No matter where you live, you can turn your backyard into a fun, educational area the whole family can enjoy with an urban farm. Add a compost system and worm farm to feed your plants, and a raised garden bursting with delicious spring veges to feed you all!
Shopping list: Tui Vegetable Mix, Tui Sheep Pellets, Tui Pea Straw Mulch, worm farm, compost bin.
Create an urban farm in your backyard
No matter where you live, you can turn your backyard into a fun, educational area the whole family can enjoy with an urban farm. Add a compost system and worm farm to feed your plants, and a raised garden bursting with delicious spring veges to feed you all.
The kids will enjoy helping with the planting, feeding the worms, turning the compost and eating the delicious goodies you grow!
Start a worm farm
Worm farming is a fun way to turn your organic waste, like kitchen scraps, into rich fertiliser for your garden in the form of worm castings and worm tea.
1. Purchase a worm farm from your local DIY or garden centre, or check out some of the guides online to make your own.
2. Choose a shady position for your worm farm and ensure it is easily accessible to feed your scraps straight to the worms.
3. If you have purchased your worm farm, assemble as per the instructions.
4. Next you need some bedding material for your worm farm. Worm farm kits will usually supply coir brick. Soak the coir brick in water and it expands to create your home for the worms. Other suitable bedding materials include: shredded newspaper, office paper or cardboard, brown leaves and straw.
5. Add some compost to help get your worm farm started.
6. Add the worms to the top tray and let them settle in.
Get our full worm farming guide here >
Set up a compost system
Compost is nature’s way of recycling. Made from waste garden material, compost is an essential ingredient for creating rich soil and healthy plants.
To get started you will need a good structure or container to hold your compost. Compost bins are available from your local DIY store and garden centre, or you could build your own, for example out of plastic bins or pallets, or create a compost heap. Look online for more ideas.
Choose a sunny position for your compost system and ensure it is easily accessible for adding ingredients and regular mixing.
Prepare your compost in layers that are a blend of carbon and nitrogen. This means adding a mix of organic garden and kitchen waste materials.
Get our full composting guide here >
Plant a vege garden
A raised garden bed is a great option to pack lots of different crops in. Fill with Tui Vegetable Mix a high quality natural-based planting mix containing the right blend of nutrients to provide your veges with the best possible start and sustained growth throughout the season. Then mix in Tui Sheep Pellets. After planting add layers of Tui Pea Straw Mulch to suppresses weed growth, protects roots and conserve moisture.
Choose a range of vegetables you enjoy, so you don’t get loads of the same vege ready at once, or end up growing things your family won't enjoy eating.
Quick wins: Planting crops that give quick results is a great way to keep children enthusiastic.
- Crunchy, colourful and ready to harvest a month or so after sowing, radish is an easy crop that flourishes with little care.
- Salad greens such as lettuce, spinach and mesclun are easy to plant options and can be harvested a leaf at a time.
- Introduce children to the goodness of the Brassica family including broccolli, cauliflower, cabbage, cavalo nero and mizuna. Mizuna is one of the speediest crop you can ever grow, it is ready to harvest within a matter of weeks.
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Create an urban farm Comments
Please could you let me know what Mizuna is, its growing habits, what benefits does it have for me etc. Is it ok to grow from seed?
Meredyth Anderson
Hi Meredith, thank you for getting in touch. Mizuna is a very quick growing salad green (one of the quickest you can grow) that can be eaten fresh or cooked (think salads or stirfries - mizuna goes well with olive oil, avocado, bacon, ham, eggs and tomatoes). The flavour is mild, peppery and lettuce-like. It has feathery foliage that grows on arching, semi-upright stems that appear from a central point. It can be grown from seed year-round and germinates quickly. Mizuna will grow happily in almost any soil in both the sun and shade. It is also suitable for pots and containers. Enjoy and happy growing!
Tui Team