Alan's Garden Blog

Believe it or not, these spuds have been planted the recommended distance apart. With gardening you never stop learning. The more compost I add to the soil the better my harvests have been. I also added plenty of rock minerals before planting this year. After that they have been ignored because of the amount of work I have had on. Previous years I have trailed hilling them with different material (straw-mulch-soil), did not make any difference. This year I just used the cheap bulk commercial compost, looks like it worked a treat. 

This is an article I did for the Toowoomba Chronicle, thankfully edited by journalist-in-waiting, Ellen Singleton. Some good tips on gardening:Toiling away in the garden can be very therapeutic and the bountiful harvests are the icing on the cake. Unfortunately not all of us have the time to spare.There are a rapidly growing number of time-poor families who are keen to know just where their food comes from and how it was grown. Although limited, local markets can provide a connection with organic growers and the huge success of Toowoomba’s first Farmers Market goes to show just what interest there...

With minimum effort I have continued to grow vegges through one of our colder winters. The frames for greenhouse covers for my extra large gardens cost $150 and the film cut to size with my remarkable clips another $190. You could use my heavy duty frost cover instead of the film which sells for $45 (2 x 18.2 metres). I will even throw in the clips for free! Either way you can get a head start this spring. This is what the finished greenhouse looks like Nice and warm inside Garlic loves the cold Beetroot and spring onions Broccoli and...