The Garden of Goodness - Season One
By Carl Muir
There’s nothing quite like the taste of a hand picked tomato freshly picked from your own plant in the back garden. Or the extra sweetness of roast veges that you’ve grown yourself. I try to follow a paleo or ketogenic diet as much as possible, and a good supply of fresh veges is key to not falling off that path!
In a world that is becomingly increasingly removed from our roots, gardening is something that is so good for the soul. It grounds us, makes us more resilient, self sufficient and in tune with nature. While I’ve dabble in growing my own herbs and veges over the years, I’ve always wanted a really kick arse vege garden in my back yard. When you can gather most of your protein from the ocean, and your veges from the back yard - its hard to go wrong!
This last spring/summer it all came together!
Here’s a few things I learnt a lot the way, which might help you plan your low maintenance beach garden.
LOCATION, PREPARATION AND PLANTING
I chose a protected part of the section that had good all day sun, especially morning sun. I wanted to plant a good variety of vegetables, so started with as big an area as possible. I looked at various forms of boxing but ended up deciding to save my pennies and go for an authentic beach look instead! A road trip over to the Thames coast and I had all the driftwood I needed to box the garden up! After clearing all the area, digging it all over, clearing all weeds, and giving it a good hoe. I got two trailer loads of good quality Daltons Garden Mix from our local landscape supply company and this was really the key to a booming garden as it comes prepacked with all the nutrients a good garden needs to thrive.
A few trips to The Garden Shed in Tairua and Aeroview Garden Centre in Thames, and I had a huge amount of seedlings to plant. I chose to plant a good range of quick growing greens, broccolli, cos lettuce (as you can pick leaves as it grows), other lettuces, zucchini. Passionfruit to grow over the trellised fence. Beetroot. Tomatoes. Silverbeet, Spinach. Spring onions, celery and leeks always go well with seafood dishes so planted loads of them! And of course sweetcorn for the summer BBQ’s!
BIRDS AND OTHER PESTS
One of the most susceptible times for the plants is just after planting the seedling, with birds ripping them out of the ground before they establish their roots. A decent sized roll of wind mesh strategically placed over the garden sorted that, and was left in place for the first month.
Frequent light watering is great while the seedlings are settling in, and then deeper watering once they are more established.
MAINTENANCE
Pea straw laid around the plants, helps retain the moisture in the soil, and also stops weeds from growing through and becoming a pest. Organic derris dust regularly applied to the leaves of plants like broccolli and lettuce stops a lot of other pests like caterpillars and slugs from munching a way at your hard work!
One of the first paleo meals out of the new garden - breakfast bacon, egg and avo lettuce wraps!
All in all, I’m pretty stoked with how season one has ended up! A steady supply of greens all summer long, and a passionfruit vine that will supply for many years to come!
