Sliver & Bite's
Vegetable Garden
Welcome to the Sliver & Bite Veggie Garden. After years of my family growing their own produce, I've started my own crop in a limited urban space. I hope to show you what's possible with even a small area.
Check back regularly to follow the progress on the Sliver & Bite Blog, I look forward to cooking what I grow. I have cooked many dishes with my families produce such as Thai red curry paste, basil pesto, bruschetta and chimichurri sauce.
Veggie Garden
DAY ONE After years of contemplation, I have bitten the bullet and created a vegetable and herb garden. Not only can you contribute to sustainability, but it’s also a great stress relief, you know there are no herbicides being used, its carbon neutral and FUN!
DAY THREE I'm watering my vegetable and herb garden twice daily since Australia's summer temperatures are currently reaching 38°C (100°F), so the plants need plenty of water at all stages. I've taken photos to show the various ways I'm growing my crops, as this is my first edible garden I am trialing various ways to see what suits this urban garden space.
DAY FIVE Today saw an overcast day so I am going to ease up on the watering today as I don't want to drown the soil. When checking the carrot trough I saw some sprouts. The carrots were sewn 14 days using a seed tape. Check out the sprouts to the right. UBDATE: They weren't carrots it was the straw seeds (insert eye roll here). I will revisit planting the carrots as i dug them too deep should be 5mm not 5cm under the soil. Oops
DAY FIFTEEN After 3 days of rain, I looked out my window and noticed half of my basil was gone. There were round balls the size of whole peppercorns on the basil leaves. All other herbs and vegetables were spared for now. After a little google photo search I concluded it was caterpillars. I hadn’t noticed any activity bar the odd cricket which I relocated to heaven. Obviously keeping the Sliver and Bite garden organic I resorted to placing bruised garlic cloves on the garden bed. Before dropping I squeeze the garlic between my fingers and rubbed over the leaves. Her’s hopping this resolves the issue. If the problem persists, I will cover the garden with a fine mesh.
DAY SIXTEEN With the garden beginning to gain a little height it was time to guide & train the snow peas, tomatoes and Lebanese cucumbers. With some thin stakes and malleable wire, I fed the wire over the stakes that met the garden bed then pokes the snow peas that were beginning to crawl along the top of the garden bed to the wire. The tomatoes and Lebanese cucumbers will be secured to the mesh, so they do not topple over when they begin to bear fruit I began to see flowers on the Lebanese cucumbers but have been snipping them off for two reasons. 1. They are barely have grown an inch since they were seedlings and 2. I had not planted any flowers which wouldn’t have attracted bees therefore not pollenating the flowers on the vegetables which wouldn’t have had the necessary fertilisation that allows the flowers to develop to a fruit or vegetable. With my issues surrounding bugs and pollination I purchased lavender and marigolds. Lavendar – a natural pest control whilst attracting bees and hoverflies. The best lavender is (Lavandula angustifolia) AKA English Lavendar. The benefits are this strain doesn’t take over the garden bed and can actually be used in cooking. Marigolds – an organic pest control but attracting pollinators. Warns off nematodes what is a worm that can feed on the roots of the fruits and vegetables. They also create an attractive aesthetic when the garden is predominantly green (if you are lucky).
DAY SEVENTEEN Obviously, I am now addicted to my vegetable and herb garden. From the first day I have increased the plants from 8 to 16 a 100% increase. When creating my own Thai Red Curry Paste & Thai Green Curry Paste from scratch I knew I had to plant some chilli plants which saw bantam orange, jalapeno, serrano & habanero becoming additions to the garden. I replanted the trial potting mix bag method as which housed tomatoes and Lebanese cucumbers. Comparing them to the same seedlings they were ½ the size. I purchased a second self-watering planter box due to the depth and width of the vessel. I increased the number of marigolds by 6 to plant alongside the new vessels so it can do its work warning off unwanted bugs and assist with attracting pollinators. I have also closed the onion and carrot planters as they didn’t end up germinating. I have a suspicion it was possibly because the vessels were very close to the air conditioner unit. Now that Perth Western Australia is seeing cooler weather the unit will not be on as much. I also think the shallow pots didn’t hold enough water because there are too many holes in the base and no water catching tray to keep the soil moist. The carrots in the raised garden bed were planted a little too low. Lessons learned for sure. I must have un-alived the only caterpillar that was present and eating my basil because the remaining leaves haven’t been touched. I used garlic as a deterrent however where I touched the leaves they turned yellow so I wont do that again.
DAY TWENTY Another caterpillar found yesterday, it is due to the moths around the house. I have now moved into damage control! I have acquired a mint and thyme plant as they act as pest deterrents and welcome herbs to the Sliver and Bite garden. I am also ensuring the exterior of the house is clean to prevent any moth eggs being laid and hatching. I am not above installing some form of netting over the garden however I would prefer to keep the garden open to attract pollinators. Installing netting also risks the garden bed from overheating the environment and can causing fungal issues due to poor ventilation. I have begun a banana tea, 4 cut banana peels in a jar filled with water and placed in a cool dark place for 4 days. Strained, diluting then poured over the plants particularly capsicum, chillies, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes. The banana tea is great for gardens being an organic liquid fertiliser rich in potassium and will boost flowering and root development. What’s news to my ears is that banana tea is a natural pet deterrent namely aphids. Day 20 also saw some new additions to the garden bed, there was the aforementioned mint and thyme but also an aloe plant, paprika, cayenne pepper and a society garlic plant which isn’t garlic however gives off a pungent garlic aroma and is a companion plant that also assists with aphids, snails and whilst not native to Australia, deer. As you can see in a picture close by, I have a new feature in the garden. It is known as a bee bath, I may change the vessel however this is what I have available to me at the time. A bee bath attracts bees as there is water for them to drink and the rocks allow them to have somewhere to land. It’s a simple step to attract bees and another tick for the Sliver and Bite Veggie Garden.
Garden Bed's
raised bed's, pot's or bags?
What’s the best vessel for your crop? Well, that’s a great question... Ill trial them here for you. Find below the various vessels I am using and what’s planted. I’ll be sure to update you on the pros and cons of each.
Found at a tip shop (IYKYK) this is an old water tank that has been sawn in 3. The bottom is completely open; I placed bulk hay to assist with drainage then approx. 7 bags of veggie potting mix to fill and plant.
I have upcycled old shallow herb pots to plant new seeds. I have onions in shallow pots; onions alter the soil when growing so isolating them is best. Onions are heavy users of nitrogen so planting then by leavy greens can stunt nearby vegetables.
Whilst creating my vegetable garden I instantly wanted to expand so off to the garden shop to purchase another trough. I happened upon a self-watering trough. There is a false bottom that hold water encouraging the roots to dip their toes on the water and a few slits where water can drain.
I have heard of growing tomatoes in bags of potting mix and how easy it is, perfect for houses and units with little to no space. After two weeks of having the vegetable garden it’s a no go for Sliver and Bite. Compared to seedlings from the same punnet they weren’t growing so they have been transplanted to a deeper self-watering box.
Where it all began, I first planted carrots on a seed tape in the elevated vegetable trough. It was slim and able to be moved to chase the sun. The vessel didn’t come with any drainage holes, so I drilled a few holes in so it didn’t swamp when it rains in winter. It is certainly a great start I am concerned that the elevation in winter will cool the soil so I may remove the legs and place on the floor to retain the little heat that it can trap.
Repurposed from a plant that was at the front of the house that was never watered. It was the perfect vessel for the rosemary as this species can take over your garden. Having the rosemary in a medium sized pot will assist in not having the plant get too large.