow manure and some left over shavings from the bottom of the ducks enclosure. I wiped my brow a number of times for this job, stood up with my hands on my hips to assess the progress and found I had an audience of animals on the other side of the fence. Finally the labour of soil preparation was done. Gardening is like painting. The prep work which doesn’t get much fame is the foundation to success. Next came the seasol nutrients boost, and then finally the seedlings of beans, peas, snow peas, onions and garlic. I added a nectarine tree to the orchard aswell. Once this part was done it was time to close up. I laid a row of newspaper down to stifle the weeds and then on top I put a thick layer of sugarcane mulch. Now while I don’t profess to be an expert vegetable grower this was my last attempt at it. After the final assessment I packed away my tools and wandered back indoors with thoughts of a much more successful garden with this one. As for the other plot to the side of the new garden, I’m still picking capsicums and cherry tomatoes. To the left of the new garden my passionfruit vine is being trained up some stakes and running along a wire. The passionfruit vine has been the hero of the garden out right and I haven’t even had fruit yet. A number of times it has been trampled, eaten, threatened and overgrown by surrounding weeds but each time it has come back and now that the framework is up there will be no stopping it. The curry leaf tree is thriving and so are the chillies in the bath tub at the bottom end of the garden. The eggplants are finished sadly but we harvested many. The chillies took a long time to start but are doing famously now. I think I’m going to have to make some chilli paste to preserve them. The strawberries started off amazingly but have been the target of ants latterly. The corn, the carrots, the cucumbers and lettuce were all failures and I’m yet to learn why. I guess you win some you lose some.