Pops Vege Patch
For information about the Dayboro Organic Gardening Club ph Shane Fuller:3425 1553-happy gardening.
My Grandfather had a vege patch the likes of which I have never seen equalled.
Growing up in the great depression with 14 siblings I suppose his family had to do whatever they could to save money. His father grew as much of their own food as possible and I think the habit stuck. He still had it going until he passed away a couple of years ago. I can remember as a kid raiding his vege patch-eating corn, beans, peas straight off the plants. Mum never had such success in getting us to eat our veges.
Growing up in the great depression with 14 siblings I suppose his family had to do whatever they could to save money. His father grew as much of their own food as possible and I think the habit stuck. He still had it going until he passed away a couple of years ago. I can remember as a kid raiding his vege patch-eating corn, beans, peas straight off the plants. Mum never had such success in getting us to eat our veges.
The size of the garden was impressive – he lived on an acre in the middle of town (Mitchell-central Qld) .I can remember thinking that our whole yard in Brisbane would easily fit in his vege patch.
Back then there was no such thing as organic gardening, chemical insecticides were proving almost as useful as water. He never used a huge amount of insecticide on his veges or his fruit trees. He once told me to only eat his figs after dark- I learnt later that this was because you couldn’t see grubs in the dark.
Pop was a shearer by trade so he had access to plenty of manure and it showed in the health of the crop. He was not into wasting anything and my father tells me that he stopped eating his veges when, as a teenager, he figured out why the dunnyman hardly ever had to visit their outhouse.
I guess my point is that, as the cost of living increases – including fruit and veges, perhaps a few square metres at the bottom of the back yard could well be used to supply the household with some of the veges that are easier to grow. Tomatoes, lettuce, beans, peas can all be grown in a relatively small area and are almost foolproof.
Nothing compares to the taste of food picked and eaten fresh. I don’t consider myself a purist when it comes to organic gardening but I love the idea of eating food that we have grown at home and knowing that it won’t contain any chemical insecticides. As a collection of organic gardeners none of us claim to be experts, but we are enthusiastic and between us we have information to find solutions to most problems we encounter in the garden.
Back then there was no such thing as organic gardening, chemical insecticides were proving almost as useful as water. He never used a huge amount of insecticide on his veges or his fruit trees. He once told me to only eat his figs after dark- I learnt later that this was because you couldn’t see grubs in the dark.
Pop was a shearer by trade so he had access to plenty of manure and it showed in the health of the crop. He was not into wasting anything and my father tells me that he stopped eating his veges when, as a teenager, he figured out why the dunnyman hardly ever had to visit their outhouse.
I guess my point is that, as the cost of living increases – including fruit and veges, perhaps a few square metres at the bottom of the back yard could well be used to supply the household with some of the veges that are easier to grow. Tomatoes, lettuce, beans, peas can all be grown in a relatively small area and are almost foolproof.
Nothing compares to the taste of food picked and eaten fresh. I don’t consider myself a purist when it comes to organic gardening but I love the idea of eating food that we have grown at home and knowing that it won’t contain any chemical insecticides. As a collection of organic gardeners none of us claim to be experts, but we are enthusiastic and between us we have information to find solutions to most problems we encounter in the garden.
