My veggie patch!

 
Many parents wonder whether their children will “miss out on experiences” if they live in the country. Well I grew up in the country and I wouldn’t have had it any another way. Growing up in the country was the best thing my parents could ever give to me as a child. I learnt about the natural cycles of life and had so much fun climbing trees, taking care of my horse, duck and black chook. I want to give my son a similar experience. Yet, since we live on an urban block I decided to bring the country life into our backyard. A veggie patch was my first mission. 
 

I asked Matt and my parents to join me in the challenge. Our first task was to watch the sun for a few days to see where the garden should go. Most veggies and herbs need a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of sun each day. Once we decided that our space was good to go we cleared it out and measured it up. We scribbled up a plan and then got straight into it!

For the frame we chose recycled corrugated iron sheets that we sourced on Matt's cousins farm.  We used untreated hardwood stakes to hold the frame up and for that special final touch on the edges we used recycled decking timber. What's that new word that everyone is using? Oh yes, it was totally shabby chick.

One of our first challenges was cutting all the corrugated iron sheets. First, we were doing it with metal snipper’s, "WOW" very time consuming and hard, not to mention dangerous. So after some researching Matt finally found a video on You Tube, of a guy using a hammer and screwdriver. "Crazy man", I thought. "But we might as well give it a try or else we will be here for days"! Amazingly enough it actually was a really effective technique. It kept my hands away from the sharp edges of the corrugated iron and cut the sheets fairly quickly. 

The hardest and most frustrating challenge were the roots we came across when we were digging the trench to fit the garden into. The huge roots were from an old mango tree that had been cut down many years ago. Some of the roots we smashed out with an axe and in other areas we simply cut the corrugated iron around the root.

Once the frame was up we collected twigs, soil, small rocks and partly filled the raised garden.  As the garden beds were deep we sourced a local garden supplies and topped the beds up with good growing quality soil. Time to plant!

  

Caution: corrugated iron is VERY sharp. You need to use the appropriate tools and safety equipment.

 

Thanks for reading!