growing in small spaces

16 MARCH, 2007

After a year in regional Queensland we've moved back to the city for work opportunities and to be closer to family, and we’ve bought a garden flat. The time has come to venture out alone and create a garden from what I learnt living up north. I know how important it is to start small and only grow what I'm able to maintain, and as the only sunny area in the garden is on the pavers out the back, I've bought some big garden boxes. They're plastic so easy to lift, and the colour of terracotta. I've placed rocks in the bottom of them and filled them with dirt and compost - some of which I've been making in a tumbler compost bin I have.

I've planted seeds and seedlings, including broccoli, spring onions, pumpkins and even a 'good bug' mix. Thing is, I planted way too much and have to transplant the larger things like the pumpkins into sunny patches around the garden. I haven't built up the soil matter and with only dappled sunshine hitting the grassy yard, I'm not sure the seedlings will survive. But the boxes look so pretty filled with flowers and veggies growing in a huge mass together.