Gardening

Gardening Tips Flyer
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How to make a no-dig garden
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Food prices are getting higher and higher. Vegetables cost 12.3% more in 2009 than in 2008. Organic material makes up 42% of the rubbish stream and is a waste of material which could be composted and used as a fertilizer in your garden to grow your own vegetables. Even if you don’t have a garden, you can still grow some foods in containers.

Compost greenwaste and foodscraps

By setting up either a compost pile, worm farm or bokashi bucket at home, you can do your part to reduce the amount of waste you throw out and gain a free organic source of fertilizer to improve the condition or your soil and vegetables.

If you produce too much green waste to compost yourself, or you simply don't want to compost it, several local businesses offer green waste collection services - see the waste page for details.

Growing your own food is easy

By growing vegetables your family could potentially shave hundreds of dollars off your annual grocery bill. It is cheap to buy seeds or even starter plants in punnets. A packet of lettuce seeds often costs less than a single head of lettuce! Grow food in half 44-gallon steel drums, old sinks, baths or even old tyres. Any container will do as long as it is at least 20cm deep and has some drainage holes in the bottom!

It’s good for you

Growing your food in your backyard has plenty of benefits. Gardening can involve the whole family as children like to eat the food they grow. Fresh vegetables from the back yard are going to be more nutritional and better-tasting than those picked a week ago and transported large distances to the store. You will know how your food was grown and avoid using potentially harmful garden chemicals by using your homemade compost.

What to plant

Look into companion planting and plant different types of plants together. A diversity of plants makes the best use of the conditions in light and shade, levels of food and water and in pest pressures. Native plants will be better adjusted to local climate and soil conditions, reducing the amount of watering required.

Save water

Sprinklers are the least efficient watering system. Use a hose with a trigger nozzle so you can direct water straight to the plant and water the roots, not the leaves. Avoid watering in the heat of the day or in windy weather when water is lost straight back into the air.