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I have not planted for nearly 3 years due to a serious handicap (I could not bend and could not squad without tearing my knee cartledge - that happened anyway)
I have had my probable last knee operation 7 weeks ago as well as an osteotomy.
I decided to just plant a few plant in a pot to just save my seeds.
Useless!! I started fully. Never mind the pain and the handicap. I will worry about that another day. Easier said than done as I get very frustrated when the pain is too much or when I get tired. However my healing is making rapid progress and I have achieved a lot in my garden so far.
I have a shade house, made from treated timber with a 40% shade cloth, not so much to protect against the sun, but to keep birds, insects and cats out. Birds and cat I can keep out, but fruit fly and small critters is difficult. I am successful with moths and butterflies, so my worm pests are less.
In the past three years I have not maintained the tunnel so my neighbour's leaves were too heavy a load and some of the top thin beams collapsed. The cloth now lasted for 9 years already and still strong going. I repaired the beams with thicker droppers and it is now back to new condition. The neighbour also decided to get rid of the tree. It is a silver oak that overhangs my shadehouse.
Inside the shadehouse I have three beds, 1 of 5 x 18 feet and 2 of 5 x 25 feet. They have 1 foot high prefab concrete panels sunken in the soil with permanent concrete paths in between. I also have two 4 x4 x4 foot compost bins of bricks. The soil is rather sandy and I add lots of compost annually, about 2 inches thick. It is dig in about 6 inches deep. I get wonderful results.
I stopped hydroponics in containers and changed to a soil mix of 1 part soil, 1 part manure and 1 part compost. It is working very well and the high temp days do not dry out the soil. I did not yet added compost in my beds yet as I was not yet ready for the work due to the injuries.
I rethink my whole approach and I decided to go to raised beds. I added an 8 inch raised bed structure to the smaller bed and that I am going to fill with no soil but compost only. I am going to dig it twelve inch deep, achieving a 1 part soil and 2 parts of compost, of wich 1 part is in the concrete part (below soil level) and 2 parts will be above soil level in the wooden structure boundaries.
In our warm climate I need the rich compost planting medium. I completed the main structure tonight and will add the stakes tomorrow evening. I plan to purchase 1 cubic meter of compost on Saturday. I will not be able to completely fill the bed but after digging it will raise to about two inches from the top - maybe less. This I will fill with compost mulch that I make myself or buy loose.
I am of the opinion that my plants will grow now even better than before. The other two beds I will complete one at a time, to evn better give myself a chance to heal. Also to be lighter on my budget as it is rather expensive. I will plant to the principles of square foot gardening (closer population of plants).
The shade cloth protected my plants against the sun, although I still had too much heat at times. With the better soil/compost mix I will get better results.
I am still planning on building a small (12 x 20 foot) polytunnel later in the year. However I will use my new compost formulae soil mix rather than dry type (choir) hydroponics.
I am very thankful for having built the shadehouse in the first place. Friday the temperature hit 41 degrees of c (105.8 F). Cooking hot. My cucumbers survived easily.
I have completed the first box over the weekend.
I have completed the first bed and filled it Saturday:
First to show how my leg looks like now. This is the reason why I had to neglect my gardening. The other one was also done.
The first load of compost. On my way to Stanler farms (who buy compost from Denny Mushrooms in bulk), I came upon another supplier that I observed while on my way to them. He sold it for much cheaper than the others and they also let me pay pro-rata. So I saved. I dumped the first load on a big piece of canvas and hurried to purchase a second load before the closed. You can see my crutches parked against the wall of my neighbour's garage (built on my boundary). I did not have time for them. Now that I am typing, I know exactly how painful my leg is - but it was still worth it.
Good quality and fine.
The second load is transferred directly from the trailer to the bed. For those who notice: This is South Africa. That is my fencing that I recently installed. Total peace of mind.
I have had my probable last knee operation 7 weeks ago as well as an osteotomy.
I decided to just plant a few plant in a pot to just save my seeds.
Useless!! I started fully. Never mind the pain and the handicap. I will worry about that another day. Easier said than done as I get very frustrated when the pain is too much or when I get tired. However my healing is making rapid progress and I have achieved a lot in my garden so far.
I have a shade house, made from treated timber with a 40% shade cloth, not so much to protect against the sun, but to keep birds, insects and cats out. Birds and cat I can keep out, but fruit fly and small critters is difficult. I am successful with moths and butterflies, so my worm pests are less.
In the past three years I have not maintained the tunnel so my neighbour's leaves were too heavy a load and some of the top thin beams collapsed. The cloth now lasted for 9 years already and still strong going. I repaired the beams with thicker droppers and it is now back to new condition. The neighbour also decided to get rid of the tree. It is a silver oak that overhangs my shadehouse.
Inside the shadehouse I have three beds, 1 of 5 x 18 feet and 2 of 5 x 25 feet. They have 1 foot high prefab concrete panels sunken in the soil with permanent concrete paths in between. I also have two 4 x4 x4 foot compost bins of bricks. The soil is rather sandy and I add lots of compost annually, about 2 inches thick. It is dig in about 6 inches deep. I get wonderful results.
I stopped hydroponics in containers and changed to a soil mix of 1 part soil, 1 part manure and 1 part compost. It is working very well and the high temp days do not dry out the soil. I did not yet added compost in my beds yet as I was not yet ready for the work due to the injuries.
I rethink my whole approach and I decided to go to raised beds. I added an 8 inch raised bed structure to the smaller bed and that I am going to fill with no soil but compost only. I am going to dig it twelve inch deep, achieving a 1 part soil and 2 parts of compost, of wich 1 part is in the concrete part (below soil level) and 2 parts will be above soil level in the wooden structure boundaries.
In our warm climate I need the rich compost planting medium. I completed the main structure tonight and will add the stakes tomorrow evening. I plan to purchase 1 cubic meter of compost on Saturday. I will not be able to completely fill the bed but after digging it will raise to about two inches from the top - maybe less. This I will fill with compost mulch that I make myself or buy loose.
I am of the opinion that my plants will grow now even better than before. The other two beds I will complete one at a time, to evn better give myself a chance to heal. Also to be lighter on my budget as it is rather expensive. I will plant to the principles of square foot gardening (closer population of plants).
The shade cloth protected my plants against the sun, although I still had too much heat at times. With the better soil/compost mix I will get better results.
I am still planning on building a small (12 x 20 foot) polytunnel later in the year. However I will use my new compost formulae soil mix rather than dry type (choir) hydroponics.
I am very thankful for having built the shadehouse in the first place. Friday the temperature hit 41 degrees of c (105.8 F). Cooking hot. My cucumbers survived easily.
I have completed the first box over the weekend.
I have completed the first bed and filled it Saturday:
First to show how my leg looks like now. This is the reason why I had to neglect my gardening. The other one was also done.
The first load of compost. On my way to Stanler farms (who buy compost from Denny Mushrooms in bulk), I came upon another supplier that I observed while on my way to them. He sold it for much cheaper than the others and they also let me pay pro-rata. So I saved. I dumped the first load on a big piece of canvas and hurried to purchase a second load before the closed. You can see my crutches parked against the wall of my neighbour's garage (built on my boundary). I did not have time for them. Now that I am typing, I know exactly how painful my leg is - but it was still worth it.
Good quality and fine.
The second load is transferred directly from the trailer to the bed. For those who notice: This is South Africa. That is my fencing that I recently installed. Total peace of mind.
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