Garden Update

Winter is well and truly upon us now, and as expected growth in the vegetable patch has slowed down, I wish I could say the same for the weeds. It's hard enough to keep on top of the weeds during the colder months, but when you add the flu (which took me two weeks to get over) to the mix, by the time I felt well enough to go down to patch it was completely overgrown. It took about six hours to get it all done, now I just have to keep on top of it.

 The snow peas that I sowed on May 14th finally sprouted 15 days later. I am using two old innersprings that I picked for free as trellises for them, when the peas are a bit bigger I will take a photo, I like the way they look in the garden, kind of like rustic sculptures.

Even though they were covered, my first planting of mini cauliflowers was decimated by aphids, so they had to be pulled out and they were replaced with Snowball.

 Two of the Green Dragon broccoli plants were also affected but nowhere near as bad as the caulis and with a spray of soapy water I was able to save them.

You can see the aphid damaged brocolli on the right.

I also planted a punnet of Green Sprouting broccoli, and I will be planting another punnet in two weeks time, hopefully that will give me enough broccoli to see me through until summer.

 The garlic is coming on, I'm hoping I've got the number of cloves right this year. Last year I planted way too many and most of it went to waste.

I've lost count of how many times I've sown coriander seeds, but none of it germinated and in the end I gave up and resigned myself to not having any this season, so I was pleased last week to find  a single plant that had self-germinated. Maybe I'll have coriander after all.

After I finished weeding the strawberry bed I discovered the Red Gauntlets flowering.

 Harvesting 

The last of the Genovese and Thai basil were harvested, half of which was frozen, the other half is hanging in the kitchen window to dry, along with two bunches of parsley. I've also been harvesting small amounts of bok choi and silverbeet.

Sowing/Planting

I have sown more snow peas, both Melting Mammoth and a new one I am trying, Oregon, Sugarsnap, Telephone, Early Crop Massey and Blue Bantam peas. Windsor Longpod and Brown Beauty beans have also been sown and I am hoping to have a bumper crop of beans this year.

To do

Plant the potatoes, more bok choi, broccoli and celery.
Keep on top of the weeds.
Fertilize

That's about it for this month's update, I will see you all again next month with another.

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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

Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to another month of Garden Share collective where gardeners from around the world get to show what’s been happening in their vegetable garden over the past month, hosted by Lizzie from Strayed from the Table.

December was a bit of a mixed bag as far as weather was concerned, thunderstorms, winds so strong they brought down tree branches, 

One of the White Cedar trees across the road from our house lost a branch.

the odd hot day, but for the most part the days were just gorgeous, cool mornings (so cool in fact, that some mornings a cardigan was needed), warm sunny days turning into cool evenings that didn’t require the use of a fan to get a good night’s sleep.

In the garden

Down in the vegetable garden things are still slow to get moving, with some things doing better than others.

Sweet corn, off to a good start .

The Genovese basil  is doing beautifully and I have already made my first batch of basil pesto.

The self sown Kent pumpkins have started to flower.

 Tomatoes of an unknown variety. Well, not really unknown, they are volunteers from last summer's crop that I over-wintered, I'm just not sure what they are yet.

Lebanese cucumber, of the 4 seeds sown 2 of the seedlings are doing well, while the other 2 are struggling to grow, and I have no idea why.

Harvesting

Mostly herbs at the moment, basil, parsley, thyme and oregano.

To do

Weed and water as required, I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of this.
Try to get some coriander, English spinach and lettuce growing, I have had no luck so far.  
 Mulch the last few beds.

Well, that's it for this month, see you same time, same place, next month.

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