Written by Krisy Goodwin
Creativity and innovation in a garden to me go hand in hand, and when it comes to your vegetable garden that list can be long and varied.
From high tech expensive watering and lighting systems to a lovingly painted old boot, filling it with soil and turning it into your own creative pot plant masterpiece, creativity or innovation will usually come to you when you are in need of something you don’t have or a need.
For a more reliable way of accomplishing a task, open your mind to all the possibilities and something will present itself. Here are just a few of the ideas I use in my own garden.
Trying to find a better way to shade my beds, I came across a few old screen doors and window screens lying forgotten by the shed.
I set to work tearing out the old mozzie mesh and replacing it with shade cloth.
I now can pop in four garden stakes and just sit the screens on top of my beds angled in any direction, and they work a treat! They can be removed with ease and stored when not needed.
Hoses that get caught up in garden beds as you round a corner are no longer a worry for me.
I painted and repurposed some hollow garden gnomes by hammering in sturdy garden stakes in the corner of the beds and slipping the garden gnome onto the stake.
If it does not fit, you can gently tap out the hole in the bottom of the ornament to make it larger. It looks good, it works, and is accident safe thanks to the cheerful gnome!
I wanted a trellis to grow vines up on, so I headed to our local recycle centre to see what I could find!
I came home with a bunch of bicycle rims and an old large cast iron gate. I positioned the gate with help from my darling son in- law and we wired the tire rims side by side across the top of the gate, I love it! it’s my favourite feature in the garden to date and cost just pennies.
Old wheelbarrows can be repurposed to house vegetables or flowers.
Or do what I did and turn them into a feature! Lean the Barrow against a fence or tree, stand the handles into an old pair of boots, put gloves on the front legs of the barrow and a hat on the wheel. My grandkids helped to paint the body of the barrow in bright colours.
Paint and varnish smooth rocks as plant markers or place them in a large pot base filled with water to make a drinking area for bees.
Find offcuts of wood and make colourful garden signs! Think outside the box next time you look at your garden area, you never know what you can create!
June is for your cold loving vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, beetroot, peas, carrots, onions, garlic, spinach, cabbage, turnips and radish.
Keep an eye on the weather and if frost is around, use old sheets or whatever is on hand to cover the following vegetables from frost damage; silverbeet, cucumber, spinach, tomatoes, capsicum, eggplant and zucchini.
Gardening is the art
that uses flowers & plants as paint, and the soil and sky as a canvas
– Elizabeth Murray