One Magic Square

I don't have a lot of time for gardening nowadays, although my herbs seem to have survived the neglect I've showered on them quite successfully. However, I was seduced by the shape (square) and colour of a book called "One Magic Square" by Lolo Houbein, who also just happens to be of Dutch origin. Her gardening experience, however, is all rooted in Australia. So I caved and bought it, gloated over it for a couple of days, and finally - being unable to resist the lure of a neatly numbered set of instructions - wended my way outdoors. Now, in the past, I've raised vegetables on a fairly lavish scale (with due credit to Garry who faithfully created the structures that my grand designs required). Our garden in Long St was a lush jungle that produced two metre tall corn stalks, healthy chooks and delicious eggs, and a variety of fruit and veg.


Since moving to the coast, I've not had much time for a project of this scale. The soil here is not black volcanic, it's sand over clay. However, the sight of some fat worms has given me hope - and after all, it's all about building the soil, isn't it? So, I dutifully set out to obey the instructions given on page one: "To start growing your own food without delay, put down this book, go out in the garden and select a spot in the sun". Okay, that part is easy enough. Double check the site with Garry to make sure he's not planning to put anything else there... site selected.. check.

Next, "Dig over one square metre with a garden fork and remove all the weeds by hand". Not being a keen digger or weeder, I am glad my chosen spot is already weed-free and well mulched. I pat myself on the back and mark out the square metre with Catherine's able assistance. Calmly ignoring the demise of our tape measure, we spread out newspaper in our chosen spot and I shovel on some nicely composted soil (including worms). Ahhhh, lovely! At this point, Garry comes over and asks why we have moved the chosen site several metres away from the agreed spot.

Tiny hiccough in the plan - the Time Capsule we created some years ago is buried somewhere around here, although Garry isn't entirely sure where. Arrrggghhh! We try to drag the newspaper and its heavy load across to the original spot. The paper breaks apart. We try to shove a board underneath but this only rips the paper up even more. Time to lean on the shovel and regroup. Catherine hurries inside and makes a new paper square. I shovel everything across and eventually we stand back to admire the end result. Not much to see there.... but with the eternal optimism of gardeners of all ages, I add the little word "yet!"