Water is so Important

With the paddock northerly facing it will mean in summer it will need a lot of irrigation.  I have a supply of water at the top of the hill as we have an emergency tank up there.  This comes in if there is a power cut and the pump stops.  When I was in at the hire centre I saw a machine that would dig a trench.  Cost was $140 for a minimum of 2 hours.  I decided to dig the trench myself.  I had already planted the fruit trees so I ran the ethylene pipe down the hill and put a tap on it knowing I could dig the trench when the ground was a little softer.

The coil in the pipe was a bit of a problem to unwind.  In the end I would it up again and started from the top unscrewing it as I went.  Roots at the top made it hard to dig a trench and then grass clumps towards the bottom.

I dug down about a spade length as I didn't want cattle to dig it up.  I didn't mind the line not being perfectly straight as hopefully when it is grassed over it won't be noticeable. 

I will plant some grass seed over the next week and then it should look fine.  It will be very important in the summer to have water close at hand.

Digging the plot.

After spraying some Round Up on the paddock to clear the grass the next step was to hire a rotary hoe and dig up two plots.  The cost of the rotary hoe was $86 for two hours.  There were some rather large stones in the soil and these did not agree with the rotary hoe.  With no experience of using this machine before, I was unsure whether to spend a long time getting to the proper depth before moving on or do multiple runs taking off a bit more each time.  In the end I decided to try both strategies, one on each plot.

 It was quite hard to keep the digger going straight as the garden is on a bit of a slope.  The machine went well for a while and then started to die.  It took me a while to work out that the choke was slowly coming out and so it would start to choke the engine.  For a change it was good to have a hire machine that was easy to start.

The machine definitely broke the soil up into fine particles.  It was hard to keep a constant depth and some plants may find it hard to get a deep root system.  However I do plan to build the beds up with the fish compost I have already.  I think I might get another cubic metre as I have heard good things about it from other gardeners and I really do want the plants to have a good chance of growing.

Here are the finished beds.  I had planned on making them a little wider but this will do for the time being.  I can always widen them later.  My next step is to get my spade and make sure the edges are a little clearer.   I have bought two 8kg bags of gypsum  and I will spread this on the soil to help reduce the effect of the clay content.

Getting Started on the Garden

 This is where I would like to start my garden.  The area has a slight slope and is northerly facing receiving sun from early morning to late afternoon.  Because of a clay pan just below the surface the soil will need a lot of conditioning to grow vegetables.

The compost I chose was a fish and bark mix which should help to improve the soil. The cost was $75 for a cubic metre.

At present a good thing to plant is citrus.  The timing is right(winter) and Hawke's Bay has an ideal climate for the fruit.  I have decided to plant 6 trees.  2 mandarin, 2 orange, a lemon and a lime.
Firstly I had to clear a patch of paddock grass.  I used a weed-eater to initially clear the grass and then with a fork dug up the ground to get rid of unwanted weeds.

You can see from this photo that the soil is in poor condition with lumps of clay.  Consequently I had to dig out some of the dirt and replace it with the fish and bark mixture.

I sprinkled gypsum in the base of the hole as this will help to break down the clay structure and also provide some important minerals for the trees.

Then on top of the gypsum I placed a few handfuls of sheep pellets.  I have been told the key with citrus trees is to have plenty of nutrients under the trees as well as feed them regularly.

Here is an orange tree I have planted.  The tree is actually three years old and has been transplanted out of an orchard.  It should be hardy enough to handle any frost but I have bought some frost protection sheet to put over them when a frost is expected.

To do this I have put some stakes around each tree and I have rubber bands to put around the poles to keep the cloth in place.  It is best to remove this each morning after a frost so the plant gets its full complement of sunlight.