urban vegetable patch

This is just half of the harvest!

I have harvested my first batch of Bok Choy and the bed is being prepared for the second batch with a good mix of mushroom compost. Nothing beats harvesting super fresh vegetables and cooking it straight after with a little butter and garlic. MMmmm. I think I’ve got our week of fibre all sorted!

I have read a lot other blog posts about how easy it is to grow Bok Choy, but seriously, it has not been the case for me. Almost all of the blogs that I have read would suggest you to grow them in “rich organic soil”. But if you are like me and have a okie-ish soil bed (heavy clay for me) and would love to have some asian green action happening, fear not. These are my notes from growing the first batch of Bok Choy

• Bok Choy are fast growers; If the weather is nice and warm, seeds usually germinate with 3 days and ready to be transplanted with 2 -3 weeks
  

  Bok Choy are perfect in container too

• If you are going to transplant your Bok Choy seedlings, try soaking the punnet in seaweed solution the day before. I find that this reduces the plant stress and shock.

• Bok Choy have shallow roots so that makes them perfect container vegetables

• They are hungry little feeders. If you have mixed in a good amount of compost into the soil before sowing then its going to grow fine. If not, try feeding it with a weak organic liquid fertilizer weekly.

• Snails and slugs love Bok Choy (or green leafy vegetable for that matter). I usually spread a thin boarder of snail pallets around the seedlings.

• Sun, sun and more sun. Bok Choy don’t grow well in shaded areas. My vegetable patch is north facing and gets a minimum of 5 hours of sunshine each day. I also realise that they grow really fast if you get a week of nice sunny weather (which proves to be difficult in Melbourne).

• Keep the the fluids up, especially after a hot day.

P.S: Alert readers would have notice how I was complaining about growing Bok Choy from my previous. I take it all back.

Roots removed and all ready to be eaten

1 week before harvest

I am the procrastinator queen. After moving into our current home over 1 year ago, I finally got my act together and got my backyard done. The result, as you can see below, is a usable vegetable patch of 6m x 1.3m using treated timber. The bottom was filled with local area soil and topped off with compost. Not only have I made the place look so so much better but I turn a once piece of  un-usable land into a workable vegetable patch. I am so proud of myself.

garden before the big makeover

Garden after. OMG!

Garden hawk-eye view

The plants that I am currently growing:

• Snow peas
• Soya bean (edamame)
• Rock melons
• Tomatoes – 1 red fig and 3 of unknown spices grown from a seed mix
• Spinach
• Bok Choi
• German Chamomile – currently growing in container.

I am fertilising the green vegetables weekly with a weak organic liquid fertiliser and boy are they growing like crazy! Spinach leaves are harvested weekly by picking the outer ones and leaving the center to grow.

Not sure about the Bok Choi though. They are not growing as well but I will with-hold my judgement for now; The weather has been cold in Melbourne for a couple of weeks and probably it is the heat that is the missing ingredient.

Snow Peas

Bok Choi and soya

Ha-ogen Rockmelons

Red Fig Tomato

Corn

German Chamomile

Coming soon…

News of  whats new in the wonderful world of gardening.

Plus we will also be reviewing products that we have used and products that have been recommended to us. If you are a company that would like to have your product reviewed, please contact us for more info…

There is nothing worse than having your beautiful vegie plants seriously attacked by pests. You love and nuture them and suddenly almost overnight, they are devoured by hungry pests!

But the good news is this is a battle that can usually be fought and won, although sometimes the battle can be lost if the hungry hordes arrive unseen.
But here is one of my favourite recipes for ridding my vegie patch of catapillars, aphids and other common pests.

Put into a  spray bottle, 1 litre of warm water and stir in two tablespoons of soap flakes.  Stir this until completly dissovled and allow to cool. Then simply spray onto the leaves of your plants.

It is a good idea, not to spray fruit and vegies within 1 week of picking and remember to store all solutions out of the reach of children.

Welcome to the Urban Vegetable Patch.

The Urban Vegetable Patch takes a look at the joys and challenges of “growing your own” . Whether you have a huge back yard, smaller garden, courtyard or a balcony with a few pots, if you enjoy growing even the odd herb, then read on as we add to this site and attempt to share our passion for the urban vegie plot no matter what the size.

More soon….