The Garden In November

By November the pickings in the vegetable garden were pretty lean, the broccoli and cauliflower were long gone, and there were only a few peas left on the vine,  the only other things left of the winter plantings were the broad beans and the garlic. 

It was my first time growing broad beans this year and I have to say I was very happy with the harvest I got. 

Being my first time growing them, I had no idea what to expect in regards to how many beans each plant would produce, but now I know that I need to grow at least double the amount next year.

And while I was happy with the broad beans, the garlic was another story.

I planted 52 cloves of garlic this year knowing that I use roughly one bulb a week that amount should last me all year. Of the 52 bulbs planted only 49 sprouted, but I was OK with that. 

Garlic late July

The plants grew well and I had high hopes of harvesting all 49 bulbs, unfortunately not all went to plan. 

With all the rain we had over the winter and well into the spring some of the garlic bulbs began to split apart and started to re-shoot, while some bulbs never developed separate cloves.

Not a great photo but can you see the undeveloped bulbs and the new shoots that have grown?

So for all my hard work the garlic harvest this year was meagre indeed only ten bulbs.

I guess when you are growing your own vegetables a few setbacks are to be expected, so with that in mind, I will look forward to next year and hope for a better harvest.

In the beds where the peas grew, the vines were all cut down, but their roots were left in place to add some nitrogen to the soil, and there are now Butternut pumpkin (squash) and True Gold sweetcorn growing in them.  I am succession growing the corn so as not to be overwhelmed by a glut as I have been in the past.

In the bed next to the Butternut are my fruiting vines, two watermelons, Sugar Baby and Luscious Red, one rockmelon (cantaloupe) Hale's Best, and a as yet unknown volunteer, as well as some Double Delight sunflowers.

On the opposite side of the patch in bed 1 the broccoli has been replaced by a Yellow Crookneck and an All Green Bush zucchini plus some Sun King sunflowers.

Beds two and three are planted out with beans, Tender Delight, Brown Beauty, Red Kidney, dwarf Borlotti and Golden Wax. I did have to do a second sowing as earwigs killed a few.

As you can see in the picture above in bed 4 there is another pumpkin, this time another first for me, Turkish Turban.

Everything has grown quite a bit since these photos were taken the and I've even had my first small harvest of beans and a couple of zucchini, I'll show you the photos in the next garden update in a couple of weeks time. How is your garden growing?  

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October, Where Did You Go?

Well, that was the shortest month ever! I know this year is flying by, but October seemed to be over in the blink of an eye.
It's been a while since I did a garden update and it's time I rectified that. October, and September for that matter have been strange month's weather wise, very wet, cold and windy, but despite the unseasonable weather the plants in the veggie garden have been doing their own thing and apart from the garlic I'm really pleased with the harvests I have been getting.

The asparagus this year were a little less prolific than normal, but nonetheless delicious.

The peas on the other hand went a little crazy due I think to all the rain we've had.

Of the four different types of podding peas I grew this year my favourite was the Telephone peas, the Purple podded were also very nice so these are the two that I will be growing next year.

I trialled growing potatoes in pots this year and while it wasn't an outstanding success it wasn't a complete failure either.

On the plus side, they were the most delicious potatoes I've ever eaten, so creamy and I will be growing them again next winter.

A mix of Kestrel, Red Delight, Dutch Cream and Kipfler.

I grew Broad Beans for the first time this year, they are covered in flowers which the bees love and they have been visiting every afternoon.

 It looks like they have done a good job of pollination as there are a lot of beans developing.

While the plants have been busy growing I've been busy in the greenhouse sowing seeds for spring/summer.

So far I've sown seeds for pumpkins, zucchinis, cucumber, rockmelon and watermelon. The pumpkins and zucchini were planted out in the garden yesterday and the cucumbers have been planted in a large pot down near the house where they will have a bit more protection from the summer sun, the watermelon and rockmelon still having some growing to do before they are planted out.

Seeds for tomatoes (seven different varieties), capsicum (three varieties), and eggplant (two varieties), have been sown, but they haven't all been successful. Only three of the seven tomatoes germinated, one of the eggplant and none of the capsicum. I have re-sown four seeds each of the ones that didn't germinate in the hopes that I will get at least one of each.

Bean seeds (Borlotti, Brown Beauty, Tender Delight, and Butter Bean) were direct sown into the soil and while they all germinated the earwigs have had a field day with them and not all have survived, those that have are growing well, but I have sown more in pots in the greenhouse and will plant them out when they are big enough. Leeks, shallots, sage and Thai basil are all slowly emerging too.

So there you go, October in the garden, despite the weather it was an especially busy time and I am looking forward to reaping the rewards of all my hard work in the coming weeks. What's been happening in your garden?

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Seasonal

Welcome to this month's Garden Share Collective, hosted by Kyrstie from A Fresh Legacy and Kate from Rosehips and Rhubarb, the theme this month is SEASONAL.

Seasons, they come and they go, and with each seasonal change the produce that we grow changes too.

My huge crop of oranges this year. 

Most fruit and vegetables have distinct growing seasons, peas grow best in the cooler weather that winter brings, while others like tomatoes and eggplants like it hot and grow best in summer. There are some vegetables that will grow in more than one season like cabbage,broccoli, spinach, silverbeet, beetroot and coriander but even they will do better grown in the right season.

Early Crop Massey

If you don't grow your own, knowing what fruits and vegetables are in season can help when you buy your produce. Sure, you can buy apples in December, but do you really want to buy fruit that's been depleted of all its goodness while it sat in storage, or would you rather buy something you know is fresh, that will taste better and be better for you, and in season fruit and vegetables should be cheaper. 

Seasonal growing can differ depending on where you live, what one person can grow in summer in say New South Wales I might have trouble growing here in South Australia, an example of that would be potatoes. I grow mine in the winter, because our summers are just too hot, a lesson I learnt the hard way. Coriander is another that I grow in winter as it is less likely to bolt to seed.

Broccoli in the background and cauliflowers in front.

Below is a list what is growing in the garden at the moment.
Peas
Garlic
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Kale
Turnip
Wombok cabbage
Lettuce
Spinach
Silverbeet 

And this is what I will be growing during the hotter months ahead, your list might look a little different. 

Asparagus

Basil

Beans

Beetroot

Broccoli

Capsicum

Carrot

Celery

Cucumber

Eggplant

Leeks

Lettuce

Pumpkin

Sweet corn

Tomatoes

Zucchini

For a month by month planting guide try Gardenate. It is easy to use and you can even have planting reminders sent to you via email every month.

The garlic is enjoying all the rain we have been having and is growing well. The plants on the left where the replacement that were planted last month.

For more information on what fruits and vegetables are in season in your state, click on the link below, it will take you to the Seasonal Food Guide Australia, then simply click on your state capital to see what's in season when. There is also a link that will show you where Farmers Markets are located in your state.
Seasonal Food Guide Australia

Harvest

Much the same as last month, but at least the parsley in the insect garden is now big enough to start picking.

Italian parsley ready for picking.

Planting

Broad beans - 26 seeds of Early Long Pod 

Turnips

Carrots - Chantenay - Top Weight - Nantes

Spinach - English Medania

Pak choi - Kwang Moon

Lettuce - Red and green salad

Things to do 

Not a lot really, by the middle of next month I should be able to start  sowing seeds for summer crops, before that though I might plant another crop of broccoli. 

That's it for another month of Garden Share Collective, thanks for stopping by. If you would like to see what other gardeners have been up to this month, pop over to either Kyrstie's or Kate's blog. I will see you next month for another round of Garden Share Collective.

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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.

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Garden Share Collective

Linking up with Lizzie at Strayed from the Table  for another round of Garden Share Collective.

Sadly, not a lot has changed in my veggie patch since last month, it has been badly neglected and pretty much left to its own devices. Despite the neglect things are still growing.

Red Taipan Bok choi

I planted silverbeet in a few gardens and it is all doing well.

Silverbeet growing amongst the weeds that are threatening to take over the veggie patch.

The rhubarb is still growing strong, I will be harvesting this sometime in the coming week and it will be going into the freezer for later use.

The pumpkins are looking a bit tired now, but I am hoping they will continue to grow long enough for the two smaller pumpkins on the vine to ripen. We are expecting our first frost on Thursday, so I will have to remember to cover it.

 The only cucumber to survive the summer has finally set fruit, will it reach maturity, I hope so.

If you look closely you will see a smaller cucumber sheltering underneath the leaves.

Harvests 

What I think will be the last of the basil, but it was a very good harvest. I will be freezing the majority of it to use over the cooler months.

Celery seeds, I have been unable to find this in the shops, so I decided to grow my own.

Planted

Garlic, 60 cloves all together, 36 white, 24 purple.

 

To do list 

Get some peas sown ASAP.

Buy more seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower and Asian greens.

Weed.

See you all next month.

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Garden Share Collective

Welcome to another Garden Share Collective hosted by Lizzie from Strayed from the Table, a place for gardeners to share what has been happening in their patches over the last month.

The month of February was so disappointing garden wise, I couldn't even be bothered writing about it and March wasn't much better.  Most of the beds have been cleared of summer crops now with the exception of the zucchini, basil and pumpkins.

The zucchini is still flowering and I am hoping to get a few more before the weather gets too cold, I have only harvested one so far.

The basil is flowering and needs to be picked and the bed emptied, so I can sow the bean seeds.

 There are still 2 pumpkin vines, flowering and setting fruit, and I'm not sure what to do with them as I need the bed for peas, but I don't want to miss out on the chance of pumpkins either. Should I pull them out or wait a bit longer?

Harvests 

Harvests for this month were a bit on the thin side with only one zucchini.

 Two of the smallest watermelons I have ever seen.

And a few raspberries, which were a lot tarter than I was expecting. This was the plants first crop, hopefully next year they will be a bit sweeter

The basil has been fantastic this year and I have had so much that I have been giving a lot of it away. 

Planted

Seedlings of Green Dragon broccoli (11), mini cauliflowers (6) and almost 2 dozen silverbeet seedlings.

Sown 

Green Sprouting broccoli 

Romanesco broccoli

Snowball cauliflower

Red Taipan bok choi

Kwang Moon pak choi 

Dwarf Green Curled kale

Milan Purple Top turnips

English Medania spinach

Celery

Still need to sow

Snow peas

Mammoth Melting 

Oregon

Podding peas 

Early Crop Massey

Telephone

Dwarf Blue Bantam

Sugarsnap

Beans

Windsor Longpod

Hawkesbury Wonder

Carrots

Chantenay

Topweight

Nantes

Potatoes 
Red Delight 
Cream Delight
Kestrel
Desiree

Garlic

Well, that's it for this months Garden Share Collective. I hope you have all had a good month in the garden, I'm off to Lizzie's to see how everyone else's gardens have been doing. 

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October in the Garden

October in the vegetable garden was a time to clear out the old plants, and plant the new. As you can see in the photo below I have already put shade cloth over two thirds of the garden, actually I have done it twice as a few days after I put it up the first time the weather became very windy and it was all torn down. It has been up for a week now and it seems to be fine so far.

Planting

I know the garden looks bare in this photo, but I promise there are plants in there they are just very small and they don’t seem inclined to grow at the moment. I am blaming it on the erratic weather we have had so far this spring. 

Down the far end of the garden I have planted out two Kent pumpkins, one butternut, a zucchini, two different types of watermelon, Sweet Baby and Luscious Red and a rockmelon, Hale’s Best and sown seed for corn.  

Two of the beds are for tomatoes with nine different varieties planted or soon to be planted, Lemon drop, Honeybee, Tommy Toe, Black Cherry, Sweetie, Mamma Mia, Tigerella, Rouge De Marmande, San Marzano and one store bought one that I saved seeds from because the flavour was so good.   

In the legume bed, I sowed seeds of Scarlet Runner and Butter beans.

My youngest daughters own three rabbits and they eat A LOT, and it can get quite expensive to feed them if you’re buying vegetables from the supermarket all the time, so I set aside one bed to grow food for them, mostly leafy greens as well as radicchio and some curly leafed parsley, plus I left four kale plants in the garden as this is a favourite with the rabbits. 

I had so many asparagus seedlings come up in the garden that I decided to add an extra bed of asparagus because you can never, in my opinion have too much asparagus and really you can’t pass up free asparagus plants. 

Asparagus seedling with a volunteer cucurbit growing next to it.

After two years of not having any I finally have a bed dedicated to strawberries and noticed today that there are flowers on one of the plants. 

In the two bed closest to the gate, I planted Genovese basil and Thai basil on the right and in the small bed to the left I sowed seeds of English spinach.

Growing in pots

Chillies, Italian parsley, lemon balm and garlic chives, as well a raspberry and blackberry which is just about to flower for the first time.

Harvested

October saw the garlic being harvested, I haven’t weighed it all yet, some of it isn’t quite dry enough, but so far I have 2.9 kilos of garlic.

Garlic hung up to dry, braided by my youngest daughter Samantha.

Also harvested were carrots, silverbeet and thyme and oregano.

Things to do

Cover last third of garden with shade cloth

Mulch

Put up bamboo screen on north side of garden if needed

Plant kumara, if it ever decides to shoot that is

Water, weed and fertilise as needed

Sow seeds of mixed lettuce

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