Preparing New Vegetable garden

I thought within the overflowing enthusiasm with no ending spirit of dare to dream, one ought to be cautious about these limiting factors: TIME and STAMINA. I only have  weekends to really go into gardening. After-work is so short, that by the time I moved two or three loads of topsoil, sun has gone down. So, how much I can do with garden work, is very much time dependent. STAMINA is another factor. I have no intention to outsource garden work to deal with the two limiting factors.... in a way very much accepting the current rate of progress. Someone said, the journey up the mountain is long and memorable. Preparing vegetable garden plot is almost like hiking up the tallest mountain.... tough, tiring and yet memorable.

Now is December. I thought the vegetable garden plot is almost there, taking basic shape, enticing creative energy to recreate, reformulate and to keep redefining the eventual look of the whole garden. I would settle for loose overall concept which effectively allows flexibility on the final look.

Material

• Top Soil           1 lorry load
• Sand                2 lorry load    
• Bricks:             500 pieces
• Compost          30 bags
• Burnt Soil         30 bags
• (Tanah Bakar)

Equipment

• Wheelbarrow   1
• Spade              1
• Straw hat         2 (one for me, one for kakdah)
• Gloves             2 pairs
• Watering hose  50 m length 

Timeline

• Arrive in Johor:                     5 nov 2011
• Start garden work:                7 nov 2011
• Finish garden work:               7 jan 2012
• Automated watering system : 15 jan 2012

Plants/Vegetables

• Roselle 
• Ladys Finger
• Kangkung
• Ulam Raja
• Pak Choy
• hibiscus
• three sisters
• clitoria ternatea
• cili centil
• cekur
• keladi tetawi
• ubi kemili
• ubi badak
• ubi itik

Three rows of vegetable bed 80% ready (22 nov 2011)

 the vegetable plot, in a different view (27 November 2011)

vegetable garden plot: another view (30 Nov 2011)

vegetable garden plot: another view (30 Nov 2011)

vegetable garden plot: a bigger view (30 Nov 2011)

vegetable garden plot: a low view.  (30 Nov 2011)
Quite visible, kangkung, tiny lady's fingers and roselle

Lady's fingers and kangkung (27 November 2011)

Watering
For the moment it's going to be manual, by watering hose.  We are considering an automated watering system sometime in January when weather starts to get hotter. Our vegetable garden  is designed in grid form to ease shifting to automated system. The target is to get the vegetable beds,  "three sisters" plots, and  flowers corner for kakdah, ready within a month.

• November:        manual
• December:        manual
• January 2012:   automated system.

the other side of the house (27 November 2011)

Lovely sunrise, a good sign to start a day. (30 Nov 2011)

I should have asked materials to be delivered in batches....

 rather than the whole lot. It is disheartening to see

 mountain high heaps of soil and sand. It doesn't seem to get lesser

bangchik and kakdah

little vegetable garden Johor Malaysia