Where to place your veggie patch

Veggies need full sun for at least 6 hours per day, and protection from strong winds and hot afternoon sun in Summer. You can achieve this by planting a short windbreak on the Western side of your patch. This could be filled with flowers to attract beneficial insects such as hover flies, ladybirds and lacewings to the garden.

You should also consider access to your patch. Is it close to a garden tap for watering? Can you easily bring a wheelbarrow up to the beds to add compost, manure or mulch? Can you easily move around and reach all parts of your garden beds? Is your patch close enough to the house that you won't forget all about it?

Protecting your veggies from pests

In most areas of Sydney, and definitely in the Blue Mountains where I live, you will need to protect your veggies from possums, rats and birds. This can be done with something as simple as a net over a sturdy frame, or you can build a veggie cage. If you are serious about growing veggies at home in the long term, building a cage from the start can save a lot of time and hassle. It should be high enough for a person to walk inside easily, with a wheelbarrow width door, and the Western and Southern walls can be used to grow fruiting vines or clip tomatoes, cucumbers and peas to. 

You may also need to protect your fruiting veggies from fruit fly, which is best done with a fruit fly exclusion net, bags or sleeves. Tomatoes and capsicum are particularly susceptible to fruit fly, and can be stung whilst quite young, even before they colour up. You can also hang home-made fruit fly traps filled with watery Vegemite or apple cider vinegar. 

Selecting your veggie bed type

Whilst you can of course grow your veggies straight into the ground, this often isn't the best option for a home garden. Soil around houses can be full of rubble and old paint flecks from home renovations, or may be too sandy or filled with heavy clay.

Tree roots are often a problem, seeking out the water and nutrients you apply to your beds and effectively stealing them from your veggies. This is why I prefer fully enclosed wicking beds for veggie growing at home. You can control what soil your veggies have access to, tree roots can't penetrate the beds, and your plants always have water available. This is great if you go away on holidays, particularly over the Summer months. Watch how Sophie from Gardening Australia made wicking beds out of IBC containers here. 

Still to come

Next time I will talk about veggie selection and succession planting.  

This week's recipe links

Easy Potato Fish Cakes from Cooks Republic. 

Curried Lentils with Kale and Coconut Milk from Alexandra's Kitchen. 

Kohlrabi Curry from Flavour Streat. 

Moroccan Chard and Lamb Pan Fry from BBC Good Food. 

More info

To read more about what's happening on our local organic farm this week as we grow and care for veggies for our box delivery, check out this week's newsletter here.