30 December 2015

04 December 2015

Garden Share Collective - Growth

Posted on Friday, December 04, 2015 by  with 4 comments
I wasn't going to do a post for this month's Garden Share Collective because I didn't think I had anything to share, but a quick walk around the garden and potted plants proved me wrong.

Sweet corn, sown weeks ago and only now starting to sprout.

06 July 2015

Garden Share Collective - July 2015

Posted on Monday, July 06, 2015 by  with 17 comments
Hello everyone and welcome to another round of Garden Share Collective hosted by Kate, Kyrstie and Lizzie.
The month of June was a slow one, workwise, in the garden and a dry one too, with just over 16mm of rain recorded for the month.
 
The peas that I sowed in May have sprouted with about a 95% germination rate.
Melting Mammoth snowpeas.

The Green dragon broccoli hasn't done anywhere near as well this winter, they are only 1/3 of the size of the ones I grew last year and the heads are tiny.
I'm hoping they will get a little bigger than this before they have to be cut.
 
The Green Sprouting broccoli is coming on.
Broccoli in May on the left and June on the right.
As is the cauliflower.
The rhubarb is still producing stems, normally by this time of the year it has died down, but with the weather being all over the place as it has been I'm not surprised the poor plant is confused.
I have self-seeded tomatoes popping up all over the place, some of which are flowering. At last count, there were fourteen, if they all survive I won't have to worry about seeds or seedlings come spring. 
I pruned the grapevine back and I'm thinking I might have cut it back too far, I guess only time will tell. I will be repotting it into a half wine barrel soon and if it doesn't give me any fruit this year (it's five years old) it will be going into the compost.

Harvesting

I had a very small harvest of ginger, I had been expecting more considering how lush the plant was.
Apart from the ginger, pickings have been slim, almost non-existent this month, hopefully things will get a move on in the garden and next month's harvest will be bigger and better.

Planting 

I finally got around to planting the potatoes, 6 each of, Kestrel, Blue Royal, and Red Delight and that's it, it's just a matter of waiting now.
 
My hens Rosie and Ginger have been through their moult and they looked very tatty this year. The feathers have grown back now and they are looking like their old selves again, I just wish they would start laying.
Rosie and Ginger doing their best to turn over the new compost bin.
That's it for this month, I will see you all again next month.

12 April 2015

Sophie's Patch

Posted on Sunday, April 12, 2015 by  with 2 comments
Last Sunday my daughters and I had the opportunity to visit the gardens of Gardening Australia presenter, Sophie Thompson. 
 
Built around 1847, Hamlyn Cottage sits on one and a half hectares (three acres) of land which include gardens full of Australian natives, salvias and succulents, (and too many more to name), an orchard with one hundred different fruit trees and a large vegetable garden, it is an inspiration to anyone who lives in a Mediterranean climate.

Ducks, geese and chickens wander freely through the orchard and surrounding area eating weeds and keeping the bug population under control.



At every turn there is something quirky and interesting to see, many of which were created by Sophie's husband Richard, from what other people would have considered junk.

Nice photo bomb, Rebecca.



My girls, Samantha and Rebecca, checking out the vegetable garden.




The latest addition to the garden, a pizza oven built to resemble the stump of a Morton Bay Fig, with gabion walls that represent the roots.
Sophie's Patch is open annually over the Easter long weekend and is well worth a visit. I'm already looking forward to visiting again next year.

03 December 2013

Tale of Woe 1 - When Chickens Go Wild

Posted on Tuesday, December 03, 2013 by  with 4 comments
I was in the kitchen cooking dinner on Sunday night when my daughter called me to come outside. "I'm cooking dinner", I told her. Her reply was "I know but you need to see this". So outside I went wondering what could be so important, "You're not going to like this", she said in a very ominous voice. Of course the first thing I thought of was that one of my chickens had died, it wasn't quite that bad but bad enough. The gate to my vegetable garden is a bit dodgy and if you don't latch it right it comes undone and the chickens had gotten into the garden and had themselves a fine old time.
Not a leaf was left on the Kohl Rabi
They ate the lettuce which they would normally turn their noses up at and the cucumber seedlings that I had planted that morning are no more.
Not a single corn seedling was left uneaten.
This bed had bok choy and choy sum in it, not anymore.
The strawberry bed which I had just started to plant up. It only had three plants in it, I can only find one.

The good news is that the tomato plants some of which are just starting to flower were left untouched.
 As where the pumpkin, zucchini, rockmelon and watermelon seedlings. I was already late in getting the garden planted out and this has put me even further behind, so it's off to the big green shed to buy replacemant plants and the gate is now securely tied up,  I don't think I could stand it if this happened again.

06 July 2013

Gardening

Posted on Saturday, July 06, 2013 by  with 1 comment
I hadn't really planned on doing much today apart from some knitting and maybe catching up on Criminal Minds but when I went down to give the chickens some greens this morning,
I noticed that two of the cauliflower/broccoli plants (not sure which they are because someone didn't label them when they were planted because she thinks her memory is better than it actually is) had fallen over and needed staking.
Then as I was closing the gate I noticed the peas had fallen over and they needed to be tied up.
And then I noticed weeds in amongst the garlic and the more I looked the more weeds I saw. So I let the girls out of their run to stratch around in an empty vege bed and while the sun came out and went back in again,
 I pulled weeds, hilled up the potatoes and trimmed back the asparagus and the passionfruit vine. 
 Before I knew it a couple of hours had passed, the weed pile had grown
 and my fingernails had become dirty.
But that's OK because I really can't think of a better way to pass some time on this sunny/overcast/windy/rainy Saturday. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend as well.

30 June 2013

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