From the Veggie Patch

Pickings from the veggie patch have been a bit thin over the past few months, but now suddenly everything has sprung into life and I'm harvesting once again.

The first asparagus (which I forgot to weigh). It was delicious.

Silverbeet, just over 5 kilos. I gave this lot away as there is still a lot more in the garden for my own use.

It seems that earwigs like silverbeet as much as I do

The first pickings of rhubarb and peas and more asparagus.

More peas, asparagus and a few broccoli sprouts.

So far I have picked just over 1 kilo of peas, 5.15 kilos of spinach, 628 grams of rhubarb and and a little over half a kilo of asparagus.

The broccoli is finished now and it was really disappointing this year. The plants never grew as big and the heads were very small compared to last years, but I have had lots of side shoots which kind of makes up for the smaller heads.

There will be no plums again this year. Honestly, I don't know if growing your own fruit is worth it. Last year I lost all of the fruit to the wind, this year it was the rain, but I persevere because there really is nothing better than fruit from your own trees.

I haven't planted anything new in the garden this month as I'm still waiting on the winter crops to finish. I have sown all my seeds though so when a garden bed empties I can plant straight away.

 I don't like summer, it's my least favourite season and one of the tasks that I don't enjoy doing during the hot weather is watering the garden. To keep veggies alive and thriving, it has to be done often, and it takes up a lot of my time, so next week I will be installing a drip irrigation system in the veggie patch. It is something I should have done years ago, but it looks so complicated that I wasn't sure I could do it, but I am going to give it a go, what's the worse that can happen. It will make my life a little easier and be much better for the plants too.

I was saddened this week to find that one of my favourite bloggers, Daphne from Daphne's Dandelions won't be blogging anymore, I understand her reasons, but she will be missed.

So, that's it from the veggie patch this month, I'll be back next month with another update.

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Garden Share Collective - July 2015

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.

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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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