No dirt, no-dig!

Finally found out where I can get lucerne and straw from in Wollongong (as an internet search doesn't turn up much) and ended up at Woonona Pet and Produce on Bellambi lane. I believe it was about $12-$13 a bale of lucerne that had been water damaged and $3 or $4 for a bag of straw. Mowed the lawns and kept the clippings. Today I used Costa's no-dig recipe (minus the rock-dust as I din't have any and with a few sprinkles of blood and bone throughout). I also didn't have any compost ready to go and so I planted my seedlings that are in coir pots straight into the bed in some extra seed raising mix. Bit of an experiment, we'll see how that pans out.

As the third layer called for dried leaves and my usual hessian sack of them had been exhausted on the compost bin, today turned out to be a great demonstration of David Holmgren's 11th Permaculture Design Principle "Use Edges and Value the Marginal" as my place backs onto a laneway which acts as a wind tunnel and collects leaves just outside the back gate and along the back fences. Score!

Use Edges and Value the Marginal...

Seedlings fresh from the greenhouse.

Love the colours in beetroot seedlings.

Most of these seedlings were planted either on the 22nd May or the 30th May but due to spending most of that time in a sunless backyard they aren't as well developed as they should be. They have really started to go well after a vacation in the greenhouse though.

The beds received about 4 layers of the lucerne, chicken poo, molassus combination, straw on top and then the sugarsnap peas were planted in the two top corners as a frame will be put up so they can climb up and form an arch way over into the next garden bed. (I am saying that is for my 2 year old nieces enjoyment but lets be honest, who doesn't like an archway made of edibles?). Then I have planted a row of carrots down the middle, and beetroots down the edges with silverbeet and kale in the rows in between the root vegetables. This is in an attempt to make efficient use of space, one row root vegetable (grows down) next grows up (i.e. kale or spinach) and more fits in the bed but there is enough room for everyone. 

Sugarsnap peas (6 weeks old).
Love the shape of their leaves.

Everything was watered and another no-dig garden was created in preparation for the Asparagus. Asparagus seeds from Eden - soaked for a couple of hours and a few different approaches. Single seeds sown into three coir pots. Six single seeds sown into egg cartons, that in my head will break down perfectly and just at the right time for them to be planted straight into the no-dig bed. Then I have sown a line of seedlings in seedling tray that has two week old kale, bok-choi and carrot seedlings. I also planted onion (Gladalan) seeds (also from Eden). 

The finished product... YAY!

All done. Time to eat!