My green thumb

Not to be outdone, here is my green thumb!

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:)Nice One Wayne!

Nice one dude. Have you harvested anything?

Haha, yeah no worries. Well hopefully soon then!

18 Month old Staffy. Beau

The Passion fruit plants seem to be growing well also. Happy

edit: any idea why they vary in colour even though there the same plant?

LOL mate look at the size of them, going to be at least another year or two before i would even expect fruit.

Hey bud, a little tip I like to do for my veggie patch, throw a bit of pea-straw/cane-sugar straw etc over the top to save your garden drying out during summer and it's great for the soil at the same time.

Lol, now you know why.

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Some basic tips for a beginner/those who are interested in preparedness. 

Growing crops year after year in a certain area will need the encouragement of fetilizers.  Now if it's SHTF, then you're not going to go buy them down the road, however there are plenty of excellent options that you will have in abundance around you.  First let's explain a little about plant nutrition.

Plants need 3 main nutrients to grow and flourish, Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium, or as it is often called NPK, denoting it's chemical name.  Here's a quick run down of the main 3 nutrients and how to find a source of them.  Using 'organic' material improves the soil quality, fertilizes, improves water retention, binds sand and breaks up clay.  It's what the top layers of most soil is made up of and a rich light black light texture is an excellent example of good soil quality.  Now lets take a simple look at each of the main nutrients.

Nitrogen
This is mostly required for a plants foliage.  Here are some organic and therefore renewable sources of fertilizer to encourage your plants to thrive.

Animal manure - Cows, rabbits, horses, sheep, horses, alpacas, llamas, and chickens. Not animals that primarily eat meat such as dogs or cats - that's a no-no. Manure from meat-eaters can contain harmful pathogens that you really don't want to come into contact with.  Think parasites and potentially lethal bacteria/viral.  Usually manures are composted before they're used in gardens, but some such as rabbit manure doesn't need to be. Others such as cow manure and chickens, will burn your plants if not composted first. Bat guano (bat poo), is full of nitrogen!

Worm Castings - They don't have to be pure castings, of course. Vermicompost is ideal. Plus, it's a super-duper soil conditioner.

Alfalfa meal - Not only does alfalfa offer a big bang of nitrogen, it's also a terrific organism activator for soil. So I toss some into my compost, too. Use alfalfa meal on the plants that are gluttons for food like corn. As usual, I like to use what I have on hand to not only save time, but also to save money. Because I have rabbits and buy their feed in large quantities, I periodically dump a bit at the base of my roses. My roses reward me handsomely for my generosity.

Blood meal [Blood and bone] - The blood component of blood and bone is very high in nitrogen.

Fish meal or fish emulsion - It will stink for a bit, but the smell doesn't last and your plants DIG it. Fish meal is better than the emulsion [liquids] because the emulsion wash away faster.

Coffee Grounds - Think cafe's for free fertilizer.  It's high in acidity, so good for azaleas, rhodies, blueberries, and the like it also has high nitrogen, too.

Grass clippings - Green grass freshly mowed from the lawn is an excellent source of free nitrogen.  Unless you have a push mower or scythe, it's unlikely you will have many of them, but it's worth noting for now.

Legumes - When you grow legumes, the roots absorb nitrogen from the air and lock it in the plant. 

Urine - Very high in nitrogen, potentially can burn plants if concentrated [bright yellow].  Peeing on the lemon tree is actually useful.  SHTF, using urine would help

Phosphorous
For a plants roots and flowering.  Roots store and absorb nutrients and water of course. 

Bone meal [Blood and bone] - Bone meal is animal bones that have been grounded into powder. It's highly phosphorus as well as calcium, but this is also a slow-releasing source. It's great for encouraging good root growth.

Fireplace ash - Burning wood releases the nitrogen and sulfur but all of the other nutrients are left within the ashes.  Putting them on your garden recycles them back into the soil.  Not good for acid loving plants as it will in effect lime your soil [raise pH], which means it's best not to use them on acid loving plants like blueberries. 

Potassium
Originally called pot-ash, because it was found in the ashes of burnt timber it is important for a plants fruiting/crop.  Obviously this is something we need for our veggie patches so it's best to keep recycling it.

Fireplace ash/Pot-ash - As mentioned above, it's a great sources of potassium too.

Kelp meal - If you're close to the sea, it's a great source of Potassium.  Basically it's just dried seaweed. An exceptionally fertilizer containing lots of trace mineral and hormones.

Composting - Disposing of your waste vegetable material will help recycle the potassium locked inside.

Grey water from washing dishes/laundry [careful with dishwashers as they use caustic materials which things like blueberries don't like] contains all sorts of useful nutrients for your garden.  In addition detergents have a wetting agent [lets water absorb into the soil better] quality to them, improving drainage. 

In a nutshell, use a variety of organic fertilizers, recycling anything organic left over back into the soil.