The raised garden bed that I set up behind the shed last year is basically finished apart from some beetroot and spinach. one zucchini plant, and a couple of capsicum peppers. I’m having to cover the beetroot and spinach with wire mesh because the possums are eating the tops of them, so I had a plan to completely enclose the garden area with chicken wire like I have seen other people do. I was looking at the actual amount of work I would have to do as well as the cost and then came up with a 3x8x2 metre walk-in chicken coop I had seen online. It is less expensive and a lot less work, but it will only fit five of the seven raised beds inside so I would have to empty out all the dirt and reposition them a bit.
The first raised bed I started on was full of fine hair like roots from the eucalyptus trees about 4 metres away, which means that all the nutrients and water that I have been using in the garden has gone straight to the trees. All the beds are the same so it’s surprising that I has such a good result with all the vegetable this time. We had the best okra crop ever, a raised bed full of large potatoes, tomatoes, beetroot, zucchini, button squash, etc. I guess they just managed to produce a crop before the trees sucked out all the life from everything.
Anyway, the new plan is moving the raised beds down to the patio area where they will sit on a concrete base and there are no big trees close enough to do any damage. I have five of the raised beds moved down and reconfigured to fit inside the enclosure. I have the frame of the enclosure up and most of the pavers moved to where I want, and the next step is to fill the raised beds with soil. I think I might get some new garden soil delivered depending on the cost rather than reusing the old dirt yet again. I am close enough to a tap to put in a complete drip system, and I may put some white shade cloth or bird netting over the top of the enclosure to keep the frost off this winter. The best thing is we will only have to go outside the sliding door to tend the garden and pick stuff to eat.
There’s still a bit of work to do, but I think this will be it for a while, or at least till the next time I decide it’s not practical to have the garden here.
