Making a raised flower bed

So today, we killed two birds with one stone. Or rather, cinder blocks (hehe). We had an old incinerator  next to our veggie garden that was a) ugly, b) stopping us from extending our veggie garden and c) made of bricks. Which was great because a) I wanted more planting space, b) I wanted to get rid of the incinerator and c) I didn't wanna spend a lot of money!

So here is my guide on how to build a cheap raised garden (even if you don't have an incinerator you wanna get rid of)!

1. Mark out the space that you want to create your raised garden in! To start with we laid out left over stakes from the tomatoes. These were easy to move around and gave us a good visual representation of how big, and how practical the garden was going to be.

2. Assemble the materials. You'll need a spade, some soil and some organic compost, and the bricks/rocks that you are going to use to make the garden.

3. Using the spade, cut into the ground, to mark out the space.

4. Dig a slight trench into the ground about the width of the bricks, so that they can sit easily in the ground, while being level, and not tipping over.

5. Dig up the grass or dig over the soil that is the base of the raised garden at the moment.

6. Place the bricks in the ground, and then fill the garden with soil and compost until the bricks are firmly in the ground. Packing the soil round the bricks, while moistening it helps to do this!

7. The bricks I used had holes in the top of them, so I filled these with soil to create extra weight, and so that flowers can grow in them too! You can do this too if the bricks have space, or otherwise just skip it!

8. Water the garden until the compost and soil is moist.

9. Plant whatever seeds or seedlings you would like. I am turning mine into a flower bed, so I planted a mixture of flower seeds!

10. Water well and enjoy your new raised garden!

P.S. It doesn't need to look pretty, cos once the plants are growing, its going to look amazing!!

Growing Wheatgrass!

Wheatgrass is essentially a miracle plant. It is insanely easy to grow and then consume. It can be drunk in shots or added to fruit smoothies or juices, and the nutritional benefits are amazing! There is a lot of debate over HOW good wheatgrass actually is for you (1shot=1kg of veggies??), but what everyone can agree on, is that is good and does have a lot of goodness packed into a small package!

It is also unbelievably easy to grow and would be a very good starting garden project for those who would like to garden but think they can't!

So bere is The Cottage Veggie Garden guide to growing Wheatgrass in 7 days!

STEP ONE: Soak wheatgrass seed in water over night. I used 1 1/4 cups for the tray that I used as wheatgrass seed is sown in a single layer.

STEP TWO: Fill a shallow growing tray with soil and water until it is very moist.

STEP THREE: Place soaked seed in a single layer on top of the soil and press down very lightly. The seed should not be covered in soil, but rather just sitting in it.

STEP FOUR: Water well and place in a spot that gets a good amount of sunshine.

STEP FIVE: Water well every day. The seeds need a lots of water in order to grow well, but they shouldn't flood.

STEP SIX: Watch the wheatgrass grow like cray cray

STEP SEVEN: After seven or eight days (if you have forgotten to water it well) it is ready for you to harvest!

           

 STEP EIGHT: Dispose of roots and soil as the second growth of wheatgrass has only 1/2 the nutritional content!

STEP NINE: When preparing wheatgrass, ensure that you use a juicer, or strain out any of the little pieces of the grass with muslin cloth after blending with water in a blender, as they aren't good for you to consume!

 STEP TEN: Add to smoothies and juices, or be tough and drink a straight shot.

ENJOY!!!!

Growing and growing and growing - November 8 2012

This week we have many radishes! So many that we cannot eat them all! So we are giving them to the in-laws! They are huge too!! It is seriously amazing how fast they grow! All you need to do is plant them about 5mm deep in soil and in a rows 30cm apart and make sure they are watered well! Once they start to sprout a bit, they may need to be thinned back so that they can grow to their full potential! And then in a few weeks time there will be delicious and peppery radishes to add to salads!

Today we extended our veggie garden out another quarter of the original length! It was so hard! And there were so many rocks and bricks! The top photo is before, and the bottom photo is after! Now there is more room for all the stuff that we want to plant! I am so addicted to gardening! Hahaha.

To clear the land we used a spade to "cut out" the square in the grass that we were going to dig out. Then we used a pitch fork to get rid of all the grass and roots. We used a combination of the spade and the pitch fork to dig up the soil and dig out the rocks and bricks and roof tiles! It was such a fun day even though it was seriously hard and back breaking work! After the ground was cleared we put compost on top and then planted some cocktail tomato plants and a tobacco plant (very strange!). And soon we will plant all the different seeds! Yay!!!

As well as extending our veggie garden, I have been growing my kitchen garden! I have now added fennel, parcelery (a mix of parsley and celery which I thought sounded tres cool!), garlic chives, coriander and a tomato plant! I also got some new gardening gloves! Such an awesome day of new additions to our gardening family!