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Author : Rachel Annarve
Website : http://auctionresource.co.nz/

In this series of 10 articles we will discuss the process of creating a simple garden.

Now that you have learnt what type of soil you have, and conditioned it, you now need to think about what type of plants you are going to grow.

For the sake of simplicity, I am going to use as my example 10 polystyrene boxes, the garden equivalent to an approximately 5m x 2.5m plot. (approximately 15x8 ft)

For this amount of space, a good assortment would be:


1 box carrots
1 box Lettuce
1 box radish
1 box dwarf tomatoes (4-6 plants)
2 boxes cauliflower (8-10 plants)
1 box dwarf beans
1 box silver beet
1 box strawberries
1 box berries (red, black, orange, usually a compact but fast growing type)

Everyone's choices will be different, but this is a nice group that can be grown in free containers with little work. With containers you can put them on a verandah, down a sunny path or up against the house.... even inside if you have trays to catch the water.

In most areas these crops are very easy to grow and pests can be kept to a minimum. The biggest problem with the list above would be keeping the birds away from the berries ! If you'd like a quick and easy resource to help with this decision, the following resource can be useful so that you plant the right crops together and minimise your pests ! A concise guide to Companion Planting... Guide To Companion Planting

You can pick up Strawberries and other berries as young plants. These will last many years as they are annual fruit bearers.

While the best time to plant seeds and seedlings is in Spring, there are now many varieties of plants you can get that produce all year round. For instance in New Zealand we have All season Cabbage, Cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce. And there are many things such as Kale and other root crops that will grow throughout the year.

Once you have decided on the right crop and have either bought or raised seedlings, you will need to "prick" them out and plant them, properly spaced, in the containers. Make sure the spacing is adequate for each plant as this gives it more room to grow and produce better crops.

Your geographic area will also dictate what you can grow and when. For example, it may be very hard to grow tomatoes outside in an area that is fairly cold all year round. If in doubt, just go to the nearest place that sells seeds. All the information, with maps of your country should be on the seed packet.

An excellent resource that can help you with your plant decision is an excellent book on Companion planting. this basically allows you to select plants to grow together for better yield, pest control and what not to plant together.

A concise guide to Companion Planting... Guide To Companion Planting

Now you have decided on the exact plants you want to grow, we will talk about seed raising in the next article,

Happy Gardening,

Rachel Anna