SPINAL NETWORK NEWS

Lettuce, Beetroot, Radish, Spring Onion, Zucchini,Spinach, Silver beet, Carrots
Raised gardens are a great option for those
with limited mobility. My brother built mine
for me. He then filled it with mushroom
compost, topped off with a veggie mix that
has all the good nutrients that plants need.
I covered the soil with weed mat. (Cats like
bare dirt.) I then cut the weed mat to open
rows for the plants. I planted a combination
of seedlings and seeds. Radishes are
the best. They grow so quickly. If instant
gratification is your thing, then radishes
are the plant for you. Because this is my
first raised garden, and is limited space, I
decided on an intensive farming approach.
With very little regard for how big plants
get, I planted and hoped for the best.
My gardening knowledge is restricted to
what I gleaned off my parents as I grew up.
I grew up on a farm and Dads vegetable
garden was huge, some years encroaching
onto the paddock next to the house. We
had a lot of corn those years. In the city its
different. But still possible. The plants are a
bit over crowded but they seem to be
coping.
These two pages show you just one
corner of the garden. I also have
tomatoes in big pots, strawberries
in bags hanging off the fence and a
patio with potted herbs, nasturtiums,
succulents and petunias. I may have gone
a bit overboard in the first year, but it
feels great!
I bought some snail bait because a snail
ate a sizable portion of one my petunias.
I have aphids on some plants and I use
an organic spray on them. My carers
help me water them and I am planning
an irrigation system. Other than that my
intervention has been minimal. Nature
has taken its course and now I am
provided with a sense of belonging in a
place, another reason to get out in the
sun and salad for tea.
Trudy Mulligan
17