Veg Garden 1.2

"Plant this mate"

Well, even though I carefully chose only vegetables that the baboons wouldn't eat (veg. garden 1.1), it didn't stop them from uprooting all my plants and leaving them to die - why? go ask Monkeynuts ... lol. Well - this was it - frustrated with the fact that it is so easy to augment your groceries with a few simple plants, yet the presence of baboons in the area means I  cant plant veg in the open (even veg they hate) I decided to devise a way of growing at very least a handful of veg..

I initially looked into the idea of using grow lights and using a section of the garage but it rapidly became apparent that this would not be the most cost effective solution. Instead I have decided to use a small section of the garden I can easily close off between the house and wall. This patch is not ideal as it does not receive a large amount of direct light, but its the only section I can easily close off. This was also the section of the garden my daughter had earmarked for her aviary, chicken coop, farm, etc. (Little girl with BIG plans) but I decided this stood a far greater chance of actually happening, and so my garden plans won.

The plants I had already growing there were doing pretty well until the root inspector came calling, and it is right off the kitchen, so it got some points there.

I wanted to get as much light and rain as possible, while keeping it strong enough to keep our hairy friends out. Cost was also an issue in the design of the structure, so plans were kept as cheap as possible. I have subsequently found out I could have saved a bit by using clear corrugated roofing and collecting the runoff, but no crying over wasted money :( who would have thought proper roofing would be cheaper than chicken wire?

So - I have now built the structure out of 38x38 structural treated timber and chicken wire (looks shocking :( but will have to do) [[ Click here for pics ]]  and got a lick of varnish on for good measure. Now to get going on the raised beds. I need to maximise my use of the area, so will be using raised beds, hanging pots, and vertical growing to get the most out of the area (in theory), although I will really have to wait and see how it all goes with the light issue and winter on the way.

Once the beds are in, and I have seedlings and possibly even some veg growing I have to install an electric fence. After installing the gate and admiring my handiwork I realised that a determined baboon with all its strength could simply break the door off if it was so inclined, especially since we now keep our dog indoors for its safety. A store bought solution is not an option, and so I am planning on using an electronics kit system which runs a car coil to produce the charge. Again - I will let you know how that works and where you can purchase the parts (yebo electronics or electronics123.co.za). Thats that for now, will edit when I have pics and progress.