Pea Update

The peas are coming on nicely now and over the next two weeks I am expecting a glut of Purple Podded peas,  

but for now I have to content myself with snow peas.

These are Oregon snow peas and after giving them another chance this year I have decided that they're just not for me. They aren't as sweet as Mammoth Melting, the peas develop very quickly and if you're not quick to pick them, you end up with podded peas instead of snow peas.

The Blue Bantam and Early Crop Massey (both podded peas) are doing OK, not producing massive amounts, but enough.

A combination of Blue Bantam and Early Crop Massey.

The Telephone pea vines are covered in flowers and pea pods and should  give a reasonable harvest and I'm hoping the Sugar snaps will too.

My favourite pea by far this year is not even of the edible variety, but their fragrance, and their lovely colours more than make up for it.

I didn't know that sweet peas came in white I will definitely be saving seeds for next year.

My biggest mistake, and one I won't be repeating next year, was planting the rows of peas too close together. They are now all tangled together and trying to separate them is a pain.

Read More

A Week In The Garden

There hasn't been a lot to do in the garden of late, this time of the year the garden pretty much looks after itself, providing of course there is enough rain and this winter there has been plenty.

I started a garden journal a few months ago to help me keep track of what happens in the garden, what chores need to be done, when I fertilised, pruning etc. It has taken me a while to find what works best for me and that is just making daily notes, even if it's just to note the temperature and how much it rained that day. It will be good to have a record to look back on next year. 

This post is a bit of a catch up post as I didn't do one last week. It isn't a day by day as I don't want to bore you with the weather report for every day over the last two weeks.

July 21st

I fertilised the broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, kale and garlic. The first peas appeared on the Dwarf Blue Bantam.

July 23rd

The lettuce and pak choi seeds have sprouted.

July 24th

 The first pea pods have developed on the Early Crop Massey.

July 27th

I spotted the first flowers on the Purple Podded peas, only two flowers, but lots of buds. The flowers are lovely. 

July 30th

The Nantes carrot seeds sprouted today.

July 31st

The Chantenay carrot seeds and broad bean seeds have sprouted,  I am especially excited about the broad beans as this is my first time growing them.

I was extremely happy to find today that the cauliflowers have formed heads, some are further along than others which is fine because I really don't need 13 cauliflower all being ready at the same time.

 A caterpillar has grown fat munching on the leaves of one of the cauliflowers, there is only one so I'm not going to worry about it.

I found six caterpillars of the White Cabbage butterfly today, most of which were on one tiny Curly Kale plant. I can't believe that it is the end of July and I am still finding these little buggers on my brassicas. Next year I think I will leave the nets on as they have done quite a lot of damage to my plants this winter.

And that brings us to the end of July, can you believe how quickly this year is flying by. I've only just begun to really enjoy winter and it will be over in just a few weeks.

What's been happening in your garden this week?

I will be back next Monday with another garden update, see you then.

Read More

Peas and Garlic

The peas I sowed on April 23rd are starting to emerge from the ground, the Purple Podded was the first, not quite 3 weeks after sowing. Only 4 out of the 10 seeds sown have sprouted so not a great germination rate, I sowed more  today and hopefully they will all germinate this time. The Oregon snow peas are just emerging, but so far there is no sign of either the Melting Mammoth or the Sugarsnaps.

Knowing that the Sugarsnap seeds were past the use by date I decided to go ahead and sow more just to be on the safe side. What's the bet that now I've done that they will all germinate, not that, that would bother me, Sugarsnaps are my favourite pea.

I sowed seeds for Dwarf Blue Bantam and Early Crop Massey on May 5th, the Early Crop only took six days to sprout and the Blue Bantam took nine days and it looks like a very good germination rate so far.  I think three days of good rain really helped.

The garlic is being very slow to grow. I planted 52 cloves on Anzac Day and so far only 4 have sprouted, I'm hoping that the other 48 aren't too far behind. 

So that's where things are for the peas and garlic at the moment, hopefully this time next month I will be picking and eating the first of the peas and come November there will be lots of lovely, smelly, delicious garlic to harvest.

Read More