Good day everyone! Zak here from Cape Town, South Africa signing off the year with my final Gardening post for the year!
Last week I started building this raised bed out of concrete blocks. Now it is time to start filling them up. I really do not want to dig any holes into my garden so I will need to go out and possibly buy some dirt... but let's see how far i get with what I have...
I needed to cut off the excess tree branches and that has gotten dry behind the garage. So I can start off by using this as a basing.
My son, 
Twigs, branches, dry leaves and all that manner of good stuff went into the bottom of the bed. This will all break down and make food for the plants I grow in the bed.
Eventually, it was time to add the compost from my compost piles. I have two piles, one has newer materials and the other has the more mature stuff in it.
I started by padding in a grassy layer and then put the other compost on top.
I also added a bit of wood ash to the mix for the potash content. Not a lot and this will be added with plenty of other bits.
More compost...
And more compost and dirt! I gave that a water and let that layer settle for a few days. I am in no particular hurry but add to my garden as the days go by.
In the meantime I made some Basil suttings from my well established Basil plants in the garden. I had to watch a couple of videos on Youtube and hopefully I have done it right... time will tell.
But the excess leaves were washed, cut up and added to that evening's food!
And here is an overview of what the garden looks like now...
Compared to what I came from...
And before that...
And before THAT.
So I think there is a lot to be proud and grateful for! We are doing quite well!
Until next year...
Cheers!
