Two Weeks In The Garden

I seemed to lose my blogging mojo last week, so this week you get two weeks of gardening in one post.

Tuesday August 16th

I harvested three cauliflowers and five heads of broccoli today. I let two of the cauliflower go too long waiting for them to get bigger and then I remembered that they are actually mini cauliflowers, I won't be making that mistake again.

There are now flowers on both plum trees. They always flower a couple of weeks apart, a fact that I seem to forget every year.

Wednesday August 17th

Lots of seed sowing today,  Rosa Bianca and Snowy eggplant, Hungarian Yellow Wax and Californian Wonder Bell capsicum, Honeybee, San Marzano and Rouge De Marmande tomatoes, Lyon Prizetaker leek, bunching shallots (my first time growing both of these), coriander, thyme and another sowing of spinach. 

I also sowed marigolds, zinnias, bergamot, two types of sunflower, alyssum and a bee and butterfly mix.

Thursday August 18th

Sunny and blustery today. It's the same every year, as soon as the fruit trees blossom it gets windy, hopefully there will still be some flowers left on the trees. My seed order arrived today.

Some new varieties to try out.

Saturday August 20th

I harvested three more cauliflowers and four more heads of broccoli today as well as a few side shoots and the first of the Early Crop Massey peas.

 I won't bother with mini cauliflowers again, they take up just as much room as a normal one, but you need three of them to get the same amount of cauliflower. I think both the cauliflower and the broccoli will be finished next week and it will be time to sow the chickpea and bean seeds.

Sunday August 21st

After three applications of the milk/water solution the eggplant is looking much healthier with no signs of powdery mildew at all.

Monday August 22nd

I bought six crowns of Torrey strawberries at Aldi today, I've never heard of them, but according to the packet they are easy to grow, produce an abundance of tasty, large to medium sized fruits. I hope they do.

Thursday August 25th

I spent some time in the garden today as it was too nice of a day to stay indoors. I potted on the two Rouge De Marmande tomato seedlings that I overwintered in the greenhouse, they were looking a bit worse for wear, but hopefully they will pick up now they have more room to grow.  Planted out some more Calendula seedlings and some carnations grown from cuttings taken from a bunch I bought at Aldi. The two borage seedlings I planted last week are not looking too good and I don't hold out much hope for their survival, time to sow some more seed I think. I also sowed some seed of Golden and Red Globe beetroot.

Golden on the right and Red Globe on the right.

So there you go, two weeks in the garden and although there is a lot happening there is also a lot of waiting happening too. All the pea vines are flowering, and I'm waiting for the pods to develop, the garlic is growing well, but I have to wait until at least November to harvest it, and I'm also waiting for seeds to turn into seedlings so they can be planted out into the spring garden.

There may not be a post about the garden next week with all the waiting going, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. There will be another post on Monday though for this month's Garden Share Collective, the theme this month appropriately is seeds. I hope to see you then.

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A Week In The Garden

It has been a slow week in the garden this week, with very little happening at all.

Tuesday 9th August

I went down to water and check on the "Baby" broccoli that I had planted last week only to discover that something had eaten every single one of them. I wonder what the chances are that they will regrow.

Thursday 11th August

 I spotted the first pea pod on the Purple Podded pea vine, such a beautiful colour!  I only wish the peas were purple instead of green.

And I just cannot get enough of their flowers, they are so pretty.

Three of the cauliflower are now big enough to see without having to look for them.

After this photo was taken I clipped the leaves over the top of the cauliflowers with pegs to stop the sun turning them yellow.

One of the asparagus has decided it's spring already and has started to send up shoots.

Hopefully the rest will wait until it's the right time to grow.

I harvested the first head of the "Green Dragon" broccoli and one stem of the "Italian Sprouting" broccoli today.

I'm really pleased with how the broccoli has gone this year, a big improvement on last year.

Both of the orange tree are covered in flower buds despite the fact that one still has fruit on it. Is this normal?

Saturday August 13th

Not really gardening, but still garden related, I spent some time today going through all the seed packets I have (a lot more than I realised), sorting them month by month, tossing out the out of date ones, and writing a list of the ones that I need to buy. 

I then placed an order at Eden Seeds for Golden beetroot, True Gold corn, Turkish Turban pumpkin, Brown Berry, Principe Borghese, Pineapple and Tigerella tomatoes, Purple Beauty capsicum, and Gold Arch Crookneck zucchini. Hopefully with the seeds I all ready have, this should be enough to keep us supplied with vegetables over the spring/summer period.

I harvested a bunch of parsley today,

and noticed that the plum tree has burst into bloom.

Just gorgeous!

Sunday 14th August

I paid a visit to Cheap as Chips to pick up some stakes and twine that I will be using to help to support the broad beans when they get bigger.

I ended up walking out with not only the stakes and twine, but also some seedling trays, seed raising mix, celery seeds, Harlequin carrot seeds and some Giant Dahlia zinnia seeds.  I really don't need any more seeds at this point, but I'm sure that a few more will sneak in when I'm not looking. I think it can be quite addictive, everything always looks so good on the front of the packet.

I put the eggplant out in the sun today, in the hope that it will help with the powdery mildew issue and as I was checking it over I found six more fruit which brings the total to ten now, and it is covered in flowers. If they all produce fruit I have no idea what I'm going to do with them. A nice problem to have though.

So that was this week in the garden and now that I look at the photos  I can see that a lot has actually happened in the garden this week, I just haven't had to do any of the work.

What's been happening in your garden this week?

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Uninspired

It is 3.41 as I sit typing this post and it is raining outside, which is a good thing because the garden really needed it.

Tiny flowers on my tiny Geraldton Wax plant.

I am feeling uninspired at the moment, uninspired and a bit blah. There is so much to do in the house and out in the garden but I just can't find the motivation to do any of it.

Gold Bunny, the first rose of the season.

I'm hoping that it is just the change of seasons that has me feeling so out of sorts and that I will get my mojo back soon. In the meantime here are some photos taken in the last week or so.

The last of the turnips, so good.

Papaver somniferum (Opium poppies), they take over the front garden every year at this time but I don't really mind as they're so pretty.

Plum blossoms.

Flowering Dill.

I'll be back soon, I hope.

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This Week In The Garden

The snow peas are finally producing enough to pick.

 The sugar snaps on the other hand are taking there own sweet time, I counted a total of four.

Loads of self seeded coriander, some of which has started to go to seed. Hopefully the seeds will be ready to harvest before I run out of last years.

Celery that was planted last spring and is now only just big enough to pick.

I haven't had a lot of luck growing beetroot in the past but these plants seem to be doing OK so far.

I had never eaten kohlrabi until I grew it myself a couple of years ago, it quickly became one of my favourite things to grow. I use it finely sliced in stir fries, leaves and bulbs, it tastes like a very mild broccoli. It is super easy to grow and the best thing about it is that unlike broccoli the cabbage white butterflies show no interest in it at all.

Winter is the only time of the year you can grow potatoes here in South Australia and this year's crop looks like it is going to be a good one.

Lettuce, good anytime of the year.

A forest of carrots that really need to be thinned out. If ever it stops raining I will do just that.

 Broccoli that's just about finished,

and purple sprouting broccoli that is just starting.

The first blossoms on the Mariposa plum tree made an appearance.

And two more cauliflowers were harvested. Not very big, only 200gms each, but very tasty.

So tell me, what's happening in your garden?

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