For several years now I have tried to grow my own vegetables by researching what I thought I needed to know. From this, I learnt that the stress of extreme temperatures from planting too early or too late can result in a disaster.
The first thing we need to make sure is that we plan everything well in advance, from where to plant, how to prepare soil, what to plant, what not to plant near what, what kind of seeds to buy, and most important when to plant what. This is the key to getting a great start.
Firstly prepare the garden bed. Here is a tip that I am sure will save you huge water bills. Lay an industrial sheet of plastic in your garden bed and slit it at small intervals approximately 3 inches wide, then add sand, then manure and lastly top soil.
For several years now I have tried to grow my own vegetables by researching what I thought I needed to know. From this, I learnt that the stress of extreme temperatures from planting too early or too late can result in a disaster.
The plastic under the plant bed needs to be at least 3 to 4 foot deep so plants can have enough space for roots.
This procedure holds water well by not allowing the water to drain out of the bottom.
The manure that I find best that works with my vegetable patch is sheep manure. It is available to purchase at any garden centres or look it up on the internet as sometimes you can get lucky as people sell manure in bulk from home and it is much cheaper than when you buy from the garden centre.
The vegetables that grow well which I have tried and have got a very good crop out of are: Dudhi (gourd), Karela (bitter gourd), Tindora, Chillies, Okra, Beetroots, Spring onions, Guvar (cluster beans), and Gisori (lufer plant).
I start growing in middle of August. The chillies are easy to grow as you just purchase dry chillies from Prime or Ganesh, remove the seeds, put the seeds straight in the ground and cover it with soil, and water it twice a day if you can.
With the rest of the seeds, I put them in the ground end of August. The key to growing good crops is to water them daily and use seasol,the plant food that helps them grow healthy (approximately $20 from Bunnings). I usually feed the plants twice a month with seasol and results never fail me.
Another tip is to plant bee attracting plants or flowers as I learned the hard way that pollination of certain vegetables blooms is an essential component in having a good crop. When I grow gisori (lufer plant), I found that the plants grew large leaves and many vines but no gisoris at all, that’s when I learnt about male and female flowers. Now I know I need bees to pollinate those particular flowers to get a good crop.
Dhana (coriander) and methi (fenugreek) only grow in the winter in Perth. Sow in late February and water. The good thing is that in winter you will not need to water!
Remember not all seeds grow in the same way as some need to be planted straight in the ground, i.e. Gisori, Dhudi, Karela, rather than making seedlings i.e. chillies. When growing karela, let one karelu ripe and fall on the ground next year and you will not even have to plant seeds,as they will grow from the dropped seeds!
