So exciting to start your own vegetable garden – organic please.
The following are the things to consider before you start, to ensure success:

• Location
• Check out the sun shine in the garden
• Look where the shadows are coming from e.g. buildings, trees – on your property or from your Neighbours.
• You are wanting the area with the most hours of sunlight for your vegetables.
• Dappled light and areas can also be used for certain leafy crops, but mainly sunlight please.

Contact Linda for a zoom consultation – Click here

Below are Beginner Combo’s to get you started​

Check out possible Wind Tunnels and consider where to place your plants for crop rotation!

How can we help?

Your planted area needs to be accessible to harvest from both sides, without standing on the soil.

• Design your space to have pathways or separate beds so that you can walk in between the planted areas.
• Your beds should not exceed 1.2 meters in width so you can reach your harvest.
• Length would depend on if you need to cross from one side to the other, you don’t want to have to walk around the bed for an extended distance.

Professional GARDEN DESIGN provided for you!

Click here to book a professional consult with Linda.

Consider making your space aesthetically pleasing, not just functional!

How can we help?

Consider you soil needs for your beds.

• Are there many tree roots?
• Is your soil really old and nutrient poor?
• Would it be too difficult to use? Consider raising your beds with many different options available.
• If you need to utilise minimum space, or balcony space, use pots or any containers that you may be able to re-purpose e.g. leaking buckets, old basins, etc.
• Add extra drainage holes.
• There are wonderful options available according to your needs and aesthetic tastes.

We can offer you a special starter seed pack for your new vegetable garden.

Below are Linda’s Beginner Combo’s to get you started​

How can we help?

• Vegetables need to be cared for to give you best results. Watering regularly is most important. If it is a hot summer, watering everyday is recommended. Early in the morning and in the evening. Not midday please.
• Winter time watering should be in the earlier part of the morning but not before 7am to prevent your plants from freezing up.
• A computerized watering system in the garden is highly desirable and you can leave the worrying behind.
• Simple inexpensive products are available to attach to your tap or can be fitted by your irrigation specialist.
  For your pots, remember they dry out faster than the garden beds in heat.
• Take into consideration the material you have and water accordingly e.g. clay pots may retain water better than plastic.
• REMEMBER:
  Use PLENTY of mulch.
  Be liberal with compost and careful with fertilizer.
• See more below.
  No electricity needed and no worries, get our alternative self watering systems here – Click here (ollas, eco smart and eco smart irrigation)

How can we help?

• Vegetables ideally would like average of 6 hours per day. However, there are many variables that can be taken into consideration. Completely shaded areas are not to be used. Your vegetables will not grow without sun.

  Some plants can grow in dappled shade or partial shade (when the sun is hidden at times of the day), and this is especially desirable in hot summers for tender leaf vegetables like lettuce and some herbs.

  SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS – Click here

  How can we help?

  Click on each seed packet for information on the plant

  SUN: (Summer Season)	SUN: (Winter Season)
  Lettuce Little Gem	Lettuce Mixed
  Tomato Principe Borghese	Cabbage Golden Acre
  Basil Sweet	Kale Nero Toscana
  Bean Top Crop	Peas Golden Sweet
  Sweet Pepper Yolo Wonder	Oriental Mix
  Price:  R120.00	Price:  R120.00

You cannot grow vegetables in total shade, but you can some leafy veg in partial shade, at certain times of the day.

A partly shady area can act as a micro-climate for tender leaf vegetables and herbs. Look out for dense canopy that could prevent rain water reaching your plants.
Get your partial shade tolerant vegetable seed pack here, minimum of 4 hours of sun a day.

How can we help?

Healthy soil is alive, fully of minerals and nutrients, and that is why we grow vegetables organically.

Chemical destroy the micro organisms in the soil, which are imperative for your garden and food. Healthy soil is friable, soft and crumbly. It will have a good Ph balance. It should have a sweet smell. Your earthworms will proliferate it healthy soil and will keep the soil aerated.

The living micro organisms in healthy soil also provide the plants with nutrients and enhance their immune system.

How can we help?

• Clay Soil:

  Many gardens and soil in old pots will be clay soil.

  Either because they are in an area that has too much water, or in the case of raised beds, or pots, insufficient drainage over time will cause clay soil. There is insufficient air in clay soil and the roots of your vegetables are unable to get the nutrients they need out of the soil.

  Adding organic matter over a period of time will benefit this soil.  There would also be a lack of living micro organisms in the soil, which are imperative for healthy soil.

  Sandy Soil:

  Sandy soil drains water too quickly.

  As a result the nutrient content is depleted and the micro organisms in the soil are limited. It is most useful to add to the soil organic organic matter which will assist in binding the sandy particles. Mulching your soil will also help a lot.

  Compacted Soil:

  Compacted soil is often the “garden” space you have after building or renovating. Another huge contributor and most common cause is walking on your soil.

  Make sure you have stepping stones or pathways between your vegetables so that you do not stand on the soil. Compacted soil prevents water drainage which will cause roots to rot, prevent oxygen spaces in the soil and will kill the micro organisms.

  Vermiculite 2:
  Carrot seeds and seedlings for sandy soil.
  What can we supply as organic matter?

  How can we help?

Mulch is the wonder drug of the garden! It keeps the soil temperature even, it keeps weeds at bay, it keeps the life giving water in the soil, and it encourages micro organisms to proliferate in the soil.

The use of good mulch Will also provide nutrients to the soil when it eventually degrades. Using dried leaves is perfect. Straw or hay is also excellent but you will have to look out for the growth from the seeds contained in those mediums.

ORDER YOUR STRAW BALES – Click here (only available in certain areas)

How can we help?

Who would have thought that Gardeners are guilty of over feeding their gardens and contribute to excess run off in the water systems of fertilizers, which results in damage to our water systems e.g. algae blooms?

• Be cautious with feeding your soil as vegetables grown from our good heirloom seeds, in healthy soil, should not need that much feeding.
• NEVER use chemical fertilizers in your vegetable Garden.
• Not only for the environment but the absorption of the chemicals by the vegetables will land up in your body as well as destroy the life in your soil which gives you the nutrients you need to stay healthy when eating your organic vegetables.
• Compost, however, is an essential element and you should strive to make your own compost. Be generous with compost, it has so many beneficial elements for your soil and the plants.
• It provides nutrition, temperature control, improves soil structure and drainage, and provides the medium for worms to tunnel in the soil providing oxygen too.

BOOK YOUR ZOOM CONSULTATION TO MAKE YOUR OWN COMPOST – Click here

How can we help?

• Everyone loves fresh organic food especially birds – protect your plants.
• Snails and slugs will visit so put beer traps in place.
• Be careful of indiscriminate spraying and avoid chemical pesticides – remember you will be eating those plants.
• Some protection can be given to the plant through the soil.
• In winter frost could kill your plants and certainly your seedlings.

How can we help?

• Determine which are the basic vegetables you always eat e.g. Salads, stews, etc.
• Make a list of the most popular vegetables in your household – it’s no use growing things nobody will eat.
• Then list the extras that your would sometimes enjoy.
• Take your space into consideration when planting big plants e.g. artichokes you may not have enough space left for what you need.

How can we help?

• Your skin is the largest organ of the human body and is capable of absorbing important vitamins and nutrients e.g. Vitamin K which you get from the soil.
• Consider not wearing gloves while digging in the soil.
• Run your nails over a bar of soap to stop the sand staining them.
• Remember to wear a hat to protect your face, neck and ears from sunburn.
• Natural fibre long sleeves will protect from sun too.
• Use good cream on your hands to nourish them.

How can we help?

Click on the following links to quickly access those pages:

Shop our Vegetable Seeds Range

Build-A-Bed

View our range of DSTV clips