The beginning of my veggie patch

Part of me starting this blog, was to hopefully show how easy it could be to grow and harvest my own veggies and some particular fruits. I wanted to have a big enough plot to be able to grow enough seasonal vegetables so that I wasn't spending anywhere from $50 per week on fruit and veg at the local grocer. I also wanted to get my son involved so that he grows up knowing where food comes from, not that it is just bought from a supermarket.

The cost is a big factor for me and don't get me wrong, I know that initially it does cost quite a bit of money to set everything up, buying your seeds and compost soil, trellis and what not involved with growing your own food. But, after the initial spending you should be able to reap what you sow and have it become very cheap to harvest your own edible crop. I'm hoping that I will only have to buy a few fruits and the cheap veggies like potato and pumpkin from the grocer moving forward.

So we began, we had a large vacant area of the backyard and Dave put his handyman skills to work and set out to build me my veggie patch. We drew up a plan and investigated the cost involved to get started and away he went. It took him one whole week by himself to dig out and level the area and set the timber sleepers in place, box out the pathways, set the pavers, fill the toppings and have the compost/top soil delivered and spread amoungst the two boxes he built. Now I have two fairly large veggie plots measuring 2.4m x 2.4m. Perfect.

Building the veggie patch

Building the veggie patch

I did all the crop investigating work and the cost involved with buying seedlings compared to seeds was astounding. I had to take into account that the hardware store charges you for their time to sow the seeds large enough to sell you a seedling. A packet of seeds and me sowing them myself was a much cheaper option. We are talking about the different of anywhere from $5 - $10 depending on the seedling you're after, and this is per seedling. A packet of seeds cost me $1. A buck. Unbelievable. I bought herbs, staple veggies for the winter and a few flowers to plant to encourage the bees to pollinate my crop. 
I have the the following or the winter harvest;

• Sage
• Rosemary
• Garlic 
• Brown Onion
• Leek
• Carrot
• Purple Carrot
• Spinach beet
• Silver beet
• Broccoli
• Italian Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Peas
• Sugar Snap Peas

I bought cornflowers, alyssum and a mixed packet of winter flower seeds to plant in between the veggies for the bees.

Some of the seeds

Some of the seeds

All up my seeds, seedling trays, name stakes and veggie potting mix cost me a total of $50. Bargain.

If I had of bought seedlings I would of been looking at over $200 for the amount I would want to grow and harvest for the Melbourne winter. 

My seeds have sprouted and I have tiny seedlings already. It has only been one week, and I'm very excited that this is going to work.

Ludo.

I do have one problem though. My beloved dog - Ludo. He thinks that the veggie patch is a great place to bury his bones and dig up all my compost soil. This has happened two days in a row now and I am fiercely googling "how to keep your dog off your veggie patch". One tip that seems appealing is to make a mix of used coffee grounds and bitter orange together then sprinkle it over the patch, apparently dogs hate the smell so I am going to try this method today and see if it works. I am not game enough to plant my precious seedlings until I know Ludo won't destroy them (unintentionally I'm sure).

So wish me luck, hopefully this green thumb is successful and I'll be reaping what I sow in no time .... apart from the onions, they're going to take 26 weeks to harvest!

  B x