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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Our place

We have a lovely place in the Adelaide Hills.  And it's ours (well the bank's really). So for the first time in my life I've been able to begin a lifelong dream of having a vegetable garden that can sustain us.  Simple huh?


Ah, no.


So, we have just over half an acre and it's on a relatively steep (but terraced) block.  In the 18 months that we've been here we've done a fair bit of work in the garden and brought a lot of it under control - getting rid of years and years of ivy growth, digging up random water pipes (some still attached to the mains!!), building a woodshed, rebuilding two other sheds, chopping down about 10 dead old gum trees...


We've also put in six small vegetable garden beds and one huge one. More on that later.


Oh yes! And we've had a child.  He was born a few months after we moved in.  So that certainly held us (well me anyway) back for some time.  He's only just started walking recently and stopped putting everything in his mouth so he's a bit more garden friendly these days.


So this is where I start.  I'll back track along the way to go over what's been done thus far. The trials and tribulations of trying to get things to grow.  How not to do things.  How what looks simple in books, online, on tv, etc is not so simple.  And also, the wins - how some things just take off! 


Along with this I'm also trying to give myself an overhaul - so I can be self-sustainable for many years to come.  I've joined up for an online 12 week challenge (good eating, exercise, probably going to be hell but has good reviews). So along with all our adventures in the garden, I'll probably be working with an exhausted body... for a while at least!