Please answer my gardening questionaire!

12 years ago

For my Year 12 Research Project I am researching the essentials to growing a successful organic vegetable garden. If you could take 5 mins out of your day to answer my questions that would be great! Thank you.
Reply to the questions in the comment below :)
How long have you been gardening for?

How has your experience with gardening been?

What was included in your first vegetable garden?

What were the easiest vegetables to grow from your garden?

Did any vegetables die eventually?

Do you know why this was?

Is your garden organic?

What sort of fertilizers/feeders do you use on your garden?

Do you check the pH levels of your garden?

What type of soil do you recommend?

What plant produces the most amounts of vegetables in the quickest amount of time?

When do you water your garden and with how much water?

What other problems have you encountered with your vegetable garden?

What sort of tips and recommendations do you have for beginner gardeners that want to create their first organic garden?

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Comments (2)

funnelweb
12 years ago
By organic (vegetable) gardening I guess you mean no artificial fertilisers and no pesticides other than perhaps pyrethrum. Well, whenever I grow veggies, I find I have to use snail bait, otherwise my beans (for eg.) get the tops eaten off as soon as they appear above ground. I usually don't use sprays as the most affective ones can leave toxins in the fruit, so when I plant tomatoes I have to use a net to prevent the Queensland fruit fly and other moth/butterfly larvae from attacking and destroying the fruit.
My answers to your questions:
How has your experience with gardening been? Generally productive if I rotate my crops.

What was included in your first vegetable garden? Tomatoes, stringless dwarf beans, lettuce, followed by sweet corn (takes up a lot of space), carrots (can be difficult) and beetroot (can also be 'iffy').

What were the easiest vegetables to grow from your garden? Beans, lettuce, tomatoes, corn.

Did any vegetables die eventually? not until they bore fruit.

Do you know why this was? Yes, kept an eye on them for bugs, watered at appropriate times.

Is your garden organic? generally yes - I enrich it with organic fertilisers between crops.

What sort of fertilizers/feeders do you use on your garden? Blood and bone meal, chicken manure, dolomite lime, and for beetroot a little boron; and once a year a good amount of compost from my compost heap well rotted and then dug in. Avoid fertilisers with carrots though, causes them to 'fork'.

Do you check the pH levels of your garden? Occasionally, especially when digging in virgin soil.

What type of soil do you recommend? Free draining, crumbly garden loam enriched with well rotted compost.

What plant produces the most amounts of vegetables in the quickest amount of time? In my experience, dwarf beans.

When do you water your garden and with how much water? depending on the weather but when it's feeling dry at finger-depth in the soil, I'll give it a reasonable soaking. But don't overdo do it. Oh, and if you plant beans, stop watering as soon as they germinate as the young first leaves (the cotyledons) can, and do, rot off. Leave them a week or so to harden, about when the next leaves appear.

What other problems have you encountered with your vegetable garden? Other than insect larvae and birds (crows, magpies) I check for curl-grubs - they attack the roots - when I spade through the soil before planting.

What sort of tips and recommendations do you have for beginner gardeners that want to create their first organic garden? Ensure the soil is as described above, and patience. Oh, and follow the seeds/plant guidelines and avoid planting too close. And stake tall growing plants such as tomatoes as recommended.
Oh, and one more thing: I always like to mulch the soil between the crops, helps to preserve moisture and keeps low growing fruit off the soil. And it promotes worms, which are goodies.
Good luck.
arthurm
12 years ago

Reply to the questions in the comment below :)
How long have you been gardening for?
42 + years
How has your experience with gardening been?
Mostly positive
What was included in your first vegetable garden?
Beans

What were the easiest vegetables to grow from your garden? Beans

Did any vegetables die eventually? Yes. Tomatoes were once easy. Now they are difficult.

Do you know why this was? Early or late blight?

Is your garden organic? Partly organic

What sort of fertilizers/feeders do you use on your garden? All purpose fertilizers with trace elements.
Seaweed Extract. "Citrus" fertilizer for Citrus.

Do you check the pH levels of your garden? No!

What type of soil do you recommend? Any soil is appropriate, you have to work with what is there.

What plant produces the most amounts of vegetables in the quickest amount of time? Lettuce, Silver beet, Shallots. Beans, which I no longer grow because no one likes eating them

When do you water your garden and with how much water? I use the rain water tank and when that is dry, town water. Heavens knows how much water. Citrus needs to be well watered and never allowed to dry out.

What other problems have you encountered with your vegetable garden? Couldn't grow beetroot.

What sort of tips and recommendations do you have for beginner gardeners that want to create their first organic garden?
I think totally organic is bulldust. Sure a compost heap is necessary and I use compost all the time, but i think you get better results going 50/50.

I hope this helps.

This post was edited by arthurm on Wed, Mar 5, 14 at 13:12
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Please answer my gardening questionaire!

Comments (2)

funnelweb

arthurm

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