Woohoo!

Vegie bed #1 has been christened :)

It was a long hard slog just to get bed #1 ready for planting. For the most part the raised bed is filled with weeds, sand, polystyrene and other junk to raise the level. Then there's a good layer of newspaper before the proper soil starts. Most of the soil is home-made, from a combination of broken-down straw, manure, and compost.

The first thing to be planted into bed #1 was a green manure crop, which was left somewhat too late before digging in - story of my life! Then to finish it off, ten bags of bought compost, and a layer of lupin mulch.

This is how she looked before planting:

Since it's a lovely sunny long weekend, Mr Bon psyched me up into finally doing some planting. It's very ad-hoc at this stage - just whatever vegies we thought we would use the most, would be easiest to grow, and which are OK to plant at this time of year, according to my local planting guide.

Here's how she looks now:

From left to right we have:

radish (seeds)

carrot (seeds)

basil

lettuce & rocket

dwarf runner bears & capsicum

tomatoes (grosse lisse, cherry, tommy toe & tiny tim)

celery

leeks

I know some of them are planted way too close together, but.. what the hell. Our approach to this whole lark is very much trial and error. I can learn a certain amount of stuff by reading books and asking friends, but the only way I can really remember a large number of details is to just go ahead and try something, then learn from the inevitable mistakes.

So, in that spirit, feel free to leave a constructive comment, but don't be too hard on us :D

One last picture :)