Garden Share Collective - August

I missed last months Garden Share due to work, planning a holiday and general laziness.  But despite my general neglect of the garden (or maybe because of it!) some of my vegies are going well - and some not so well.

So as I missed last month this is a sort of catch up post!

I have managed to do a bit of planting, most of which was done in mid July.  I put in broad beans, cauliflower, and baby beets.  All were bought as seedlings, some from our local organic markets, (Orange Grove) and some from the nursery.  I also bought a kaffir lime tree from the markets.

These are my broad beans and cauliflowers after planting.

Snow peas are going great - climbing up my improvised chicken wire lattice - and I have even managed to harvest a grand total of 4 peas - but there are plenty more coming.

Lovely snow peas flowering away -and some of the peas themselves

My first ever snow pea ready to harvest

Broad beans also look good, flowering away and have grown much bigger.  No beans yet but I'm sure they're coming.

The broad bean flowers are quite lovely.

Trying to be arty aerial view of the broad beans - but it means you can't see really how well they've grown

The cauliflowers have grown and my land cress appears to still be working to keep the caterpillars away, but no sign of any florets yet.

The pak choi has been half/half - two seedlings bolted straight to seed and are now flowering away - the other two are looking like we need to cook some stir fries!

Look at the pak choi go!

Silverbeet has grown well and we have been picking a bit as we go.

Need to get eating the spinach

Other vegies that have still been providing this month are my never ending rocket plant - the more we pick, the more we get!

Some of the celery I planted ages ago is still going strong.

Coriander has gone a bit to seed but there are still quite a few good plants, and the other herbs - oregano, mint, thyme, rosemary - are still ticking along.  I also put in a pineapple sage so will see how that turns out.

When we got back from our holiday I discovered the broccolettes had all gone to seed, so they have been pulled out. Likewise my chilli plants I decided to pull out as they had gone pretty straggly.  The garlic were looking a bit brown, which may have been from lack of water (I went away and had assumed it would rain enough to water my garden - luckily nothing died but I probably should have arranged some watering!) and the lemon tree is looking like it needs a bit of fertiliser.

Bit of a mess - but broccolettes gone to seed, coriander also heading that way, the never ending rocket and some chives hidden in there too.

The garlic plants are still going well.

I had to conclude my potato in a bag experiment as all the plants had died.  I think a variety of factors played a part in this failed effort - probably not enough sun as I had in my back courtyard, which gets very little direct sun.  Also I have a bad habit of neglecting the back yard and focussing on the front, so I may not have watered often enough.  And when I just dug out the bag I discovered the top soil was quite dry but the bottom soil was quite muddy and almost clay like, so I suspect the drainage in the bag was not sufficient.  So for my 4+ months of effort I only have 3 small chats and some tiny easter egg sized potatoes!  On the plus side, the soil in the bag was full of worms and will now be stored until I can use it for some more planting in spring.

The grand total of my potato experiment.  Not exactly successful.

Very blurry but we're hardly going to be self sufficient at this rate!

So my plans for the next month - I will be travelling a lot for work so realistically I won't get much done, and can't really plant too many seeds as I won't be around to care for them.  But I'm hoping to keep tending my peas and beans.  I also want to spend some time planning out my spring/summer garden as my pots seem to be multiplying and I want to dig up my front garden bed, which has been overrun with self seeded vincas and even a primula or two that have popped up - but I think I could use the space better for vegies given the full sun it receives.

Garden Share - April 2015

I'm very excited to be doing my first ever Garden Share Collective post.  This is a project hosted by Lizzie at Strayed from the Table.  I've been reading lot of the other blogs since I started my own and always feel a mix of jealousy and awe when I read about the other great gardens!  But it also has helped give me some ideas, so you never know, maybe my little courtyard garden may inspire someone yet. 

So the idea is to share what has happened in your garden in the month, and what the plans for the next month are.  Even though it is now autumn I think my garden is busier than ever at the moment, and I seem to have more flowers now than I did in spring!  It is exactly one year this week since we settled on the house, so I feel pretty proud that I have worked so hard in the garden and really changed it around.

And after you read my blog - go and look at some of the others!  You can find the whole list by clicking this link - Strayed from the Table - well worth a read.

So here we go - 

In the back yard I have now added in more vegetables, along with some shade loving flowers. Some of the herbs are going well out there too.  Originally this was barren, and a large part of the yard was taken up by the pond (now removed).

The back courtyard - lettuce, kale, celery, a self seeded capsicum plant, and a nice coleus which was successfully grown from a piece which broke off my large plant and I simply plonked into the ground.

Very blurry shot of my better pot full of kale and celery - apparently the semi shade of my back courtyard are better growing conditions than the sunnier front courtyard.

My shade loving flowers in the back courtyard - coleus (flowering away, has been for months), a pink and a red begonia and my geranium which was grown from a cutting.

The mint is going a bit crazy in the back garden.

 In the front yard all five of my rose bushes have had flowers this month, or are getting little tiny blooms coming through - I have a pink, a peach, two yellow and a mauvey colour one (and I don't know any of their names, which is quite remiss of me!)

The pink rose - one full open bloom which is now fading, and a bud just coming through.

One of the yellow roses, I do love these ones.

The peach coloured rose - this was donated to me by my friend in January when she had to dig up all her garden to allow for a big house extension project - I am so pleased it has managed to grow and now flourish in my garden.

And this is my other pinky/mauve colour rose, still in a tight bud.  This one is my grandma's favourite from my garden, if they are out when I visit her I always take them down to her. 

Also in the front garden I have been growing some vegetables.  Chillies, lettuce, capsicum are going well (particularly the chillies, I have three very prolific bushes!).  I also have some broccolettes (I think that was the term, they are supposed to be smaller than usual broccoli) growing well.  Coriander has self seeded, and I also have some chives growing well.  Basil and oregano are still growing like crazy, and my rosemary bush is lovely as well. My other new vegetable project is growing potatoes in a bag - we will see how this turns out!  I do have some leek seedlings in, but they seem to be very pathetic and skinny, so not sure how they will go.  I have some spinach as well, some in the back yard and some in the front to see which is better.  

The brassicas - for some reason one has been much more successful than others, but all are growing quite well.  In the middle I have the chives and a marigold plant.  Also you can see my slug trap here - although I only managed to catch two slugs!

One of my lovely chilli plants.

The potato in a bag experiment (pre being covered in soil) - hopefully these will be sprouting up by next month or so.

Kale and celery in a pot in the front courtyard, along with a small lettuce plant.  They seem to be better in the back yard, perhaps they need more shade.

The self seeded coriander plants, along with two of the spinach plants.  Not growing as quickly as I would hope, although they're going ok.

So my projects for April are -

1) Chinese vegetables - last year I had lots of pak choi so they need to go in again.  Probably other greens as well, although I'm still not quite sure about when the best time to plant things is - but I'd like to put in some beans and peas.  More spinach would be great.  Basically I will try anything!

2) Work out where I can put some garlic - and get planting.

3) Keep weeding and tidying up the garden.

So I'm sure I will keep busy out there even in my tiny little courtyards - I don't know how people look after their many acres!

A productive trip to the Orange Grove Markets

The Orange Grove Markets are a weekly tradition for many people around Rozelle and Lilyfield, and with good reason.  They are organic farmers markets, so the emphasis is on organic produce and locally sourced food.  There are also a number of bakeries, and other meal producers, so you can also pick up all the essentials like cronuts, delicious gluten free baked good, olive oil, dips, and lots more!

But I was there for the plants.  I had been told you can get citrus trees for a good price, and I really want to get a few - my mother in law has even promised to buy them for me for Christmas (yes I know it's March.  We are just a bit slow!)  So I went to check it out.  You can indeed buy citrus trees, many with a lot of fruit, for around $35 for a dwarf lemon or a lime tree.  All great - but I walked there, and it's a good kilometre or so.  So if I'm going to buy up I need to have a plan for how to get them home - that will be for the next visit.

In the meantime though - I found the seedlings.  And who can resist a bargain?? So I started buying.  Then I got offered a box to carry them in - so I really had to fill up the box to make it practical to carry home....

Not sure about the angle but that is the box full that I lugged home - it is a longer walk than you think when you're carrying a lot of plants!

The spoils of the day were -

I've never eaten kale - and I don't think I could stomach a green smoothie - I was told to saute it though and it's really tasty

Kale - the current super food favourite.  Apparently grows well over the cooler months, and is ok in part shade, so will be going out in the back yard.

Six little celery seedlings

Celery - it also seems to like the mid seasons.  I think I have to do a bit more research on this, to blanch the celery so it grows tall and not too bitter - but for now it is in the part shade areas of the garden and we will see how we go!

Rocket - every salad needs it.  I tried to grow this from seed and wondered what happened to the seedlings  - now I've seen that slug (read about it here) I think I know!  But these are bigger plants already so hopefully survive.  It's gone into full sun in the front yard.

Coriander - I love this herb but it often seems to bolt easily.  I realised perhaps last time I had it in too sunny a spot, so this time it has gone out the back under my clothesline - this might let it stay more leafy for longer I hope.

Dill - always makes me think of a nice fish dish.  So giving this a try for the first time.  It appears to need full sun and can apparently grow very tall, so it is at the back of the beds in the front yard.

The mizuna got a bit squashed on the trip back home

Mizuna- I bought this not even knowing exactly what it was, but I needed an extra herb to make my 5 plants for $10.  I'm glad I got it though - it sounds tasty.  Also known as Japanese mustard, the leaves are supposed to have a mustard or peppery flavour.  Also a leafy salad vegetable, these grow in part shade, and smaller leaves will be more tender and more tasty (or so I have read!)

Chives - always a kitchen staple.

So all of those cost me $17 - $10 for 5 for the herbs (including rocket and mizuna) and the celery and kale were 6 seedlings in a punnet, and 2 punnets for $7.  Bargain!

 In addition to those I had also made a sneaky trip to a nursery on my way home from work on Thursday, so I also had four six cell punnets to plant out (they were buy one get one free - couldn't resist) - so in addition to all those I also now have curly lettuce, leeks, dwarf broccoli and spinach which has been planted in various pots and garden beds around - hopefully in the not too distant future I will have a veritable salad bowl in my garden!

Plus, tomato and capsicum plants self seeded and have sprung up when I moved my compost heap - so I have transplanted them to pots, and if they survive I will perhaps replant into a larger pot or into the garden bed for some late season fruit.

Lovely marigold

Begonia

Blurry pick of my possible snap dragon

Then to fill up the box I decided to get some colour - needed to replenish my hanging pots.  A petunia, alyssium, marigold, snap dragon (I think!) and a blue plant that I don't actually know the name of all went in - they were also 5 for $10.  So for a grand total of $27 I had more plants than I know what to do with - and had to carry them all home!!



The last thing I bought was two bunches of dahlias - because who doesn't love brightly coloured fresh flowers?