Hi from new SF gardner in Australia

Hi Everyone.

I got Mel's book about 18 months ago & instantly loved the idea. I've always loved gardening but have had all the usually catastrophie's of a 'normal' garden.

In the last 6 months or so hubby & I have made our raised beds out of reject timber & fenced it off to keep out the pests. We have 2 beds both 4 feet wide by 16 feet long. It's taking some time to get used to working in feet & inches as we use the metric system over here.

My soil is pretty clayey but I have 2 compost bins happening & a worm farm so I'm hoping to improve the soil over time.

We live on a 200 acre property and it is sooo nice to have my own small private garden to escape & unwind in.

I couldn't believe it when I stumbled across this forum - I'm so happy to have other peoples pictures & stories to comare my garden to.

SFG is largley unknown in Australia from what I can tell, so it's great to find other like minded souls.

My garden is only a couple of weeks old, so I'm looking forward to watching it grow while getting to know people on here.

Welcome to the forum! Your property sounds wonderful. Where I live in California, we have clay soil too. It is awful to work in. We are working amending the soil but grow our veggies in Mel's mix.

I am not familiar with the climate in Queensland. It helps others on the forum should you need advice if we know what zone you are in. While we may not be from Australia, there are probably others here with similar climates who you can connect with.

We look forward to hearing about your SFG adventure!

Thanks Shoda, I would love to work out what zone I am in to compare with others on here.

I had a look at the map, but not being at all familiar with the US, I didn't know where to start.

I will have to google it and see what I can come up with. I live in Queensland, we don't get very harsh winters here but it can get pretty hot. Yearly our temps go between 46 - 100F. We might get 3 or 4 frosts in a bad year, no snow or anything like that. It can get pretty dry but we have good water on our property.

I'll have to take some picky's & post them here.

Aussie Girl wrote:Hi Everyone.

I got Mel's book about 18 months ago & instantly loved the idea. I've always loved gardening but have had all the usually catastrophe's of a 'normal' garden. We are so glad to have you here on this, the forum for like minded gardeners.

In the last 6 months or so hubby & I have made our raised beds out of reject timber & fenced it off to keep out the pests. Love "rejected lumber. Most of our beds are made from it. We have 2 beds both 4 feet wide by 16 feet long. Excellent sized beds. Big enough to really grow "stuff", but, not to big to work around. It's taking some time to get used to working in feet & inches as we use the metric system over here. If you wish to work in metric measurements you can easily convert to 'square meter gardening'.

My soil is pretty clayey but I have 2 compost bins happening & a worm farm so I'm hoping to improve the soil over time. The great thing about Mel's Mix is you don't use your own soil so you are not importing existing problems into your garden.

We live on a 200 acre property and it is sooo nice to have my own small private garden to escape & unwind in. That brings to mind the song, "I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses".

I couldn't believe it when I stumbled across this forum - I'm so happy to have other peoples pictures & stories to compare my garden to. This version of the SFG forum has been up and running for just a few months and there have been over 20,000 messages posted. 99.999 percent of all posts are friendly and helpful from like minded folks. The other .001 percent do not last long here.

SFG is largely unknown in Australia from what I can tell, so it's great to find other like minded souls.
Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the forum page and check out the Australian Regional forum. Ray is the regional host for that forum and would love to hear from you.

My garden is only a couple of weeks old, so I'm looking forward to watching it grow while getting to know people on here.

How exciting to have a new garden and watch all of our little "children" grow.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

Welcome, Aussie Girl. Can't wait to see your "picky's".

Our younger daughter attended university in NSW in 2000. When her campus closed for a month to provide housing for the Olympics she traveled all over Australia and New Zealand. She absolutely fell in love with your country, and we worried she wouldn't come back home when school was out! Luckily she did and she now has her own SFG near Salt Lake City, Utah.

Looking forward to seeing more of your posts.

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you might be a zone 10 since you get a few freezes each year. Here's a chart that might help you: http://www.backyardgardener.com/zone/index.html#outside

This link might help:

Australia vs USDA Hardiness Zone Comparison

Pete

Thanks everyone for the lovely welcome.

The links were very helpful.

Junequilt is right I am in a Zone 10 but borderline 11. I can now look up and see what everyone else in that Zone is growing - keeping in mind that you guys must be in Summer over there & I'm in winter here.

I have the day off work tomorrow so I'll take some pickys, but don't expect much - I don't think anything is over 10 inches tall yet!

Excellent. I am about the same zone but in California. So I will be watching to see what works. This will be my first year of year round veggie gardening.

I'm so proud of my little garden. I know it's not the prettiest in the world but I think it's great.

This was at the start of May -



And this is yesterday -

That didn't quite work, let me try again ...

Ah, better. Very nice. I just build my 6th and 7th boxes today. If I have 12, I can plant one a month! I am drunk with the possibilities.

Love yours. So many squares!

Your garden looks wonderful! You are going to love this and be surprised how easy it is! You will love using the Mel's Mix and your bad soil wont matter a bit. Everything grows great in the Mix and your compost gets used. Have fun planning and planting.

Thanks Chopper - it's funny how when you get all excited about SFG, there just doesn't seem to be enough squares, and mine aren't even full yet.

I think this is definately going to make me eat much more healthier foods. We eat salad every night but when I read what other people are growing and their recipies, it makes me start looking at all new vegies. I ate my first ever radish the other day because of reading about them on here.

Jsavolt - unfortunately my beds were already filled before I remembered about SFG and so I did not use Mel's mix. I'm also having a lot of trouble getting vermiculite. I'll just have to make the best of what I've got and impove it as best I can.

Luckily my horses & donkeys give me plenty of manure to work with!!

Keep looking for vermiculite and add it when you can. I had never used it prior to SFGing but now root plants in it. It's amazing how fast things root in vermiculite. I started with a few beds years ago and added to it each year. This year I hope to add a few more as I always seem to be running out of room. Have fun!