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Escape to Otway Fields by Ami Hillege
Vegetable garden with a view across the Otways
There’s nothing like a pandemic to create a new focus on becoming just a little more self-sufficient. Most seasons I amble through the tasks of planting, harvesting and cleaning up garden beds, before starting the process all over again. I’ve always loved placing food on the table that I’ve grown, but I’ve been rather casual about it. Now I realise that I have a responsibility to myself, my family and my garden to nurture this patch of dirt and be more proactive in growing our own produce. Sure, there’s going to be excess produce. And isn’t that a wonderful problem to have?! Frans and I have always followed this mantra: “Grow it yourself. Barter and share with neighbours and family. Buy local. Keep your food miles low. Eat seasonally. And look after the bees!” Besides being able to
enjoy our own produce and share the excess, the simple act of growing our own food gives me great satisfaction. There’s so much more to vegetable gardening than sticking a few seeds into some dirt. Each season comes with the excitement of planning the planting of the next season’s bounty. I love to pour over seed catalogues, sort my seed packets, make lists and glean as much information and inspiration I can find before getting started. My planning and pondering at the beginning of autumn made me consider our current garden layout. To achieve maximum results for the effort I’m willing to commit to growing food, I realised I needed to change the structure of one garden area. I coerced some strong fellas, (husband, son in law and a mate), to rejig the area that held three very long, ugly, raised beds, and soon I was doodling on graph paper and plotting out the planting schedule for a new potager kitchen garden. Gone were the metal sheets, and in place were a dozen neat garden beds, one width of timber high. I have found that I have much more success with vegetables when they’re grown close to the ground. The previous metal raised beds tended to dry out quickly, so I was keen to try a new approach.
