Please don’t exert yourself to dig up your ground, there’s really no need. What about just adding to your existing bed or starting a brand new bed on top of wherever you want, even on top of a tarred area or concrete slab…. Any unused tennis courts?

The reason behind this is that by digging deep into your soil you disrupt the microbial life in the soil, sometimes even mixing the top soil too deeply into the soil of the bed thus losing the nutrients that have built up from mulching and composting that are in your top soil.

Top soil is being washed away, and lost at an alarming rate throughout the world. Let’s be part of the solution and grow lots and lots of abundantly rich top soil. Earthworms are the life and soul of the party here – the more the merrier. If you do not have earthworms in your soil it is a direct indication of the lack of life in your soil and you need to feed, feed, feed.

Let’s consider a raised bed on top of any surface. You can simply place gum poles, planks, corrugated iron sheeting, etc. to form your bed. Do not make it wider than where you can reach the centre from either side, as you will not want to stand on your soil when harvesting your wonderful vegetables grown from your Franchi Sementi seeds.

Make sure your drainage is well provided for, especially if you are building on top of a solid surface. Place tin cans, cut off branches or the likes on the bottom layer, then your compost and soil mix. Remember that you only need 45cm of growing depth. You don’t need a lot of deep soil, as long as you keep it well-fed.

Get your organic compost from your local GardenShop, add Talborne Organics Vita Veg fertiliser and Seamungus or any other yummy organic healthy soil food. Also add your own well-rotted homemade compost and your Bokashi bin contents, Fertilis, or your own worm tea.

Bon Appetito! Plant your seeds, let them eat well and you will eat well too, from your harvest.