Thursday, 1 October 2015

October Garden Share Collective - spreading the seeds of a love for gardening

So another month has disappeared in what seems to be the blink of an eye.  And so it is time for another Garden Share Collective post.  This month the theme is Seeds.  

 I have to admit, when I started to plan a garden, I bought lots of seeds.  How hard can it be right?  Sprinkle some seeds, bit of dirt, water, and hey presto, lots of plants.  Ok so it doesn't go like that.  I can grow seeds alright, but once I transplant them they seem to die a thousand deaths.  Too dry, too hot, too wet, too mouldy, too many slugs - the list goes on.  So I admit that I know cheat a little bit and now I mostly buy seedlings.

 However I have had a bit of luck with seeds.  Radishes and coriander work well, plus I've had success with capsicums.  Cucumber and tomatoes haven't been so great.


On the non food front, I managed to grow lots and lots of flowers from bulbs this year (they're seeds right?)
One of the lovely hyacinths I grew earlier this year.
My pretty ranunculus - any excuse to put more pictures of these out!
Despite the fact that I am not great at growing from seed, I have still been collecting my seeds religiously.  Possibly a waste, but I have hundreds of seeds of basil, coriander, pak choi, broccolino, and chillis.  Plus of course capsicum.  I have one lettuce that went to seed but those little babies are so fine I am not sure I could catch them in anything.  And I'm thinking about trying to keep some of the snow pea and broad bean pods just in case I get better at this seed growing gig.

 So this month I finally grew a cauliflower.  I was pretty proud of that!
My very first ever cauliflower - completed with moth eaten leaves and some friendly bugs!
The broad beans also bore fruit (or vegetables?) but I have decided they are a total waste of effort.  By the time you pod the beans, then repod again you end up with about a quarter of the plant to actually eat.
Broad beans
More broad beans
Snow peas kept on going, as did my asian greens and spinach.
Spinach, chives and land cress - which all went in to a very delicious scrambled egg breakfast!
The asian greens are growing well
The garlic looks like it might be ready sometime soon.

 I made a rookie error when planting out cucumber and sugar snap pea seedlings with no protection fro the marauding slugs, so I had to do that all over again!

 My land cress has gone crazy, and now that I don't have very many brassicas to protect from white cabbage moth I will be putting it into salads.

 And it's getting hotter, so my tomato seedlings are growing well.  

 Happy gardening to you all for spring!


Another shot of my cauli



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2 comments:

  1. Unknown2 October 2015 at 09:58

    Happy gardening to you also. It is nerve wracking when you plant out your gorgeous seedlings you have grown into the wilds of the garden and eyes of the pest! I scatter loads of egg shells around and also sometime put a cover over them made from a cut off bottle or similar if it is something that I am desperate to raise, or that I have only grown a few of. Beautiful cauli well done, I hope you enjoyed eating it :-)

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    1. Unknown3 October 2015 at 23:02

      My problem is with my very small space I usually only have a few of anything! It's a constant battle with the slugs and snails. that's a great idea about the bottle cover too, I try the snail traps with beer which do work a bit as well. The cauli was tasty - I made a sort of salad with my broad beans and cauli and pancetta - I was quite pleased with it!

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