The Vegetable Garden in June

After what was an unseasonably warm autumn, where the temperature barely dipped below 20°C, winter finally arrived and the jumpers have come out of storage. 

The temperature may have dipped, but the garden is growing well. I have two growing spaces, the raised garden beds which I have only had for twelve months, and the in-ground garden space that I created not long after I moved in here fifteen years ago. 

The in-ground garden is where I am growing all of my brassicas. There is broccoli Di Ciccio and Green Dragon, a heritage mix of kohl rabi, Red Russian kale, Long Island Brussel sprouts, and four different varieties of cauliflower, orange, Green Macerata, Snowball, and Rober. That’s not weeds you can see growing, it is volunteer poppy seedlings, and Sweet Alyssum. They’ll put on a lovely display come spring.

A small section of the brassica bed.

In all, I have nine raised garden beds in three rows of three. In the first bed, I have a couple of potato plants. (I have since added more). I love homegrown potatoes. They are so much better than anything I can buy at the supermarket. I wish I had the room to grow more, and the storage space to keep them.  

In the second bed there are daffodils and tulips that were a gift from my two youngest daughters for Mother's Day this year. I have planted over the top with poppies. 

In bed three is a heirloom mix of  beetroot and Purple Top White Globe turnips. It was also meant to have parsnips growing in it, but after three unsuccesful sowings I gave up.

In bed four there is some Little Dragon Chinese cabbages (also known as Napa or Wombok cabbage). A row of Red Baby bok choy. (I have no idea where the green one came from as I did not sow any this year.) Along the front of the bed there is four Red Kitten spinach plants. 

Bed five is the strawberry bed. I replaced my older strawberry plants in autumn and that is why these plants are so small. This bed will remain permanent and I won’t use it for anything else.

Bed six is the garlic bed. The cloves I planted were ones that were kept from last year’s harvest and are a mix of Italian White, Italian Late, Purple Stripe and Rojo de Castro. Along both sides, I have planted a row of shallots. After years of not eating onions because I didn’t like the taste of them, I have recently discovered that I don’t mind the flavour of shallots and leeks.

Bed seven is the carrot bed. I'm so happy with how well the carrots are growing this year, so lush and green. It is a real mix of varities in this bed including Black Nebula, Kyoto Red, Purple Dragon, Solar, and Nantes.

Bed eight is were I grew Beauregard sweet potatoes this past summer. I had planted them late and didn't think I would get a harvest, but I was wrong. 

In the greenhouse, there are the beginnings of my herb garden. Parsley, thyme, oregano, chives, and garlic chives.

I’m overwintering some tomatoes that came up in the beds where the tomatoes grew over summer. More volunteers that came up from the compost that I added to the potato bed will soon join them. Hopefully, by the time spring arrives, I will have tomatoes all ready to go out into the garden.

As well as growing vegetables, I am growing some fruit as well.

My Sunshine Blue blueberry flowering in winter. When this happened last year I panicked thinking I would have no blueberries, but I needn’t have worried as I had a bountiful harvest. I have since learned that some varieties do set their flowers in winter.

I also have a Valencia orange, a Navel orange, and an Imperial mandarin, (which fruited for the first time in a long time), raspberries, a Loganberry, a blackberry, a blackcurrant, and a Flame seedless grape. All grown in pots as I rent, and I want to take them with me if ever I need to move.

Until next time, stay safe, and be kind to each other.

 

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Bloomin' Lovely - Winter

I know its been a long time between posts, but seeing that this is a blog mostly about vegetable gardening and there hasn't been anything being produced in the vegetable garden there really hasn't been anything to write about.

Now that spring has arrived the plants in the vegetable garden are slowly starting to produce, but nothing of significance, so today I thought I would share some of the flowers that have been blooming in my garden over winter.

Jonquils, one of my favourite flowers, their fragrance always takes me back to my childhood and my mother's garden.

 Another one from my childhood, Snowdrops.

The calendulas have been blooming for months now and show no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Carnations make a lovely addition to any flower garden, this one  was grown from a cutting taken from a store bought bunch.

Looking like a mound of snow in the garden Alyssum are a favourite with the bees.

Marguerite daisy, the blackbirds have built a nest in this one and there was at last count three eggs in it.

White oxalis

And finally tiny pink flowers on one of my succulents, it is the first time it's flowered.

Hopefully I will be back in a few days with an update on the vegetable garden, I hope your gardens are bloomin' lovely too.

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Finished ...........Finally

I started it last winter and put it away when the weather started to warm up. I took it up again three months ago and have been working on it almost every night for two or three hours at a time. There are eighty 15 centimetre (or there about's) squares made up of thirteen different patterns, and it measures 206 centimetres x 167 centimetres. It used over 5,000 metres of yarn and weighs 2.5 kilos and I'm so happy it's finally finished, I will never, ever make a blanket this size using squares again.

The squares are joined using Celtic lace join which looks difficult, but is quite easy to do once you get the hang of it. You can find the pattern here.

The border was made using the  Vibrant Vintage CAL border found here at Cypress Textiles.

The patterns I used for the squares were:
Antique Pearls by Priscilla Hewitt

Bubbles Baby Stitch by Deneen St. Amour

Counterpoint by Joyce Lewis

Harriett by Caroline Christmas

Just Peachy Blossom by Donna Mason-Svara

Melissa Square by Rachele Carmona

More V's Please by Melinda Miller

Solid Granny Square by Craft Passion

Traditional Granny Square  -  You can find a tutorial here

Victorian Lace Square by Destany Wymore

Plus, these three that I have no pattern for and cannot remember what they are called or who created them.

If you are the creator of these squares or know who created them, please let me know as I like to give credit where it is due.

So now that that's finished, I've moved on to something a bit different.

A sweet,vintage granny shawl in autumnal hues. The pattern was created by Kirsten, and you can find it here. I'll do a blog post about it when it's finished.

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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.

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Dead Man's Pass Reserve

Located in Gawler, South Australia, Dead Man's Pass Reserve is  a lovely place to walk your dog or to just enjoy a walk in nature on a sunny winter's day.

The scene that greets you as you enter the reserve.

The area is alive with sound as the six species of frog that call it home vie with each other to see who is the loudest.

It is also home to several species of birds, including the Australian Reed Warbler.

If you look closely you can just make out the Australian Reed Warbler perching on the reeds.

If you would like to hear the song of the Reed Warbler click here.

Two of the locals enjoying a drink at the water hole.

The reeds were in full bloom.

There are nesting boxes in many of the trees.

Bluestone was quarried in the area for many years and was used to build the Gawler Town Hall.

An old eucalyptus burnt out by fire no doubt.

Is this the tree that the unfortunate wanderer was interred in?

Winter time is the only time you'll see the river running so freely.

 If you're ever in Gawler during winter and you're looking for somewhere to take a walk, or have a picnic, be sure to check out Dead Man's Pass reserve.

To find out more about Dead Man's Pass and how it got it's name click here.

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