Gardener Level 2

Mum and I started planting a garden in summer. We went to the nursery and chose some plants and also a friend gave us some tomato plants.

We had some pots in the shed and planted the seedlings in potting mix. 

February 

Here I am planting the new seedlings. I had to use gloves and dig holes with my hands. It was important to pack them in the soil tightly and then to water them well. We then put pea straw mulch on them to make sure not too much water evaporated and watered them again.  We put stakes up because the tomatoes are going to grow tall and we need something to tie them to so they don't fall over.

1 month later - March

This photo shows that the plants have grown quite a bit. I now have to tie the plants to the stakes. There are yellow flowers on the plant now. These flowers will turn into tomatoes!!! I have been watering the plants a bit but there has been a bit of rain so I haven't had to give them too much. The zucchinis have also grown quite a bit.

 Now - April

Tomatoes! They are not quite ready to eat but they are definitely there! They are even taller now and I had to tie them up again. I used a Granny Knot and a Reef knot. There aren't special knots for tomatoes but these ones worked fine.

In the last week or two we also planted some basil plants under the tomatoes. We did this ebcause basil is a good 'companion' plant for tomatoes. That is because they grow well together and the basil can help keep bugs away from the tomatoes because of its smell.

COMPOST

We have a compost bin at the back of our garden near the chook shed. It's been empty for a while because we did a renovation and just moved back in last year. We have started it up again and put all our food scraps in it except for meat and lemons and oranges. When the bin is full it's a bit gross at the bottom. We empty a bucket of water in at the end. Mum stirs the compost with a pitch fork to mix it up.

We also have to add other things to the compost. Every day we put chook poo in it from the chicken coop. We also put the chook's bedding and old hay in there. 

When the compost is full we are going to leave it and move onto the other compost bin. After a few months all the food and other materials will be broken down and we can put it on the garden to feed the veggies.

Here is some other info I found about composting.

PRUNING

Mum prunes the roses every year in winter. She taught me how to do it this year. It was prertty fun but the rose thorns hurt a lot!!!

Here are some pictures showing how you should prune. You need to use sectateurs and cut on a slant just above a bud. That means that the bud can grow a new shoot from that spot.

YOu have to be really careful and use gloves to protect your hands.  

You have to cut quite a lot of the rose bush out but apparently it all grows back.

FERTILISERS, CHEMICALS AND PEST CONTROL

 We are lucky because we have chickens and chicken poo is really good for the garden because it feeds the soil. It's actually better to not put the poo straight onto the garden. You have to wait till it breaks down. So we put it in the compost and wait.

We don't use chemicals in our garden because we don't want to eat vegetables with chemicals on them. Also, they are not really needed because there are other ways to get pests away. You can just squash caterpillars (or give them to the chooks). Also planting basil with the tomatoes, for example, helps keep pests away.

We watched a show on weedkillers and talked about the link between some weed killers and CANCER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx9pQe7d-sI

We also use Powerfeed on our veggies which is natural and made from fish. It fertilises the plants and it gives them a BOOST!!!!!!!