Day Twelve - Seedlings and Garden Bed

Due to unforeseen circumstances, a couple of days after planting the seeds into the planter, I needed to go away for 10 days. I gave the seeds a good watering prior to leaving and hoped for the best. To my surprise the seeds germinated and the seedlings survived both the warm spring days and the freaky duststorm that the Central Coast got on the 23rd September 2009. In the first and second photos are the seedlings that germinated. The only seedlings not to germinate were the Capsicum.

I have also included a photo of the garden bed where these seedlings will be planted in 3-4 weeks.

Edit: new photos of the Sydney duststorm

Day One - Growing Our Own Vegies

Over the past 4 weeks, I have been preparing a little used raised garden bed to allow it to be used as a vegetable garden. Previously it was the location of a large hibiscus tree and weeds and grass.

Two weekends ago I removed the hibiscus tree and cleaned up all the grass. I also loosened the compacted soil with a mattock and tried to break up the larger clumps of soil and removed any further weeds and leaves.

This weekend I bought two bags of cow manure and one of chicken manure. I mixed these into the existing soil to prepare the bed for planting.

To give my first batch of plants the best possible start and let the bed settle in I planted a batch of seeds in a seed planter.

I have chosen the following plants as they are foods we eat on a regular basis:

• Tomatoes
• Squash
• Lebanese Cucumber
• Lettuce (various varieties)
• Capsicum

Over the next few weeks I will post updates on how the plants are progressing. I will also include some photos of the bed and the seed planter.