Adding a Raised Bed

Raised beds can be very useful in the vegie garden.  This blog post discusses the various options that are available and how to go about positioning, making and filling a raised bed.

Quick Guide to Pruning Fruit Trees

Here are short to-the-point tips for pruning of Apple and Pear, Apricot, Citrus, Fig, Loquat, Peach and Nectarine, and Plum trees.

An apple at the end of a spur

Veggie Patch Basics - 7 (Feb-Mar)

This last article in the Vegie Patch Basics series discusses what to do in your food garden in February and March, plus what to do at the end of the season to get ready for the next one. This article completes the one-year Vegie Patch Basics series, an introductory look at growing vegetables, that started in April last year.

Handling organic materials

Gardening improves the health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally, of millions of people around the world. But some gardening practices can in rare cases makes people ill. This blog post aims to make you aware of how to best handle soil, mulch, compost, manure, hay and other organic materials. If you follow a few rules, then handling these materials will be very safe!

Veggie Patch Basics - 6 (Dec - Jan)

The December to January part of the food garden season is a busy time in the food garden. Veggie Patch Basics - 6 covers this period and aims to help you make your food garden even more productive and successful.

Pink Eye potato flowers

Deep hay mulching 3 years later

Three years ago I put together blog post What is deep hay mulching? It is a great way to save water and improve soil fertility. Recently someone on the Food Garden Group Facebook page wanted to know what those who used the method three years ago had learned. I decided to find out. Here is the result.

Fruit - Apricots

Apricots are at their best when picked ripe and eaten soon after, and that means that ideally you have your own apricot tree. Add to that the fact that most shop-bought apricots are grown to look appetising when displayed rather than taste well, and you have two very good reasons why every food garden should have an apricot tree!

photo 1: Moorpark apricots

Veggie Patch Basics - 5 (Oct-Nov)

Spring opens up great opportunities for growing vegetables, but the tricky Tasmanian climate makes timing really important.  This fifth post in the Veggie Patch Basics series covers the October - November period.  It aims to help you decide what to grow, and when to sow and plant it.