Gardening feeds the soul

For me, gardening is more than a hobby—it’s a way of life, nurturing both the soul and the family. The anticipation of a change in season or the opportunity to sow new seeds and cuttings fills me with excitement. As autumn unfolds in Australia, it’s the perfect time to kickstart the growth of winter seeds.

In the beginning:

Navigating the unique growing patterns of South Australia and continually enhancing the soil of our rental has been a learning process for me. To mitigate potential setbacks, I’ve been planting an abundance of seeds, hedging my bets against a higher failure rate compared to my experiences in NSW. In the initial year on this property, my yield was a mere five pumpkins—everything I planted seemed to succumb to a mix of poor, clay-heavy soil, relentless winds, and an unfamiliar frost pattern.

Improve the soil:

Determined to turn things around, I decided to focus on two key aspects after the first challenging year: enriching the soil with organic matter and devising strategies to minimize the impact of the relentless wind. Aware that our plans included buying and relocating, I opted for cost-effective solutions. Scouring roadsides and social media platforms, I secured bags of stable and paddock manure, embracing the potential weed risks for the significant benefits they brought to the soil.

Investing in a secondhand petrol rotary hoe from a local mechanic shop and acquiring round bales of pea straw, I set to work tilling the manure into the clay ground and covering it with pea straw. This approach significantly improved the soil quality. However, the challenge of the persistent wind remained, particularly since the garden bed faced the front of the property on a hill where the wind was both relentless and brutal.

Block the wind:

To tackle this, I erected metal 2ft high sheets as a temporary windbreak, hoping to remove them once the seedlings had acclimatized and gained strength. This proved successful for certain plants, notably the Nasturtium, which, once established, offered protection to smaller seedlings until they could withstand the force of the wind.

Now, I’ve propagated rosemary cuttings strategically throughout the garden bed, envisioning them as robust windbreaks for the upcoming winter. While this may be our last winter here if the build proceeds as planned, my hope is to leave behind a garden that will not only survive but thrive, benefiting whoever occupies this space in the future—be it the owner or a new tenant.

if you would like to read more about our gardens head here