Herb/Vegetable Garden, help.

Myself and my girlfriend have decided to put in a herb/vegetable garden. We are from Australia, on the South Coast of New South Whales.

What I would like to know is there any pointers or tips that anyone could give me on growing these types of herbs and vegetables.

Vegetables: Broccoli, Tomato, Been Sprouts, Leaf Lettuce, Snow Peas, Carrots, Beets, Cucumber, Chives, Ginger, Garlic, and Brussel sprouts.

Herbs:Cilantro(Coriander), Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Parsley

Fruit: Strawberries

Hebal Tea/Green Tea: Well basically I know nothing about this stuff! I want to make my own herbal and green tea, so if anyone has any experience or knows what the go is, please let me know!

I am ordering my seeds from seeds2freedom, if anyone else has suggestions for gmo/healthy strains please leave below

I have heard of people doing inclosed herb gardens, so I have been looking into them, and like some first hand help/suggestions on what to do and what not to do!

So for the soil I plan on using a compost mixture that my uncle has been adding to for quite some years now. I plan on mixing his compost (vegetable, egg shells, etc...) with a mushroom compost that the local nursery. I will also be going down to the beach and getting myself a lot of seaweed, and then I will add it to a blender and add it to the compost mixture I come up with!

I will dig the gardens out at about 500mil then lay some news paper then put straw on top of the news paper then adding the soil mixture on top of the news paper and straw.

When watering the plants I plan on using a mixture of Seasol and a plant feeder, these are both organic and safe to be using.

So if anyone here could please give me any help or any pointers I will highly appreciate

Thank you

Jack

Edit: I also would like to know if anyone has done a herb garden, on the exterior to there window!

reply to post by kangajack

LOL, till your soil!!!

reply to post by kangajack

LOL, till your soil!!!

LaElvis
reply to post by kangajack

 

LOL, till your soil!!!

??

reply to post by kangajack


Rotation rotation rotation! Set up your plan to include how you will be rotating the veggies for the next planting. They will support and strengthen each other then.

reply to post by Dimithae


Do you mean like when the vegetable is ready on the plant to replant in the same garden bed?

reply to post by Dimithae


Do you mean like when the vegetable is ready on the plant to replant in the same garden bed?

reply to post by Dimithae


Do you mean like when the vegetable is ready on the plant to replant in the same garden bed?

Vegetables: Broccoli, Tomato, Been Sprouts, Leaf Lettuce, Snow Peas, Carrots, Beets, Cucumber, Chives, Ginger, Garlic, and Brussel sprouts.

Herbs:Cilantro(Coriander), Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Parsley

Carrots need soft soil, not too much manure or they'll get "hairy"

Grow basil in around the tomatoes, the tomatoes like that.
Grow in the herb garden as well, can't have too much basil. Various types are good.

Parsley takes a long time to sprout up. Once it does, it should be around forever. Pick a permanent spot for it.
Chives will also be around forever. Get garlic chives as well as regular.
Mint spreads, give it it's own garden.
Thyme and Greek oregano is nice too - give them both room to really spread out.

Rosemary likes to be watered thoroughly, and likes too be sprayed with water often.

Put in some flowers to attract bees. Yellows and purple colours.
Nasturtium (sp?) are edible as well as colourful.

Leaf lettuce - purple usually does better in hot weather than the green. Grow both.

Ahh the edible garden. Always a fun hobby to get in on. I really don't use soil much these days and especially don't plant "in ground" anymore. When i do use soil though i find above ground pots/trenches/whatever, brings your yields up substantially. Good drainage goes a long way. A lot of people pack their soil to much too, they think more soil = more nutes, which is true but if the roots are using lots of energy to move through compacted soil the foliage up top will suffer.

Another fun add on to the diy home gardening is aquaponics, a closed agricultural system that combines raising fish and growing plants with hydroponics. Pretty cool stuff, you feed the fish and the fish feed the plants. Oh and once you get your system up and running you don't have to water your plants again! (Rarely any weeding either!) The system uses the same water from the beginning to end.

Better off getting your herbs as already established plants as they are difficult to grow from seeds.

reply to post by kangajack


I will give you a link you can go to that will help with how to rotate your garden.

www.gardenorganic.org.uk...


Let me know if the link doesn't work.But I think its good. It will explain all the benefits of rotating out crops.

reply to post by kangajack


Well you are in a perfect location to grow some of these crops, snow peas especially.

The herbs shouldn't be a problem. I grow most of the herbs you mention and the hardest part is getting the seeds to germinate, after they take root all they need is a bit of sun and water and they'll take care of themselves, especially basil.

And If you want to try something different, go for chillies. They are a hardy plant and don't require much attention, a few egg shells and a splash of water every now and again is all they need.

reply to post by kangajack


G'day KJ, have spoken before, I've just moved (August) to a new dig on the north coast NSW. Started with preparing a garden, horse manure. Now have grafted tomatoes (fruit big as your fist) growing along side supermarket tomatoes grown from their green seed just chuicked in the garden, (smaller fruit). All taste magnificent.

For shade I have trellaced passionfruit (already established now fruiting) but have introduced new grafted varieties. In between I also plant rosemary cuttings and parsely. Mint (I'm old fashioned) is grown near the gully traps/drains.

To break up the soil I am interplanting potatoes. All are going well so when I harvest them I'll dig that portion of the bed up.

Pumpkins, zucchini and squash are grown on the outside of the beds and are providing a barrier to weeds when the runners are trained around the outside. I also put in beans, peas and snowpeas but needed some lime for them to establish in the manure. All worms I find go into the patch.

I have some hollow stumps about the block. Filled them with soil/manure and put in pumpkins. They are the best at present.

Under the established fruit trees I mulched hay and put in zuchinnis, pumpkins and squash. Kept the water up and now they're shooting well.

Its a start but I save all seeds from any fruit/veges I buy. Dry em and just plant them. Recent success up my way was with a pineapple crown.

Possums and birds are a problem but will be netting the garden soon. Next project is pigs, chooks and fish (perch) for this year. manure from the chooks and pigs will go into the gardens.

On a side note, I discovered a patch where the previous owners grew orchids. Native and imported. I'm also resurrecting those with a view of getting cuttings and bulbs for growing and selling.

For interest my neighbours and I are making meade froma honey recipe and homebrew.


Home this helps,

good luck, regards Bally

Vegetables require a lot of nitrogen to produce fruit and as much Sun as possible . Full I guess northern exposure would be best. In the northern hemisphere a southern exposure is best make sure your site a gets at least six hours of good light every day. Water deeply twice a week as opposed to shallow water every day. Deep means you wet the soil at least three inches down from the surface. This is good when it gets dry as the roots will be deeper down and will get ground water when rain is scarce.


Herbs are much easier as these are basically weeds. They like it dry and don't like heavy fertilizer. You can plant them and ignore them and they will be happy.
In harvesting herbs make sure you don't take more than a third of any plant. Rosemary is very hardy and you can pick from the plant twelve months out of the year. It will eventually grow into a rather large bush and so will benefit from cutting it back. I only use the tender tips as the older growth tastes too much like pine to me.
Parsley will live two years then needs replanting but I've had parsley even under the snow so do plant a few of them. I love having fresh herbs all year long. Sage one of my favorites lives for about five years and if you don't strip the plant you can pick this in winter too. I do what I call the Simon and Garfunkel herb garden. Parsley sage rosemary and thyme. I also grow tarragon, lavender,(culinary not perfume grade) and marjoram which is like a sweeter version of oregano. Speaking of oregano. This is best planted in a pot as this plant can be invasive as can mint. You don't want these guys in the regular garden as they will take over and kill off the other plants.
Enjoy the best flavors from your home garden. I can still remember my first home grown tomato and thinking wow I've never really had a tomato before. The flavor was so much more intense when you can let the fruit ripen on the vine. Warm from the sun they make great snacking for the person tending the garden to eat while you work.
Last natural pesticides like soap are better for you and the ground water so use this instead of chemicals. Natural pest control from lady bugs aphids spiders and praying mantis are your friends so make sure you don't kill off these essential bugs.

Have fun. After a few years I even did the knot garden formation for my herbs.

reply to post by snowspirit


I have found that parsley is a two year plant at best. I buy plants as opposed to seeds as these are hard to get going. I would say make a permanent spot for the rosemary as this will settle in and make itself at home.
Oh I didn't say where I am growing my garden. I live in coastal Virginia and our growing season is from March to October . I realize tbat most places have a shorter growing season.

Night Star
Better off getting your herbs as already established plants as they are difficult to grow from seeds.

I agree. They live a long time and are worth the extra expense of getting established plants. They pay for themselves if you've ever bought fresh herbs at the market you know how expensive they are compared to dried herbs. Totally worth it to buy plants.

reply to post by kangajack


With broccoli and Brussels sprouts and actually all cole crops, take into account that these attract pests very easily. I would plant herbs and other plants with cole crops that keep the pests away, so you don't have to poison your crop. I am supposing you want organic food. Hyssop is excellent to keep cole crops healthy as well as mint, dill, thyme and sage.

Also the the time to harvest is long with cole crops, so you need to start these early. March-April is the latest time to get these started, depending on geographic location and length of summer. From my experience, cole crops are the hardest to grow. The small plants grow and germinate best in cool environment, in warm or hot they grow long and flimsy requiring multiple replantings in deeper soil or bigger pots if germinated inside. Good ventilation and keeping the soil as dry as possible is required when the plants are small. Would not recommend these for a novice.

With carrots, sage, rosemary and onion plants protect carrot from pests. I would probably plant the garlic with the carrots.

All veggies benefit from the Tagetes family of annual plants as they excrete biocides into the soil around them and thus expel pests, works best if planted close to the plant to protect. Marigold is excellent for this purpose as well, you could even surround your plot with this flower and its flower petals edible as well.

You did not mention potato, but it grows well with fava beans.

snowspirit

Vegetables: Broccoli, Tomato, Been Sprouts, Leaf Lettuce, Snow Peas, Carrots, Beets, Cucumber, Chives, Ginger, Garlic, and Brussel sprouts.

Herbs:Cilantro(Coriander), Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Parsley

Carrots need soft soil, not too much manure or they'll get "hairy"

Grow basil in around the tomatoes, the tomatoes like that.
Grow in the herb garden as well, can't have too much basil. Various types are good.

Parsley takes a long time to sprout up. Once it does, it should be around forever. Pick a permanent spot for it.
Chives will also be around forever. Get garlic chives as well as regular.
Mint spreads, give it it's own garden.
Thyme and Greek oregano is nice too - give them both room to really spread out.

Rosemary likes to be watered thoroughly, and likes too be sprayed with water often.

Put in some flowers to attract bees. Yellows and purple colours.
Nasturtium (sp?) are edible as well as colourful.

Leaf lettuce - purple usually does better in hot weather than the green. Grow both.

Thank you so much for your reply, sorry I took so long at getting back to you I have been out of town over my Christmas break from work.

How do you suggest getting herbs to sprout like where should I plant them first?
So mint and rosemary should have there own dedicated gardens? How big will they grow?

What flowers do you suggest that attract bees and give the bees healthy honey, as one of my friends has his own hive and we are building a fair few organic gardens around his farm.

What soil do you grow carrots in like what kind of manure or compost.

Is the ph level a big up in the watering of the plants?

THANKS BUDDY

twistedlogic
Ahh the edible garden. Always a fun hobby to get in on. I really don't use soil much these days and especially don't plant "in ground" anymore. When i do use soil though i find above ground pots/trenches/whatever, brings your yields up substantially. Good drainage goes a long way. A lot of people pack their soil to much too, they think more soil = more nutes, which is true but if the roots are using lots of energy to move through compacted soil the foliage up top will suffer.

Another fun add on to the diy home gardening is aquaponics, a closed agricultural system that combines raising fish and growing plants with hydroponics. Pretty cool stuff, you feed the fish and the fish feed the plants. Oh and once you get your system up and running you don't have to water your plants again! (Rarely any weeding either!) The system uses the same water from the beginning to end.

edit on 2-1-2014 by twistedlogic because: (no reason given)

What do you plant your plants into instead of soil? A compost?....

The aquaponics seems like a really unique method! Do you use this method yoursellf?

Sorry for replying so late I was out of town.

tah