On a mission

So I'm on a bit of a mission, a voyage of discovery and experimentation and it's all to do with gardening.   See that garden bed below, it has been cleared.  I've hacked, pruned, grubbed out shrub roots with a spade and mattock. 

This was a beast.

So what am I doing taking out quite a nice garden bed, well I want to make a big vegetable patch and grow food.  I've been reading up on permaculture, composting, making a difference in our own backyard and so I'm starting on a very small scale to see what happens.  We do have a vege patch in the back yard but it is not doing too well.  Tomatoes are not happening this year.  :(

We get rid of an amazing amount of foliage including leaves, branches and weeds from our property all year and I'd like to try and put as much of that back into the ground as I can.  So the contents of the wheelbarrow is the start of my compost heap.  The grapevine has started to drop it's leaves and I've also pruned to let more light into the family room.  I stripped the leaves off what I pruned, put them in a pile and ran the lawn mower over them.  I raked up some other leaves and they got the same treatment.  Together with some grass clippings, I've got a nice little pile of goodies ready to do its thing.  I'm throwing in my kitchen scraps too and to my absolute delight when I went and checked my pile this afternoon, it's all hot inside which is what it is supposed to be doing.  I'm collecting paper and cardboard to add as well and the coffee grounds can be added too.

 Now I don't know how this whole permaculture thing is going to work because we are surrounded by trees and very little light enters our property.  We are also on the south side of a hill, not so good if you live in the southern hemisphere.  Vegetables and fruit need sunshine to grow but I'm sure there must be a way to get things happening starting with getting the soil healthy.  So my newly cleared ground is going to be bombed with cow manure, compost and mulch.  We have heavy clay soil so there is a bit to do to make it a happier place for veges to grow.  I've been spending up to 3 hours in the garden nearly every day and loving it.  It rained today so I cleaned the house instead.

If anyone has any success stories, tips, knowledge about composting, permaculture, growing veges in shade etc, I'd love to hear them.  I'm thinking of getting some more chooks too.  All those eggs and fertiliser. 

Well I've a busy weekend ahead.  Charlotte will be home from her Queensland holiday, my sister-in-law and nephew are coming over for dinner Saturday night before he goes off to study in Italy and travel for a few months and then Sunday/Monday will be spent with my gorgeous niece who loves to craft.