Garden Update

I am anxiously awaiting the bulbs I ordered from Diggers in January, I'm told they are on the way. The only problem is I have no idea where to plant them. Its not a lack of space, got plenty of that, its just that I've never planted bulbs before. I hope they come with explicit instructions. In preparation, I spent a ridiculous amount of money on the latest catalogue, including a special bulb planter (?) and some organic bulb starter. Maybe I'll put them under a big Gum tree in the back yard. I remember the fields of Daffodils and Jonquils in a property up the road. I used to pick them off the nature strip on my trek home from the bus after school. The scent is one of my favourites. Anyway, until they arrive, I better tend to what I have already.

I eventually planted the broccoli ready for winter. Luckily both ourselves, and the birds like broccoli, so it shouldn't go to waste.

Broccoli seedlings

Daphne and The Little Bitch

The chook shed (or palace is probably a better description) is coming along. Won't be long before we can add to our avian menagerie and get some googie eggs too. I need something to cook with all my chives!!

Chook Shed

Chives

The marigold is doing an excellent job of deterring little nasties from my tomato plants.

I know I have basically missed the tomato season - but you tell that to these Baby Romas!

Baby Roma Tomatos

My potato bags have arrived, however I don't think I can buy seed potatoes yet, so that little project will have to go on the back burner. Speaking of root vegetables, my NZ Yams I sourced from a lovely guy in Tassie (he send me a dozen or so tubers express post!!) have not fared so well. I have 1 and a half still living. But you only need one, right, and eventualy we will be inundated. Unfortunately D won't be having baked yams with his roast lamb this winter. He'll have to settle for Dwarf Snow Peas instead.

Until next time.... L x

A little update on the Vegie patch. As mentioned earlier I was excited to be back in the garden. It was looking somewhat the worse for wear after 6 weeks of neglect.


I started by arranging my seeds, inspired by the Saucy Onion. I had an old worm box with a mish mash of stuff in it, so I made dividers and sorted them into planting months using my Diggers "Sow What When" guide.









The Lebanese cucumbers had been demolished by caterpillars, I suspect, so despite producing ~10 fruit, they had to go.





The beans have gone berserk, with all 3 colours (purple, green and striped from the Diggers 3 bean mix) represented. They are so sweet and crunchy, I manage to eat them all before I get them back to the kitchen. A very healthy snack.

I need to learn to squish these little buggers

My yellow zucchini are being attacked by something, but I have an army of yellow lady beetles (my favourite insect) on the job. Despite a shy beginning, I saw a hint of yellow at the base of some female flowers this morning so fingers crossed.

A hint of zucchini

The sweet corn has ears, albeit baby ones, and the ants seem to love them, but I don't think this is too much of a problem.


I have, so far, harvested 1 yellow cherry tomato. He was small but, still warm off the bush, he was delicious. Not big enough to bother putting in my lunchtime sanga, so I settled for cucumber and radish with my salmon, yum.

A handsome little tomato

So, this weekend I planted all the herbs that were struggling and pot bound, into the soil on the retaining wall. I can just picture their little toes stretching out like mine do after a night of dancing in too tight shoes, Bliss!





I also planted out my seedlings that I started ~8 weeks ago - they are completely stunted and never got much past the 2 leaf stage, but I am optimistic. There are a couple of Italian Fryers (capsicum) and some tomatoes and spring onions. I also got some more lettace seedlings from Bunnings and put them in the soil garden this time - hopefully will work better than last time when I just got lettuce trees??





I ripped out the devoured cucumbers and put in some dwarf snow peas. And in the no-dig garden I put in some coriander and fennel seeds. I will hopefully be able to thin that out and plant some broccoli in a couple of weeks if I manage to start some seedlings.

No-dig Garden

So I've been a busy girl. No I just have to sort out my disaster zone of a house!


Til next time.... L

I must say, I was surprised at how excited I was to get back into my garden today after 6 weeks of not being able to live at home. We awoke 6 weeks ago and Dean put his foot to the floor and landed in a puddle. During a huge storm, half of the Hinze Dam had managed to make its way out of a storm water drain and under our laundry door to completely soak every inch of flooring in the house, before receding.

Our street, this water had washed through our house before pooling here

So we took the birds and moved to the local Trailer Park, which we endured for 4 weeks before asking for an upgrade and being moved to a lovely, new high rise apartment in Surfers Paradise.

By Day

And by night

Inner city living was fun for 2 weeks (my liver is not so sure!) but I am glad to be home.

So into the garden today. My seedlings from last time are still alive, just, but living in suspended animation as they haven't grown at all in 6 weeks. I think I'll start again there. So it was more compost and cow manure for the no dig garden and also a bit for the soil. I decided to plant out my herbs that struggle along in pots, up on the retaining wall and added some Sage and Tarragon I couldn't help buying. I also tried again with some lettuce as the last lot grew into little trees??? Weird.

Unfortunately the Lebanese cucumbers seemed to get devoured overnight by caterpillars, despite producing about half a dozen tasty morsels. The beans are on fire and so sweet I eat them all before they make it anywhere near a saucepan or boiling water. The corn grew ears overnight and I think my zucchini is barren, or my bees are on strike! lots of flowers but no zucchini???

I'll try and post some pics tomorrow if it doesn't all get washed away by the cyclone!!!

Happy Australia Day

I can't believe how fast the seeds are growing! The radishes had sprouted in 2 days and now there is significant little bean plants and maybe even some carrot sprouts if I squint hard enough.

And how am I to choose the smallest of the two corn seedlings that have sprouted to pull out, they both look perfect to me!! I go back only 4 hours after watering and there has been a change, it is just amazing.

And I think the green and gold of my surviving Marigold is the Aussiest thing I've seen all day.

The start of it all

In the beginning:

Firstly the "Dingo Man" came and leveled out the area. Not the sunniest area in the backyard which might be a problem, but time will tell.


We also made another beginners mistake of using treated pine sleepers, so then had to line the beds with black plastic, not very organic, but better than arsenic poisoning I'm told!



We decided to do one No-dig garden, with layers of compost, manure and lucern hay with some wetting agent mixed in too. The other garden bed was filled with local organic soil.



So then the planting extravaganza began. I started with a marigold in the middle of each garden. In the No-Dig bed I put some yellow zucchini seedlings and mixed lettuce seedlings. The soil garden got carrot, beetroot and radish seed and red onions. I'm sure I've planted these too early but my radishes have germinated in only 2 days. On the terrace I also planted some heirloom climbing beans, lebanese cucumber and sweet corn.

So far the soil is proving a much better bed as everything in the no-dig garden is wilting. On this I blame my over-exuberance to start planting and I didn't give it any time to settle in and start to rot, so there's nothing for the roots to get moisture from in the hay layers. Oh well, it'll be good soon.



I bought a heap of seeds from "The Diggers Club' online, mainly heirloom varieties, and have started some seedlings also. These will be ready to put into the garden sometime in the next few weeks.



So, here's what I've planted so far:

Seedlings:
Yellow Zucchini
Lebanese Cucumber
Red onion
Oregano
Thyme
Dill
Marigolds
Mixed Lettuce

Seeds:
Sweet corn
Heirloom climbing beans
Globe Beetroot
Heirloom Carrots
Radishes
Passionfruit
Basil
Capsicum
Baby Cos
Various mixed lettaces
Tomatoes

That should keep me busy for a while. I'll try and keep you updated on my progress

The Garden Begins

I never imagined myself getting excited about gardening. I remember spending long afternoons chasing earthworms in my Grandmothers garden as a youngster, and I've killed my fair share of patio herbs along the way. But having recently bought a house that happened to be on quite a large block, I feel obliged to grow something. So, raised garden beds have been constructed and the first plantings are in. I think I've probably planted all the wrong things at all the wrong times, and been a complete glutton buying more seeds that I will ever possibly plant, but I'll learn from my mistakes.