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The kitchen garden is situated right next to the house. It's
only a short walk from the back door. This is the place to grow all those
plants that need looking after on a daily basis or provide us with food from day
to day. Herbs can be picked for the kitchen as they are needed. Salads can
be harvested a few leaves at a time.
Our kitchen garden covers a small flat area and a rather steep embankment behind it. We terraced the slope and created
the raised beds for the rotations. On top of the embankment we
planted 15 blueberries from a number of varieties in a long raised bed.
We use a crop rotation system in the majority of the beds. In the extra
beds we plant seven year beans and over-wintering vegetables and all those
plants that don't really fit the rotation cycle. |
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Left: May 15th, 2006. The early stage of the kitchen
garden. During the colder months the garden does not get a lot of
sunlight.
Right: June 7th, 2007. The fence is up and we have built the
terraces.
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Crop rotation in the kitchen
garden
rotations change late in April
| Crop
Rotation Bed 1 becomes Bed 2 next year |
-April onwards: where space
becomes available dig in horse manure and composted hay from
chook-pens
-August: apply complete organic
fertilizer
-late August to November: sow peas
-Slash pea stalks after harvest; throw stalks on compost; rotary-hoe
bed at shallow depth |
| Crop
Rotation Bed 2 becomes Bed 3
next year |
-April: apply complete organic
fertilizer
-April to November: sow salad onions
-April to June: sow spring onions
-September to January: sow spring onions |
| Crop
Rotation Bed 3 becomes Bed 4
next year |
-April onwards: where space
becomes available dig in horse manure and composted hay from
chook-pens
-August: apply complete organic
fertilizer
-late August to November: sow peas
-late September to mid December: sow climbing beans
-Slash stalks after harvest; rotary-hoe bed at shallow depth |
| Crop
Rotation Bed 4 becomes Bed 5 next year |
-April: dig in horse manure and composted hay from
chook-pens (not too much)
-September: apply complete organic
fertilizer
-September to December: sow carrots and
radishes |
| Crop
Rotation Bed 5 becomes Bed 6 next year |
-April onwards: where space
becomes available dig in horse manure and composted hay from
chook-pens
-October: apply complete organic
fertilizer
-late October to mid December: sow bush beans
-Slash stalks after harvest; rotary-hoe bed at shallow depth |
| Crop
Rotation Bed 6 becomes Bed 1 next year |
-April: dig in horse manure and composted hay from
chook-pens
-August: apply complete organic
fertilizer and plant sugarloaf cabbages from greenhouse
-September to January: sow brassica |
Seeds of oregano, dill, marigold,
calendula, nasturtiums and edible chrysanthemums are present in all
rotation beds and most of the non-rotation beds as companion plants.
We have a good germination rate with those seeds.
Other plants, e.g. celery, lettuces,
mustard, spinach, silverbeet, Jerusalem artichoke, herbs, edible flowers
and winter vegetables grow in the non-rotation beds. |
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Rotation planting in the kitchen garden
Above: November 13th, 2007
Below: December 12th, 2007 |
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Currawongs
and tomatoes, Green Rosellas and corn
In 2007 we grew tomatoes in the kitchen garden. We
didn't realize that currawongs just love tomatoes! And they like to
hide in the trees before they raid the plants. This year we don't
have any tomatoes in the kitchen garden at all any more. We planted
them in the vegie garden, far away from the trees and the currawongs.
Let's see if that helps!
A different problem has come up, though. We planted quite a bit of
corn this year. It's the Green Rosellas who love the corn. And they
know exactly when the cobs are yellow and sweet. We have to be very
alert to get the cobbs before the Rosellas "harvest" them.
Down in the vegie garden, this does not happen at all! Again, it's
the proximity of the forest, that encourages the birds to come and
help themselves.
Crop rotation
with only legumes, brassica and root vegetables
The ideal crop rotation cycle as we use it down in the
vegie garden just doesn't work in the kitchen garden. Birds raid the
tomatoes and the corn, and it's too cold and shady for capsicum,
cucumber, eggplant, squash, zucchini and pumpkins to grow well. We
have come up with a different rotation system now. It's a rotation
cycle of six years that includes two legume cycle, but also four
cycles with root vegetables. Let's see if it works!
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The chicken run
The chicken run is fully fenced with chicken
wire, including overhead. We bought three chickens when they were 18 weeks
old and kept them in the run for the first month, so that they would get
accustomed to the run and the chook house. After that time we started to
let them free-range. We now close the run each night, to keep predators
out. We feed the chickens with about one quarter of
the amount of layer-mix recommended for caged chickens. Most of the times
even this is too much and won't be eaten up. The chickens just find a huge
amount of food out in the bush and on the paddocks. Free-ranging chickens
are supposed to lay less eggs, but we still get three eggs on most days. More
about our experiences with chickens and about our new Crossbreds here.
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The compost
The theory of compost! So much has been
written about composting. Our problem is, that we just don't seem to have
enough "stuff" to chuck on the compost heap. Most of our kitchen
scraps are eaten by the pigs. When we weed the beds we
use the unwanted material to mulch the beds. Our compost heap grows only
very slowly. Composted material from the rota-loo ends up here, the old
hay from the chook house mixed with the droppings, too. Britta keeps three
guinea pigs and a rabbit. She uses fresh hay in the hutch and brings it back to us
after her animals have "processed" it. It goes straight on
the compost.
We built a compost bin with
three one by one metre compartments. After a full year, not even one of
those was full. Instead of compost we use the manure from horses on the
beds.
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