Hi everyone, I am new here. I want to grow veggies in my backyard, so I want to know where can I find cheap and good soil for all type of veggies? And which vegetables are good and easy to grow in Melbourne weather? Is any council provide gardening stuff for less price or free ? Any suggestions like how to start the gardening for the first time , and cheap and best fertilizers, etc.
Your advices are very valuable for me.
Thanks.
If you feed the soil it will feed you. I highly recommend non-hybrid seeds, Ebay has a wide selection at great prices. You can get seed raising mix and other soil types from Bunnings.
In the winter months Brassicas grow well and summer is good for most other things. Be careful to avoid the last frost of the year though.
Wally is a top grower and has great advice.
https://www.google.com.au/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU803AU803…
I too vouch for ebay
What size garden bed are you looking at? If it's small and you have no access, just go for bags as they are convenient. If it's a large area, get it delivered and use a wheelbarrow to get it to the backyard.
As for plants. It's always cheaper to start off using seeds. You can visit your local nursery to see if they have any specials, flower power always do.
Recently got into gardening since I've moved into my own home.
There's nothing really too it. Bought a few $10 bags of potting mix from Bunnings and plants, placed the plants where I thought the light/water suited them best and away they went. There are so many plants that are incredibly difficult to kill. I bought a few Devil's Ivy, some are kept inside and some outside, all of which are growing great. Same with my indoor Fiddle leaf fig and string of hearts.
Probably the biggest tips for starting out (and saving money) I could give:
* You would be amazed at the number of plants you can get out of what you buy from the store. Buy spring onions? Chop off the base with the roots (about 2-3 inches) and plant it into the ground and watch them grow. Same with celery, coriander and bok choy. To get them started I place them in a container of water (about 1-2 cm deep) and sit them upright in a sunny position. After a couple of weeks, I plant them.
* If you're struggling to grow a type of plant initially, put pots all around the garden with the type of plant in it then wait to see which does the best. Great when combined with the above strategy. Was struggling to grow coriander (as the plant kept dying) so I planted it in about 3-5 locations, 2 took off and are now thriving.
* You should start composting as well, depending on the size of your backyard. I have a pretty small backyard, and I set up a black compost bin. Great for scraps and for feeding my garden and fertilising.
Instead of planting a whole crop of something in one go, stagger the planting out over say a 3 week period.
For example, instead of planting 3 punnets of spring onion seedlings this weekend, just plant 1 punnet this weekend, then plant another punnet next fortnight and another the fortnight after that. Doing this staggers your harvest over a longer period.
Handy Aussie site: http://www.selfsufficientculture.com/
Look into Diggers Seeds, Eden seeds and Green Harvest, all good Aussie companies.
I've always had a better shot with seedlings than seeds.
If you don't mind doing the setup work then a wicking bed makes growing vegetables more efficient. We have a friend who has setup a bigger version of this in his backyard and the vegetables grow easier.
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/building-a-wickin…
Fultons are good.