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Mark's Corner
Balmain High Veggie Patch – May
Mark Morrison - Sunday, May 01, 2011
Balmain High Veggie Patch February
Mark Morrison - Thursday, February 03, 2011
Balmain High Veggie Garden IV
Mark Morrison - Monday, September 20, 2010
The warmer weather has certainly had a noticeable effect on the veggies and herbs in the garden resulting in a huge spurt of new growth especially on all the leafy greens which make up most of the plants. So much so in fact that we will have to harvest a considerable amount and offload some veggies to the teaching staff.
The Cavello Nero is showing signs of caterpillar damage so we will have to be vigilant and perhaps make up a low toxic garlic spray to use. Something had taken a shine to the cos lettuce recently and caused quite a bit of damage chewing the young plants back by two thirds at least. When I visited today however the cos had almost completely recovered so the unknown culprit has either moved on or become tired of cos.
We planted some giant garlic last time I was there and it will be interesting to see how big the plants get and also to see the lovely pink, rounded flower heads when they appear later as they can be quite spectacular on their long stems.
When I first began work on the garden there were many requests for tomatoes so now the weather has warmed up I think we will have a tomato planting day. As some of the students are in wheel chairs and the garden is already raised I will be looking at some of the lower growing varieties like Pot Tom, Tumbling Tom and I believe there is a lower growing Roma variety.
We have been able to get away with the plentiful rainfall we've been experiencing lately and some hand-watering but now with the approach of warm weather it will be time to install some irrigation
The head teacher of the Support Unit, Rob Riley, has been organising to have the garden included in a book to be published on veggie gardens in Sydney schools so it is now a much photographed garden with plenty of before, during and after shots. More
The Cavello Nero is showing signs of caterpillar damage so we will have to be vigilant and perhaps make up a low toxic garlic spray to use. Something had taken a shine to the cos lettuce recently and caused quite a bit of damage chewing the young plants back by two thirds at least. When I visited today however the cos had almost completely recovered so the unknown culprit has either moved on or become tired of cos.
We planted some giant garlic last time I was there and it will be interesting to see how big the plants get and also to see the lovely pink, rounded flower heads when they appear later as they can be quite spectacular on their long stems.
When I first began work on the garden there were many requests for tomatoes so now the weather has warmed up I think we will have a tomato planting day. As some of the students are in wheel chairs and the garden is already raised I will be looking at some of the lower growing varieties like Pot Tom, Tumbling Tom and I believe there is a lower growing Roma variety.
We have been able to get away with the plentiful rainfall we've been experiencing lately and some hand-watering but now with the approach of warm weather it will be time to install some irrigation
The head teacher of the Support Unit, Rob Riley, has been organising to have the garden included in a book to be published on veggie gardens in Sydney schools so it is now a much photographed garden with plenty of before, during and after shots. More
Balmain High Veggie Garden III
Mark Morrison - Tuesday, August 10, 2010
As a result of threat from onion weeds and a couple of monster Strelitzia clumps in the way the veggie garden at the Support Unit is now considerably larger than originally planned.
In view of the ever increasing size and population of onion weed in the veggie garden it seemed the only choice we had was to excavate the soil to a depth that would remove all the onion weed bulbs. After consulting with the school we agreed to excavate to a depth of approximately 150mm and we thought I may as well keep digging and take out some large clumps of Strelitzia as well. This would give us two long beds the whole length of the retaining wall and with one running alongside the retaining wall enabling students in wheel chairs better viewing and access to the garden.
1.5 cubic metres of 'Recarb Ultra' garden mix was delivered and the new veggie garden with two long rows was created. Cow manure was added, some lime and then lucerne mulch to finish off. The cow manure will add slow releasing nutrients to the soil and break down to be an excellent soil conditioner. The lucerne mulch will act as a green manure and add nutrients to the soil and also insulate and retain moisture.
The herbs from the original garden were able to be saved but we had to plant new veggies.
The following were chosen:
Rocket
Perpetual Lettuce
Perpetual Spinach
English Spinach
Silverbeet
Rainbow Chard
Carrots
Red Onions
Celery
Cavallo Nero
Rhubarb More
In view of the ever increasing size and population of onion weed in the veggie garden it seemed the only choice we had was to excavate the soil to a depth that would remove all the onion weed bulbs. After consulting with the school we agreed to excavate to a depth of approximately 150mm and we thought I may as well keep digging and take out some large clumps of Strelitzia as well. This would give us two long beds the whole length of the retaining wall and with one running alongside the retaining wall enabling students in wheel chairs better viewing and access to the garden.
1.5 cubic metres of 'Recarb Ultra' garden mix was delivered and the new veggie garden with two long rows was created. Cow manure was added, some lime and then lucerne mulch to finish off. The cow manure will add slow releasing nutrients to the soil and break down to be an excellent soil conditioner. The lucerne mulch will act as a green manure and add nutrients to the soil and also insulate and retain moisture.
The herbs from the original garden were able to be saved but we had to plant new veggies.
The following were chosen:
Rocket
Perpetual Lettuce
Perpetual Spinach
English Spinach
Silverbeet
Rainbow Chard
Carrots
Red Onions
Celery
Cavallo Nero
Rhubarb More
Balmain High Veggie Garden II
Mark Morrison - Monday, June 21, 2010
The bed for the veggies is now ready for planting and the children are back so I collected all the herbs and veggies requested by the teachers and headed to Rozelle for a planting morning.
The children would be using some or all of the herbs and veggies for use in other classes and the following were chosen for these purposes form the varieties suitable for growing in Sydney in winter:
Chives
Garlic Chives
Rhubarb
Sage variegated
Garlic
Oregano
Thyme
Lettuce - mixed varieties
Kale ‘Tuscan’
Continental Parsley
Silverbeet ‘Rainbow’
Carrots
Rocket
The children helped dig in some of the plants where possible and I had a very keen watering helper. Hopefully with hands on interaction with the garden the children will develop a sense of contribution and ownership of the garden.
We followed planting and watering with an application of Seasol and liquid fertiliser to get the new plants off to a good start.
Our next project will be another bed behind the first one with peas or beans.
More
The children would be using some or all of the herbs and veggies for use in other classes and the following were chosen for these purposes form the varieties suitable for growing in Sydney in winter:
Chives
Garlic Chives
Rhubarb
Sage variegated
Garlic
Oregano
Thyme
Lettuce - mixed varieties
Kale ‘Tuscan’
Continental Parsley
Silverbeet ‘Rainbow’
Carrots
Rocket
The children helped dig in some of the plants where possible and I had a very keen watering helper. Hopefully with hands on interaction with the garden the children will develop a sense of contribution and ownership of the garden.
We followed planting and watering with an application of Seasol and liquid fertiliser to get the new plants off to a good start.
Our next project will be another bed behind the first one with peas or beans.
More
Balmain High Veggie Garden I
Mark Morrison - Saturday, April 17, 2010
Not far from me in Rozelle is Sydney Secondary College Balmain Campus which has a Support Unit. I recently started to give them a hand in their garden with a new veggie plot.
We decided I would work on a raised bed to start with and plant the perimeter thus giving students in wheelchairs easy access. The site is roughly triangular and is raised with a brick retaining wall to about 1200mm. Existing plantings include Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae), several citrus, a few native shrubs and clumps of Dianella.
My first consideration was the removal of any unwanted plants, to remove weeds and to improve the soil.
We would keep the citrus and rather large clump of Strelitzia and try to relocate most of the other plants.
I hand weeded the garden initially and then started on soil improvement.
The existing soil is light and somewhat hydrophobic (water repellent). I added cow manure, organic soil improver and a soil wetting agent and after a good soaking covered the area with sugar cane mulch and watered it again.
I came back just over a week later to find a bumper crop of new weeds obviously vitalised by their new and improved conditions but with the addition of one of my favorites – onion weed. This will be an ongoing battle for a while because onion weed is difficult to eradicate and the only way to tackle it, short of removing a 150mm layer of soil, is persistence.
The kids are all on holidays now and when they come back their new veggie patch will be ready to plant out and our soil preparation should get the new plants off to a good start. More
We decided I would work on a raised bed to start with and plant the perimeter thus giving students in wheelchairs easy access. The site is roughly triangular and is raised with a brick retaining wall to about 1200mm. Existing plantings include Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae), several citrus, a few native shrubs and clumps of Dianella.
My first consideration was the removal of any unwanted plants, to remove weeds and to improve the soil.
We would keep the citrus and rather large clump of Strelitzia and try to relocate most of the other plants.
I hand weeded the garden initially and then started on soil improvement.
The existing soil is light and somewhat hydrophobic (water repellent). I added cow manure, organic soil improver and a soil wetting agent and after a good soaking covered the area with sugar cane mulch and watered it again.
I came back just over a week later to find a bumper crop of new weeds obviously vitalised by their new and improved conditions but with the addition of one of my favorites – onion weed. This will be an ongoing battle for a while because onion weed is difficult to eradicate and the only way to tackle it, short of removing a 150mm layer of soil, is persistence.
The kids are all on holidays now and when they come back their new veggie patch will be ready to plant out and our soil preparation should get the new plants off to a good start. More
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