tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9027191706980748713.post6333774383767350834..comments2023-09-29T18:37:14.377+10:00Comments on Eight Acres: Getting started with growing your own - a series of interviewsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9027191706980748713.post-28318849643645632672013-02-07T13:39:16.835+10:002013-02-07T13:39:16.835+10:00Love the idea Liz, very much looking forward to th...Love the idea Liz, very much looking forward to the next interviews!<br />There is so much information gathered by all those likeminded souls in blog land, this is a great way to share.<br />Some days when the chooks have made it into the kitchen garden (again!) or everything starts to wilt in a crazy heatwave it's nice to know you're not alone out there. And to pick up new tricks to keep it from happening the next time.<br /><br />Also, thanks so much for your very sweet comments on my own blog. Alex is doing great, it was a beautiful birth experience. We didn't suffer any damage in the flood, we got through it very well. But after all the crazy weather, I'm very much looking forward to some quiet time now! ;-)<br />Cheers, MarijkeMarijkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13577363925336203716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9027191706980748713.post-28843531930244899272013-02-07T11:06:42.870+10:002013-02-07T11:06:42.870+10:00What a great idea Liz. I too used to live in the ...What a great idea Liz. I too used to live in the middle of Brisbane and grow a few veggies. I think the best idea is to get some of the deep foam boxes and plant into those. You can grow pretty much everything in them. The other thing I say to people is grow what is expensive (like herbs), things that you can just pick a leaf or two at a time (silverbeet, lettuce, rocket etc) and things that ramble (like cucumbers).<br />Looking forward to the posts to come.Fiona from Arbordale Farmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05196630415124998431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9027191706980748713.post-56173622876156058322013-02-07T05:56:09.505+10:002013-02-07T05:56:09.505+10:00We had the same thing when we started veggie garde...We had the same thing when we started veggie gardening. Mum kept telling me "just get into it! It will come to you" and she was right. You are NEVER prepared for hurling yourself in at the deep end but you can do some base research regarding the conditions that you find yourself in, what people are doing in your local area and how to grow and that's what brought me to your wonderful blog in the first place :). I have modified my composting technique (if, indeed, it could be called a "technique" ;) ) so that I make circles out of weldmesh (well Steve makes the circles! ;) ) and plonk them down in the vicinity of where I want to eventually plant a tree in our food forest. I then fill my compost hoop up with my compost bucket, a mix of oak leaves and various other dry carboniferous stuff and soil and I then wait till it rots down to about 500ml from the ground and add more soil then plant spuds or pumpkins directly into the soil (no problem with the pumpkins to be honest, they usually just spring up themselves ;) ) and cover with more leaves etc. I then cover the compost hoop and leave it to attract worms, form it's own little ecosystem and just top up the potatoes with more leaves etc. as they grow...when the heap is spent, the spuds are collected and the hoop comes off, I have a nicely "pre-softened", worm laden nutrient rich spot to dig and plant out a tree :). Your chooks sound like our possums :(. I have a "bean cube" a stylish block of bean foliage that is kept neatly trimmed by nocturnal possum visitations and you can tell the possums here on Serendipity Farm...they have no fur on their forearms from pinching our bean leaves! Have you read Jackie French's book "The Wilderness Garden?" She talks about her property that can't be that far away from where you live and how she grows tropical trees alongside temperate climate trees by using grove principals. LOL! I just got to the bit about the Jackie French book but I don't think it is the same one that I am talking about. The Wilderness Garden has me all fired up to create a food forest this autumn with the trees that we have been growing from seed and blogs like yours share ideas and possibilities that I wouldn't have thought about unless I hunted around and found them online :). I loved this self interview! I can't wait to hear Linda's take on gardening for sustainability and I am very excited to read the rest of the series...I LOVE this idea :) We all need to learn about our endemic growing conditions and share this info all over the net. I recently found a wonderful idea that we are going to trial through a blogger who follows your blog. I subscribed to her blog and learned something incredibly valuable to our situation here in Northern Tasmania in the process...and all for free! There is a wealth of information out there, you just have to point yourself in the direction that you want to start from and go lateral :) Love the series and can't wait for the next post! :)narf7noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9027191706980748713.post-49305557818348257042013-02-07T04:14:13.077+10:002013-02-07T04:14:13.077+10:00Lovely idea! The thing I would say to new gardener...Lovely idea! The thing I would say to new gardeners is don't give up when things don't work the first time. Also be prepared to change your garden as the garden and your understanding of gardening evolves.Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09958193502828236814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9027191706980748713.post-5684560395219171702013-02-06T22:11:22.923+10:002013-02-06T22:11:22.923+10:00Really great start to the series Liz! You've c...Really great start to the series Liz! You've certainly come a long way from living in an urban rental :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03861108457109878599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9027191706980748713.post-14314667063006167442013-02-06T09:11:55.773+10:002013-02-06T09:11:55.773+10:00Oh this is a wonderful idea! I also would say to ...Oh this is a wonderful idea! I also would say to new gardeners that some years just don't turn out well and to keep trying! I often wonder about soil tests - I have such a small garden I feel it is not worth doing. I look forward to Linda's interview - she seems able to grow anything! africanaussiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16660727599623626163noreply@blogger.com