ESTHER DEAN'S GARDENING BOOK

 This little book is an eBay find, the book and postage were less than $10.00 total bargain. My first garden bed was a traditional dig \ de-stone \ weed \ feed and it took weeks to complete the soil was so hard there were so many rocks and the grass just kept coming back. That bed now has two sorts of potatoes thriving so it was worth all the hard work.

Then I read Growing Without Digging it sounded to simple, I've seen  no-dig gardens before and they workout to be quite expensive with lots of layers. Esther Dean's bed construction is straightforward and easy.

1.  make a frame, can be anything
2.  layer newspaper 1\2 cm thick
3.  layer with pads of  lucerne hay

I watered at this point as it was a hot day.

4.  sprinkle organic fertilizer
5.  cover with loose straw about 20cm high
6.  sprinkle some more fertilizer
7.  tip a circle of compost 10cm deep & 45cm across 
I used a potting\compost mix  3\4 compost 1\4 potting mix
8.  plant seeds or seedlings in the circle of compost

9.  lightly cover with loose straw and lightly water 

The photo above shows the the circles of compost and seedlings coming through the straw, you don't have to cover the whole bed with potting\compost mix just in the places you want to plant in. So far they are thriving, the seeds have germinated faster and are healthier.

I'm going to make three small Christmas stockings one for the flatmate, one for the Furgus and one for me. Do other people give their fury friends stockings with more than one gift?  here are two fabric choices so far I think Rudolph will be the flatmates and I'm not sure about the hearts I think I'll use the mushroom fabric from my stash for me. Now just have to find something nice for Furgus,  I must be going mad will a cat even notice the pretty fabric? and do I really care.