garden things

[tielan]

Still getting late summer crops - mostly eggplants and tomatoes, although the pumpkins are taking their time, and I'm leaving one zucchini in to get the seeds from it (although it's not a particularly prolific or even tasty zucch).

Need to pick the basil, b/c that stuff is gone kind of crazy.

Have been eating the summer raab broccoli (non-heading, like the Chinese gai-lan vegies) and bok choy. Not convinced on the tatsoi, although it's growing pretty well.

There's a chilli plant that's got a few chillis on it, although I'm not much of one for chillis and my mothers grow so much nicer and fiercer!

Still much planting out to be done. Winter here isn't as harsh as most people experience it - the temp gets down to 0C and there can be frost, but sometimes you can grow things in spite of the frost.

Photos are all pretty old, I haven't taken any in the last week.

Tomatoes:


Eggplants:


Zucchini:


Pumpkin. I have three of this varietal growing in the garden - but I don't know what type it is! It doesn't quite look like any of the ones I know...


And four Butternut Pumpkins, two of which are visible here:


After the pumpkins made a valiant attempt to take over the garden, I've cut them severely back, with only the sections of vines that lead to fruit being kept. I need that space for the next set of things to grow!

Still cropping in the 'easy access' beds: Basil, fennel, broccoli raab, buk choy, late tomatoes, chillies, and a couple of pumpkins.


I really need to make some pesto before the basil dies down.

Also, fruit trees out the front:

New Avocado tree - grown from seed, just planted.


Two apples (against the lattice), and an apricot (with the spearmint growing at it's base):


Back out to the back again: the corn bed a month ago. The corn has long since been eaten, and that space is now planted with carrots, spring onions, sugarbeets, parsnips, and rocket (arugula):


Otherwise, I've planted winterveg, and gotten some seedlings out into the garden. Cabbages, caulis, raab broccoli, and brussel sprouts, are in the garden, and wombok and bok choy are in seedling pots (must plant them out). Coriander is growing in little containers, and the garlic has shooted. I need to plant the rest of the garlic - that's to happen next week. I was also planning to try to grow some ginger and turmeric, because those are horrendously expensive to buy and apparently very simple to grow. I just need to do something about it...

I have planter bags for the seed potatoes I've ordered, and I'm making compost as fast as the pile will heat up! I may need to go scavenging for further sources of green mulch, though - my one bin a month is becoming somewhat paltry, and I would really love several bins which I could turn over into each other as they decompose... I probably wouldn't have the energy to do it, though.

I've gotten a lot more out of the garden this year - and a lot more experience and understanding of things I need to do. I still don't quite have the space for everything I want - or, at least, I haven't properly organised it so I do - but we'll get there eventually...

Comments

[tielan]

I'm glad to fill your gardening needs vicariously, if necessary! (And yes, one of the reasons we bought a house was because I wanted a garden...)

The net bags are for support, mostly. The vine it was on is long and not very strong, and I was worried that the weight of the pumpkin might pull it down and inadvertantly break the vine.