Arnhem Gardening Tips

Week 2 of the Carbon challenge is all about Food and Waste. 
In keeping with the theme of this week we spent the morning wandering through the veggie patch, collecting eggs and harvesting honey. 
Arnhem has shared with us some of her little gardening tips. From the perfect composting recipe to what veggies to plant for what time of year. 
 
Gardening 
Having compost and manure is essential for creating healthy garden beds. 
It’s easy to make compost from everything around you. 
I like to use cow and chicken poo for fertiliser. 
You can collect in paddocks or buy off the side of the road, it’s very easy to get. 
I will mix the manure into the beds with the compost and soil. 
I also make a manure tea where I will sit the cow poo in water ratio 30 parts poo to 70 parts water, for a few weeks to marinate, then mix with water into a tea like brown colour and pour over the plants. 
You can sprinkle cow poo over the garden. 
Chicken poo is stronger so I like to let it sit for a few weeks before I put it into the garden beds.
 
Knowing when to plant what at the correct time of the year is important. 
You can easily research on the internet what to plant, at what time of the year, depending on what part of the planet you live on. 
I live subtropical so I know what I should plant in winter & what I should plant in summer. 
I know certain things do not like the cold or vice versa, can’t handle the heat. 
You can also get a moon planting calendar and follow planting by the moon. This advises best time to sow, harvest, make beds etc....

Easy starter tips ~

Herbs, most herbs are easy to grow and make any meal taste better! 

Lettuce is always an easy plant to start with and will grow in most place all year round. 

It’s so good to be able to pick a lettuce as you need it. 

Beans will grow in just about anything and come up super fast.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes are easy to grow you just chop them up and place in your beds. 

Cucumber & pumpkin I find super easy to grow. 

Easy flowers ~ 

Marigolds 

Sunflowers 

Cosmos 

 

Compost 

There is nothing worse than creating dirty rubbish, that attracts flys and maggots, simple by mixing your waste and not putting the little effort it takes into sorting it. 

 

For me I look at food scraps as a valuable resource for the garden, our worm farm and the chickens.

 

Buy a big outdoor composting bin, you can get them from Bunnings or a gardening supplies store. 

 

Have a little sealed bucket on you kitchen bench and start collecting your kitchen food scraps...

 

When creating compost outside in you bin...

I use a layer system  brown (carbon) & green (nitrogen) 

Brown ~ layers of much, leaves, twigs 

Green ~garden trimmings, grass clippings 

Brown ~ dry leaves, shredded paper, 

Green ~ food scraps 

 

The most important thing is getting balance right between the brown and the green. 

You need a ration of approx 60% carbon & 40% nitrogen 

 

Watering in each layer as you go.

 

You can add dirt as there are lots of heathy microbes to help your compost breakdown.

 

Chickens 

We love having chickens as they also love food scraps and they reward you with fresh yummy eggs. 

kids love collecting eggs and watching the hens scratch around, or having a rooster chase them about. 

The most important thing if you live rural is having a safe coop for them to sleep in at night.

There are a lot of predators like foxes & snakes waiting to make a meal out of you hens.

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