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38 bmag.com.au I Read Brisbane’s Best
bliving
Outdoors
Grow your own
Nothing tastes as good as the food you grow yourself,
writes Jody Rigby
I
think a lot of people are afraid of failure
or just of the unknown when it comes
to growing their own food and it can be
daunting, what with all the talk about pests
and diseases and how much to fertilise and all
but really, when it comes down to it, even
the brownest of green thumbs can have
success growing herbs, vegies and
fruit with just a teeny bit of general
gardening knowledge. Let’s get
started with five basic needs for
growing your own vegies.
How to make your
vegie garden grow
1. Start with good soil
You’re already half way there with a good
growing medium (that’s tech-talk for soil or
potting mix). Nothing’s going to like growing
in rock-hard compacted clay or straight sand
alone so the idea is to get enough organic
matter dug through and the soil turned over
with a mattock or hoe to make it crumbly. You
can use manures, home compost or mushroom
compost to enrich the soil. When using pots,
buy a quality herb/vegie potting mix.
2. Vegies like the sun
There is no point trying to grow them in the shade,
they just won’t prosper. You may get some
growth but it will be sparse and leggy. Find a spot
that gets at least four to six hours of sun a day.
3. Feed them
Once a fortnight is all you need and if you’re
using a hose-connected feeder you can water
and feed at the same time. Otherwise it’s
just a matter of diluting a soluble food into a
watering can.
4. Water daily
Plump juicy fruits and vegetables or crisp
sweet lettuce needs water daily when it’s warm
and the more watering you do, the sooner
you’ll be enjoying the fruits of your labour.
5. Choose your foods
Lettuce does tend to “bolt” (go to seed) a lot
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quicker with the summer heat so the way to
avoid this is to construct a temporary shade
structure with shade cloth overhead. Perpetual
lettuce is a non-hearting variety that is perfect
to pick as you need from the outer leaves. Look
for “multi-cut” lettuce in punnets.
Hearting types such as cos and butterhead
should be cut off at the base and used all at
once. I like mini cos as the leaves are perfect
for sandwiches. Lettuces are good in ground
or in pots but they should be planted 20cms
apart. You should be able to reap your harvest
in four to six weeks. You could also plant
mizuna, rocket and mustard greens to spice
up your salads. Find out more about lettuce
varieties at www.thelostseed.com.au.
Tomatoes are the highest yielding of all
vegies and nothing tastes better than homegrown
tomatoes. They like a bit of lime turned
into the soil prior to planting, alongside some
compost and manures. This adds calcium to the
soil and, in turn, prevents blossom end rot.
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