This week for the #hivegardenqotw the community is talking about what the last three things they bought for the garden are! Many of us reuse, recycle or repurpose, so it might be hard to remember what you bought - therein lies the challenge! However, with a relatively new garden, we're having to find mone for the infrastructure to get us started - everything from fence wire to soil!

Three Metres of Vegetable Garden Mix

I had a fight with Jamie about this one. He was pretty adamant that we shouldn't have anything with mushroom compost in it, and I argued that in a blend, it's great for the veggies. However, we didn't have any choice - that's what they had going, and we had some large beds to fill! I had already filled them as much as possible with logs, lucerne, coffee grounds, twigs, leaves. This is a hugelkulture method that encourages all the good things in the soil like microbes and fungi, and also provides air gaps and a water sink as it rots down over time. Still, we needed to fill half the beds.

The cool thing was that the truckdriver (3 metres cost us $300 AUD) was a mad keen urban agriculture gardener, so we chatted for ages, and he came and looked at our raised beds and picked my brains. I told him that he absolutely must grow comfrey, which he hadn't heard of, and the uses of seaweed and how to make fertiliser teas, so he was super stoked to gain some more info to make his little paradise. I was jealous of his bees though!

Bokashi Buckets and Bokashi Bran

I've really been enjoying fermenting my compost before it goes into the big bins. It's much faster and I figure less attractive to rats. It's an anaerobic method, so no air, meaning you can compost in the house if you want. I don't do that - I collect the compost first and then walk down to the side of the house where I keep my compost and worm farm (more on that in another post). You press the vegetable waste (and meat and dairy too which you don't normally put in a compost), squish it down, and then add a couple of small handfuls of bokashi brain. The chooks tried to eat it but didn't quite get that there was a lid.

I tried to use the spray but it didn't work so well, and it smelled rancid when I opened it. After reading up about it a little more, I realised that I should be draining the liquid daily (which you can add to water for fertilising the gardener, or use as a compost activator) so it doesn't go rancid. The bucket should also be opened as little as possible, and even a layer of newspaper sould go on top to stop the air getting in when you put more stuff in there. The bran was said to work better. I have two buckets, as while you are filling one, you allow the other one to rest for two weeks before adding it to the compost. The liquid now smells sweet and full of goodness and is a great addition to the many ways I am adding nutrients to the garden!

Citrus Trees & More Soil

I knew exactly what trees I wanted in the back garden in addition to the grafted double cherry, apple and nashi that were already planted. In the pots, I have a tahitian lime and an imperial mandarin, both dwarf, and on the espalier fence, I have a cara cara and a meyer lemon. Citrus are heavy feeders and our soil is basically sand so I also had to buy some manure, potting mix, coir (for the water retention), perlite, compost and citrus fertiliser to give them the best possible start.

This was all mixed in a wheelbarrow and added to the holes Jamie dug and the pots. Go, little citrus! Meanwhile, as I water my neighbours garden, I'm pinching some of their lemons :P

I was thinking how I often read the posts of gardeners but don't always know where they live or what kind of gardening they are into. I added a little bio at the end of my post to save as a template for when I write a gardening post - it might be helpful, and I know I'd love to read yours! If you'd like the code, please just ask in the comments. I'd love to see these bios pop up on gardening posts on HIVE! Plus, it helps direct people to our community who might not know about us yet. We're a super warm, super lovely group so it's always nice to have new people in to share notes with about gardening and get as excited as we do!

With Love,

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