Herbs - Garden Share Collective January 2017

Where does the time go?  It's already nearly the end of January and so it's the first Garden Share Collective for the year.  I've been missing in action for a while as I have not been doing anything much in my garden but I'm getting back into the swing of things.

The Garden Share Collective is a place where anyone who grows edible plants - from a few pots of herbs on a window sill to acres of vegetables on a farm - can share their progress and take a peek at what other people are growing in different areas of the world.  The link up is hosted by A Fresh Legacy and Rosehips and Rhubarb.

This months theme is Herbs.  So it is something I can actually blog about easily - even when the garden was overgrown (more than it is now!) and nothing much was doing, I always have some herbs that keep growing strongly.

I have a never ending supply of oregano (any suggestions what to do with this?)

My apple mint sprung up again where it had managed to escape its pot and self propagate.

Rosemary is always great for cooking

Do bay leaves count as herbs?  My bay tree looks a little sad, don't think it likes the heat very much.

Basil is always a favourite, although it seems to go to seed quickly.

I think this one is a thai basil

Even the basil is going to flower.

I don't have many other herbs in at the moment, it's too hot here in Sydney to have coriander growing, but that will go in in a few beds.

So this month I have done a great job of finally weeding, and am trying to keep on top of that!
Will be looking towards the cooler weather crops and will get the beds ready for those.
Might try again for some snow peas and/or sugar snap peas.

Happy gardening to all! 

The things you find when you weed....

So not only have I been quite slack on writing blog posts for a few months, I have to admit I have also been guilty of letting my garden get away from me.  I planted a few seedlings about a month ago, and I did attempt to repair some issues with my irrigation system, but it seems that all that happened was that I provided water for the weeds.  

Finally today I decided that it had gone too long.  I could almost do my own ads about "Who is going into the jungle" (can't say that I really watch "I'm a Celebrity", but I do like speculating about just which "celebrities" will be on)  just when someone went out in to our front yard.

So some hard yakka was in order.  I am going to be in serious pain tomorrow.  That couch grass is nasty (and was everywhere!).

I didn't actually take any before photos (it was really too embarrassing) but lets just say that after a few hours I have filled up my 240L green bin and I haven't totally finished. It looks so much better though.  And I found some hidden surprises while I was there.

Turns out the chilli plants I put in have half survived - and I even have one decent size fruit!

My raspberry canes have flourished (even after I pulled some out to give to my niece in an attempt for some propagation - haven't heard how they went yet) and I managed to find some new fruit peeking around and almost ripe.

Still some couch grass there - but in between the raspberry canes that is a single tomato plant.

A runaway tomato plant has self seeded from somewhere or other and looks healthy.

The oregano is going well, and the apple mint and spring onions seem to have also spread and grown well under significant weed cover.

I also saw two lady bugs, which were cute, and three types of spiders - not so cute.  Especially when I thought one might have been a funnel web (thank goodness for leather gardening gloves - and then when I looked up this spider chart on www.pestcontrolsydney.com.au I realised it was probably just a Common Black House Spider.

This spider chart comes from the website www.pestcontrolsydney.com.au

So now I just need to keep the weeds under control - hopefully the thick layer of sugar cane mulch I spread around helps.  And eat those raspberries!

The pineapple sage forest

Months ago I bought a small seedling of a pineapple sage plant.  I actually thought it was just normal sage, and wanted to add it to my herb garden.  I read that it needed full sun, but then decided to plant it out in my fairly shady back garden where I have a small herb bed regardless of the need for sun.  It's under my clothes line and so I prefer small plants anyway.  My mint has been growing well there, as has parsley.  So I put the small pineapple sage in.

And now, I have a massive pineapple sage forest.

So - so much for needing full sun.

Also so much for my clothesline.

And now I need to find some uses for this herb!  

According to the Bonnie Plants website  when it flowers I should have a lovely pink display (image from Bonnie Plants).  Also from this I find that this plant attracts hummingbirds - pity I'm in Australia!

So apparently it's nice in drinks, and can be used in salads.

It should make nice tea - although I'm not big on tea.  But I might dry it out anyway!

And I'm going to try some dried in my cupboards and pantry to see if it makes any difference to my pantry moths.

Edit - when I started this post the sage had just been growing but there were no signs of the flowers. However yesterday I noticed I have a few pretty pink flowers out.  For some reason one of them was covered in ants, but the other was ant free.  They certainly are pretty!

One flower was very popular with ants for some reason.

Garden Share Collective - Does Size Matter???

So I'm quite liking the idea of the themed posts for the Garden Share Collective.  And this first one is on size.  I think of it as that age old question - does size matter???

I tried to use a fancy program to draw a plan of my garden.  But it didn't work, so I have hand drawn it.

Because when it comes to size, my garden is on the "it's not the size it's what you do with it" side of the argument.   The majority of my garden is planted in the front of my house as this is both the largest area and the area that gets the most sunshine.  However, this is still a small courtyard.  The garden beds are basically one long bed running almost the length of the courtyard on the southern side of the courtyard, which is about 6m long and probably 70cm wide.  Then two beds at the front of the house, around 2m long each and also about 70 cm wide.  My neighbour is replacing the fence on the northern side and when this is complete I am considering digging in another bed, however it will not get very much sun so I'm not sure if I will be better off just using the fence as a vertical garden.

So I really won't be likely to become self sufficient growing here.  But I can still have great fun in the garden and provide at least some nice fresh additions to our meals.

The plan (please excuse the fairly slap dash manner) is here.

A pretty rough and ready drawing of our front yard.  Note the lovely feature of the bins, which have to be stored at the front of the garden as we have no side access to hide them out the back!!  Entire yard is 6m x 5 m and most of this is paved courtyard.

An older shot of the garden bed on the southern wall - it's now a lot more full and green!

The pak chois grow well

Hard to believe the whole garden started out looking like this 

Another shot of the main garden bed on the southern wall - this was during last summer and before I realised my tomatoes were being attacked by fruit fly.

 So because of my lack of garden beds I have to use a lot of containers.  Lots and lots of containers.  I am gradually filling up the courtyard with plants in pots.  My neighbours have taken to donating their unwanted pots to me (which I'm very happy to accept) so it probably won't be long and I won't be able to walk through the courtyard.

My dwarf lemon tree in one of my many brightly painted pots

Two lovely low line containers planted out with asian greens.

My kaffir lime also planted in a pot

My lovely pots of ranunculus with the never ending flowering snap dragon next to it.

I also struggle a bit with the sun.  The front faces east, and so the front yard gets morning sun.  The southern wall gets sun for most of the day, but the western side has the sun go off by late morning.  The back courtyard gets almost no sun due to buildings around it and a very large oak tree in our neighbours yard.

Even though I don't really have enough room to properly grow vegetables I am really enjoying learning about gardening and from my successes and failures.  I am quickly realising that given the space constraints I'm better off planting and growing those plants which are fairly high yield for small space.  Pumpkins are out!.  My snow peas have been brilliant and I have just planted out a crop of sugar snap peas to see how they go.  Mind you, there has been carnage as I didn't properly protect them from snails and slugs.

Prior to my snow pea harvest on Saturday - the wire trellis was being pulled off the wall!

My tomatoes yielded well in summer but the fruit fly ruined those.  Still, the capsicum plants are good for fruit and lettuce and rocket are always favourites and easy to grow.  

My capsicums went quite well so I will be planting some more this year.

I'm looking forward to harvesting my first garlic crop, and I'm hoping my square metre of precious sunny space will be worth giving up for 6 months for a good crop!  The broccolis and cauliflowers haven't really returned enough on my investment of space.

The garlic took up a fair amount of space but if I get 20 bulbs out it will be worth it.

Celery is going well in lots of different pots and my herbs are growing even out in the shade of my back garden.  

So this month I have started planning my spring garden, planting cucumbers (destroyed by slugs) sugar snap peas (also attacked) eggplant, zucchini, rocket, parsley, lettuce, tomatoes and asian greens.  Once I deal with the slimy critters (been out liberally applying table salt to them all tonight!) I will try again with some of my seedlings.  

I think as well I will try my hand at growing some carrots, and also some radishes and capsicums - all from seed - which will be next months GSC theme!  Happy gardening to all and look forward to seeing you next month.  

My nursery obsession - and getting started on your garden.

Most of my friends are of the age that when you say nursery they think change tables and nappy holders and giraffe growth charts.  Me on the other hand - I think gardening!  I don't seem to be able to drive past a nursery without stopping and buying another punnet of seedlings, or a fruit tree, or a half price pot, or all of the above.  So this post is really for people like I was a year ago - very new to gardening, and maybe you don't know where to start.

My usual go to nursery is Flower Power.  This is not sponsored, (although I'd be very open to some sort of barter arrangement - I promise to post my purchases if I get some freebies!) but it is the most convenient place to my inner city suburb where I can still buy plenty of reasonably priced potting mix, and seedlings galore.  And even though it's a chain store I still think of it as being better than going to your generic Coles or Woolworths owned hardware caverns.

Boot full of loot for my #gardening today #goingtoneedabiggeryard pic.twitter.com/qaWcOVDolI

— Crooked Cottage (@crookedcottage1) May 22, 2015

For herbs I think it is worthwhile going to your local fruit shop.  Sounds unusual, but mine certainly has herbs such as basil, coriander, mint and many others in pots rather than your usual bunches - you might as well pick up a plant, use what you need for dinner and then plant the rest.  Sometimes florists have things like this for sale too, or maybe that just depends on your local shops - but probably worth having a look.

Then I have the local organic farmers markets.  I can't go every week or I really would have too many plants to even fit in my yard.  Our local markets (at Orange Grove Public School) have fruit trees, seedlings and plenty of potted colour, all at very reasonable prices.  You can read about some of my adventures with seedlings from Orange Grove here.

So turns out I could carry a tree after all #gardening #tree Kaffir lime means we can use the leaves already! pic.twitter.com/UIHlotQtFh

— Crooked Cottage (@crookedcottage1) June 13, 2015

Spent up at Orange Grove Markets today- all for $27- dill, coriander, rocket, celery, kale, mizuna, chive, + flowers! pic.twitter.com/5Gb289or5p

— Crooked Cottage (@crookedcottage1) February 28, 2015

And then there are the online nurseries.  I purchased a landscaping bulk buy of bulbs in March (the results of those will be posted at a future date - but it's looking pretty good so far.  Mind you, with 400 bulbs - yes, I have one of the smallest gardens you will ever see and I bought 400 bulbs - so I had to give a lot away to my dad).

I haven't even tried any seed swaps yet, but I've been seeing them the more I read of other people's blogs, and they certainly seem a great idea.  Not sure what my coriander and basil seeds (the only things I have managed to be able to save yet) would really be worth, but maybe I could swap hundreds of them for something more exotic....  I saw some information about the Seed Freedom Food Festival when it was posted in the Garden Share Collective group on Facebook and although I won't be in Adelaide it does look like a great event.

So I don't suppose it really matters where you get your seeds from, but get out and get planting!

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!