Gardening Australia: Growing vegetables and natives

JOSH BYRNE:

A fair bit has happened since we were last here. The school had its first working bee for students and parents, where we planted olive trees and natives, installed drip irrigation and spread mulch. Gateposts made from locally salvaged timber will be used to hang gates that are being made by a local artist. When the garden is fenced, this will form the grand entrance. There's also been progress over here, where the guys have made a start on the hard-stand areas. This material is actually made from construction and demolition waste. It's made up of things like crushed concrete and brick and that kind of thing. Now, when it's fully compacted, it will be hard and set almost like concrete. It's durable and cheap. It also means less material goes to landfill and less fresh material has to be quarried. Now, clearly, this area is quite exposed and windbreaks will be essential to protect all future plantings, and we've already made a start. The olives that were planted at the busy bee are along the western side of the garden, which gets the strongest winds. Now, they're tough, quite drought-hardy and very productive once they're established but they do take a while to grow. So, in between we've planted Acacia cyclops, a local coastal Acacia. Now, this is really quick growing. It's also a legume, which means it fixes nitrogen. As they grow, they provide an instant windbreak and screening effect. As the olives slowly take over, we'll chop these back and use the material to mulch the olives. They're a kind of pioneer or nurse species. And, to attract birds and keep weeds down, these ground-covering Grevilleas will spread right along the base. This one is Grevillea 'Seaspray', and this one, Grevillea crithmifolia, and between the two of them there will be nectar-producing flowers most of the year round. Let's go, guys. Let's put this bed in place. It's time to get some veggies planted, and we'll be doing it in raised beds like these. These beds are 3m by 2m and 400mm high. There are six for crop rotation, just like Pete's Patch. There are also two taller, narrower beds for wheelchair access. The beds are being filled with soil-mix, containing sharp sand and compost. This drip line is different to what you normally see me use. It has high-flow, clog resistant drippers, which is important here because we're using the water from the stormwater soak and as always, on sandy soil, I'm spacing the drip lines 30cm apart. And, to get these veggies cranking along, I'll add some rock minerals and blood and bone, at about a handful of each per square metre. OK, guys, time to mulch. Just grab a nice little plump like that, a wad, and space it out gently so it doesn't blow everywhere. Just place them out. Everyone grab one and just spread them and, that way, they won't all blow around the place. This stuff is also hay straw, which is a legume, which means it's got nitrogen in the material that breaks down and it also feeds the soil and adds organic matter. What's your favourite kind of lettuce?

GIRL:

That lettuce, because it's all frilly and all that. And it's a great colour too, isn't it? Now, did you want some trowels or are your fingers still OK?

GIRL:

No, I think that we're OK.

GIRL 2:

Yeah. OK.

GIRL:

We're getting dirty. It's fun.

JOSH BYRNE:

Good. Like all gardeners, the students are pretty keen to start harvesting as soon as possible, so we're planting some quick-growers, like lettuce and radish, which will be ready to pick in about four to six weeks, as well as continual-cropping plants, like chard, and even potatoes, which can be harvested throughout the season as baby spuds. There's also plenty of room for the slower growers, like leeks, garlic and onions. So guys, tell us how you reckon the garden is going so far.

GIRL:

I think it's getting much better than before because it's got plants growing now.

GIRL 2:

Actual plants. And what veggies do you like planting the best? The purple cabbage? It looks pretty cool, doesn't it? Just imagine when this is really big — they're going to look fantastic. Do you know, there's so much food in this bed alone, in fact, all of these beds, all six beds, would provide enough food for a family of five or six people. So just imagine if everyone had one of these in their backyard, how much healthy food would be growing.