It would be interesting to see the age profiles. Unfortunately, the polls that I can set up on the Substack platform are very basic. I can only ask a simple question and have up to 5 simple answer options. I'm toying with the idea of utilising Survey Monkey or similar to start running much more complex surveys. I'm thinking about sending a survey out in each monthly newsletter to create snapshots of what people are planting, what pests they are experiencing each month of the year. There's a cost involved with doing this as well as a lot of time, so perhaps the results would only be visible to paying subscribers. Would you find something like that useful or interesting?
I co-ordinate a Kids Gardening program at our local community garden. I've been experimenting with all three aspects mentioned above...growing in the ground, raised beds and wicking beds. We chose wicking beds to teach sustainability and to minimize Summer watering. We maximize space by growing vegetables that take up a lot of space like cabbages, broccoli, sweetcorn and zucchini in the ground. Quick growing salad greens, asian greens , spring onions, radishes, carrots etc are all grown in the wicking beds. In the raised beds we grow tomatoes, chillies, capsicums and eggplants. I'm in my 70's and do prefer the extra height of the wicking and raised beds.
I think a combination of options is a good idea. Our approach is similar, large scale crops such as sweet corn, brassicas, saucing tomatoes, garlic etc all go in the ground. Leafy greens, cherry tomatoes, and peas etc all go in raised beds. I just won;t be bothering with wicking beds. We have an adequate irrigation system so I prefer to rely on that.
I prefer to grow directly in the ground as we have beautiful chocolate volcanic soil. However, we are on a slope and as I’m getting older, spending lots of time bending over is not as easy as it used to be. So terraced beds make sense for me. Best of both worlds.
Invasive grasses such as couch and kikuyu are difficult to manage and there's no easy solution. Answering this seemingly simple question is probably best covered in a rather extensive blog post. So I'll add it to the ever growing list of topics to write about.
In the meantime, here's a few quick tips:
- Be as thorough as possible with you soil preparation and remove every single runner that you can find
- Follow up with fortnightly checks to weed out any new growth that appears from runners that you've missed
- Create a "no man's land" barrier around the bed to stop re-invasion from the perimeter. This vacant strip should allow you to easily spot any runners encroaching from the surrounding area and weed them out.
It can be done, but requires more vigilance and effort than areas that are free of such pesky grasses.
Nearly all of our vegies are in the ground, for all the cost and maintenance ease you mention. We have one large raised bed which is against the south side of the 1.8 m high fence on our northern boundary. It is about 1 m high, and I estimate this increases the growing season there by about two weeks in spring and autumn.
It would be interesting to know the age profile of respondents. Older folk like me may prefer the raised beds.
It would be interesting to see the age profiles. Unfortunately, the polls that I can set up on the Substack platform are very basic. I can only ask a simple question and have up to 5 simple answer options. I'm toying with the idea of utilising Survey Monkey or similar to start running much more complex surveys. I'm thinking about sending a survey out in each monthly newsletter to create snapshots of what people are planting, what pests they are experiencing each month of the year. There's a cost involved with doing this as well as a lot of time, so perhaps the results would only be visible to paying subscribers. Would you find something like that useful or interesting?
I co-ordinate a Kids Gardening program at our local community garden. I've been experimenting with all three aspects mentioned above...growing in the ground, raised beds and wicking beds. We chose wicking beds to teach sustainability and to minimize Summer watering. We maximize space by growing vegetables that take up a lot of space like cabbages, broccoli, sweetcorn and zucchini in the ground. Quick growing salad greens, asian greens , spring onions, radishes, carrots etc are all grown in the wicking beds. In the raised beds we grow tomatoes, chillies, capsicums and eggplants. I'm in my 70's and do prefer the extra height of the wicking and raised beds.
I think a combination of options is a good idea. Our approach is similar, large scale crops such as sweet corn, brassicas, saucing tomatoes, garlic etc all go in the ground. Leafy greens, cherry tomatoes, and peas etc all go in raised beds. I just won;t be bothering with wicking beds. We have an adequate irrigation system so I prefer to rely on that.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us
Happy gardening!
Duncan
I prefer to grow directly in the ground as we have beautiful chocolate volcanic soil. However, we are on a slope and as I’m getting older, spending lots of time bending over is not as easy as it used to be. So terraced beds make sense for me. Best of both worlds.
A perfect solution for your situation. Thanks for your insight.
If your ground is full of couch grass how do you control that when trying to make a garden in the ground?
Hi Graham,
Invasive grasses such as couch and kikuyu are difficult to manage and there's no easy solution. Answering this seemingly simple question is probably best covered in a rather extensive blog post. So I'll add it to the ever growing list of topics to write about.
In the meantime, here's a few quick tips:
- Be as thorough as possible with you soil preparation and remove every single runner that you can find
- Follow up with fortnightly checks to weed out any new growth that appears from runners that you've missed
- Create a "no man's land" barrier around the bed to stop re-invasion from the perimeter. This vacant strip should allow you to easily spot any runners encroaching from the surrounding area and weed them out.
It can be done, but requires more vigilance and effort than areas that are free of such pesky grasses.
I'll get onto writing that post for you.
Happy gardening
Duncan
Nearly all of our vegies are in the ground, for all the cost and maintenance ease you mention. We have one large raised bed which is against the south side of the 1.8 m high fence on our northern boundary. It is about 1 m high, and I estimate this increases the growing season there by about two weeks in spring and autumn.
I'm glad you also advocate for growing in the ground Steve. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Happy gardening
Duncan