Irrigation

It is with great happiness and some disbelief that I tell you the cabbages and zucchini have thrived in that seemingly hostile soil.

Wow, the cabbages grew!

Wow, the zucchini grew!

Also amazingly, until today they survived on only two lots of hand watering. It has been extremely mild and there has been some light rain, so I guess we were lucky. However, today I began laying out the drip irrigation system so we won't need to rely on luck and mild spring weather anymore.

An optimistic day of planting.

With much excitement, this morning I filled the tray of my ute with as many plants as I could. Have I mentioned that I've spent a good deal of time propagating herbs and vegetables in anticipation of this very day! We arrived in the morning ready to plant like crazy. 

My optimistically full ute

We set to work, Steve digging up the raised beds and me adding mushroom compost, planting and mulching. First I planted cabbages, the most advanced of all the seedlings, they definitely could not wait any longer. I have to admit that as I planted into that hard, dry, rocky 'soil' I started to seriously doubt whether anything would ever grow...

We have water!

After what feels like a very long time away from the garden (-to-be) and some minor dramas with the plumber and water authority, we finally have mains water connected, which means we finally have a reason to go back and get on with things!

The tap!

Unfortunatley, it has not rained much in Malmsbury this last month. This means the green manure has not germinated and the soil is looking even scarier...