Weeding, progress & a 3 sisters garden

So, weeding is not the most interesting task, but when it comes to organic gardening you just have to accept that is a fundamental part of the process. 

Before weeding....

I haven't done a lot of weeding in the side veggie bed because... well I didn't know what was an emerging vegetable seedling and what was a weed!

Anyway, the broccoli, carrots, sugarloaf cabbage, tatsoi and onions are all starting to come up and I can tell which is which is which now so it was time to get into the weeding. 

It was surprisingly satisfying to see a (largely) weed-free bed at the end of the day. 

And after weeding...

With the weather drying out a little sooner than expected this year, I hope that this will mean that the veggies get the majority of the available water and nutrients in the soil and not the weeds.

I have also put in some new veggies:

- Celery

- Mesclun

- Carrots- Baby, Danver & All seasons

- Beetroot- Globe & Egyptian

- Leeks

- Zucchini- Black Beauty & Garden Green

- Cucumbers - Mini Munchers

- Spring Onion

- Radishes

- Parsnips

I even managed to source a few seed potatoes from a lovely local business- Jones Potatoes in Warragul, who very kindly dug out a few different sorts for me an gave me planting instructions to go with them!

I have experimented with a few by trying to grow them in this half of an old feed barrel that I found in the shed. I'm hoping to use it like the tyre system and will add a couple of old tyres to the top when (and if) they grow.

I shared some with a neighbour because I need to dig furrows for the rest of them and that will be a bit of a mission. We also had a chat about my next project, which is a traditional companion planting garden of the '3 sisters', Corn, Beans and Squash, or Pumpkin. I have gone with a non-hybrid heritage seed for the corn 'Golden Bantam' and need to have the same type of corn growing in the immediate area to prevent cross-pollination, so I'm grabbing some for the neighbours next time I'm at the Diggers. 

The idea is that the corn provides something for the beans to grow up, the beans add nitrogen to the soil and the squash shades out the weeds. 

I found this on a facebook post (gotta love it) and these are the instructions:

1/ Plant corn when the frosts have passed

2/ Plant the pole beans when the corn is 5 inches high

3/ Plant the squash seeds one week later

I'll be doing this in the next 2 weeks, so will post with progress.