2 Responses to “Gardeners can you give me some advice?”

1. gumboots Says:
   8 September , 2008 at 11:39 pm

   Hi there,
   I hope this helps. I found it on the Gardening Australia webite @ http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s972741.htm and we all know we can trust Pete!

   “Different vegetables prefer different soil conditions. This means that when rotating the vegetables, the soil needs to be treated to suit the new vegetable. For example, onions like alkaline soil, whereas tomatoes like it acidic. Therefore, when planting onions in a bed that was previously occupied by tomatoes, the soil needs to be limed. The old onion bed will be occupied by legumes (peas and beans) next year, because they also love sweet soil. The legumes will fill the soil with nitrogen so they can be followed by leaf vegies such as cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuces and silver beet. Following that will be the root crops (carrots, parsnips and beetroot) that don’t need much manure.

   In the following season the bed will be planted with tender vegies such as sweet corn, pumpkin, cucumber and zucchini, which live happily together in one bed. After these have had their turn, the soil will have started to turn acidic again so it will be back to the tomatoes and capsicums, which love those conditions. Then, after another dose of lime, it will be the onions’ turn again. All the debris goes into the compost, where it is allowed to rot down before being put back into the garden where it belongs. In other words, it’s nonstop recycling and nonstop production. The result is a constant supply of good organic health-giving vegies from your own backyard. Pete swears you can hear them doing you good.”

2. Tan Says:
   10 September , 2008 at 8:31 pm

   HI Bec, Cam said root vegies, then he just looked what the other person wrote and said ‘oh, that’s heaps better information!’- I just thought I would pass on his two bobs worth!
   x Tan

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