The fruits of my garden - Garden Share Collective January 2016

Well it's time for the first Garden Share Collective of 2016.  The GSC is hosted by Kyrstie at A Fresh Legacy and Kate at Rosehips and Rhubarb.  Head over to check out all the wonderful gardens and gardeners who join into the link. Another month (well two really, as there was a well deserved break in December!) has passed, so it's time to have a look at everyone's garden and the fruits of their labour for the past month.  And that ties in well with the theme for this month, which is - Fruit!

Of course, here in Australia we are in the middle of summer - a crazy wet and wild summer in Sydney, but summer none the less.  I heard on the news tonight that Sydney has already received around 225ml of rain this year.  Plus we've had a number of 40 degree days, which is unusual for us as well.  It seems to mean that many of my plants are looking a bit bedraggled, either drowned or burnt, but the weeds are thriving! 

At the beginning of January I had my nieces and nephew come to stay,  My eldest niece is quite interested in gardening, and asked lots of questions about how to grow different herbs and vegetables.  My youngest niece told me that she liked my garden as it was just like "going to the shops" - this was after she helped me cook dinner and we picked the capsicum, chillies, oregano, and lettuce fresh from the garden.  Interestingly, while they were staying we watched an episode of Gardening Australia (I was quite amazed that an 8 year old, 12 year old and 15 year old would happily watch a gardening show, but that must be the power of Costa!).  And from that episode I learnt something I had never realised - that any plant which produces a seed bearing product that can be eaten is considered to be a fruit.  

By that definition, not only are your traditional "fruits" such as citrus, stone fruit, berries and others included in this list but also tomatoes (ok so I knew that one), capsicum, cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, and pumpkin - the list goes on......

 So it turns out I have quite a number of fruits in my garden.  This month the tomatoes have continued to grow and flower, although I transplanted a number of my plants and they are yet to fruit - also they have been overtaken by the weeds.

My eggplant has produced it's second fruit, and I think it looks so lovely.

My capsicum plant produced a few more good size fruit, although is a little bare now.  I did learn though from A Fresh Legacy recently that it may be worth keeping my capsicum plants through a two year cycle, and they may produce better in the second year.  So I will be trying that theory out, and will let you know how I go next year.

My raspberry plant has also been recently transplanted to a new spot, and although no fruit have appeared the plant certainly looks a lot more healthy, so perhaps next year will be a better year?

The cucumber and zucchini plants have succumbed to powdery mildew, which might be to be expected in this kind of weather.

The chillies always look nice and bright and this year I planted a few different types.

My lemon tree does have some fruit on it, but I need to take them off as it is still only young.  And my passionfruit vine is growing brilliantly, but as it was only planted a few months ago I will wait until next season to hopefully get some fruit.

Apart from my actual fruit, I like to think the rest of the garden is still "fruitful" - the spinach just keeps on growing ,my apple mint plant is going great guns, and as I discussed in a recent post my lettuces have been a bit variable in their growth but are growing none the less.  Plus my marigolds that have been planted for companion planting with my tomatoes (they are supposed to repel white fly  - even if it doesn't make any difference I always think it looks pretty!) and other plants are flowering away and making the garden look quite cheerful - it an overgrown and weedy kind of way.

This one is called apple mint.  I haven't actually tried it yet!

My poor tomatoes are being over run with weeds

As usual, my to-do list is dominated by weeding!  Plus I really need to fertilise all my pots, as a lot of the plants are starting to look a bit droopy - I think with so much rain a lot of goodness has probably been washed away.

My compost bin (which is a pretty cheap one to be fair) has started to fall apart and so I am considering relocating my compost - however I'm just not sure where it is best to go so not sure when this will happen.

I'm also considering redoing my whole sprinkler system.  While it works well to water my pots and plants, particularly when I am away often with work, I think the sprinklers are not the best way to get water to the plants and I need to look at putting in drippers instead.  This will also protect my verandah, which seems to be getting wet a lot and the wood is starting to look a bit worse for wear.

We will see how much I actually get done when it comes around to next months post!  Happy gardening to everyone and I look forward to seeing all the different and wonderful fruits for this month.

December Garden Share Collective - Growth (and neglect!)

Well my stats overview on my blog tells me my  last post was on the 1st of October.  Pretty slack really!  Life has been busy, lots of travel for work (I think about six out of the eight weeks or so since my last post I have been away).  But the wonderful thing is that the garden is now established enough that it keeps on keeping on despite my absence and my almost total neglect.

This is my lemon tree, and I'm not sure what is going on - I thought they weren't suppose to fruit in their first year.  Also it's not the season.  But here are my little funny green lemons.

This months Garden Share Collective (hosted by Krystie at A Fresh Legacy and Kate from Rosehips and Rhubarb has the theme of Growth.  Which really can be taken a few ways I think.

When I look at the last 18 months of living in our lovely Crooked Cottage I think what we have managed both inside and out can be considered growth - and definitely the garden shows that.  I have gone from a few dry beds overgrown with succulents to now an abundance of pots plus my overflowing beds.  I've learnt (by trial and error) which vegetables are fairly low maintenance (hello snow peas and lettuce, plus radishes and all my herbs) and which I probably won't be trying again, or if I do will need a new plan (I'm looking at you cabbage!  Closely followed by potatoes...)  So I am growing as a gardener as well.

Did I mention my neglect?!  My pots are all higgledy piggledy around the front yard, and I desperately need to weed and remove all those ones that have bolted to seed.  But for now it's just a bit mess, at least the sprinklers reach them all.

My rosemary is very vigorous, and the chilli plants have kept going for another year.

But just from a purely plant point of view - well with my DIY irrigation system on the timer and a few token efforts at pulling weeds, spring has meant my garden grows without me.  Which has lead to some nice surprises, like the gigantic cucumber I found hiding on the fence, and the very tasty " "Pink Pearl" cherry tomatoes which have appeared on my non staked plants.

The very large cucumber which I found hiding behind the chives - made a lot of salad.

Here's my pink pearl tomatoes - very tasty and so far they have avoided last years curse of fruit fly, even though I haven't been home much to pick them as soon as they turn orange.

Another blurry picture (I clearly haven't grown as a photographer) - this pot of spinach has been just growing and growing for months.

This years attempts at zucchinis have been far more productive and so far (touch wood) no powdery mildew in sight.

Some little critter has been attacking my eggplant - hopefully though a few holey leaves won't mean no produce.

Poor lettuces didn't survive our 40 plus degree day in Sydney - wilted and bolted 

Who knew this cucumber plant could be hiding that big brute of a fruit?

Furry caterpillar creature and another pest of the roach kind - perils of Sydney (don't look mum!)

So this month I will be harvesting tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, a few straggling snow peas, spinach, kale, celery (another never ending producer), hopefully some capsicums and lots of herbs.   I will also be ending my garlic experiment  - I am not sure how that will turn out, I have a feeling they may not have grown as I would have hoped.  

If I get a chance I will be weeding weeding weeding, plus all my pots really do need some fertilising.

I am hoping to do a little planting, depending on the weather, and would like some more lettuces (I will need to try out succession planting so I have a continuous supply this summer), radishes, and probably some more chillis if I'm not too late.  

So happy gardening and happy Christmas - how the year has flown by!  

Humidity's rising, Barometer's getting low....

Humidity's rising, Barometer's getting low, According to all sources, The street's the place to go....

Sydney in summer.

A swim at the beach, a drink in a sunny beer garden, a ferry ride on the harbour... and mouldy zucchinis?

Apparently zucchini plants are about as fond of humidity as I am, and in the same way that I become a cranky perspiring frizz ball my poor plants are looking very much the worse for wear.  

This is one of the less damaged leaves

Most of the plant seems to be affected (or infected?)

I think there might be something more than just the fungus going on here as there seem to be bugs on the underside of the leaves

The problem is powdery mildew - and according to my newfound favourite book "What Garden Pest or Disease is That" by Judy McMaugh (thanks to my brother for that gift!) it's pretty common among cucurbits (that's such a funny name.  Covers marrows, squashes, zucchini, cucumbers and I think watermelons and others as well).  I have found a few ideas on how to treat it and also some places tell me it's not fatal for plants - but I beg to differ. From what I have read it seems I should have been more proactive when the spots first arrived, and removed any affected leaves.  I also should have planted them further apart so that there was more air circulation available.  Some good information can be found here at the Sunday Gardener website.  I think perhaps I will give up on the zucchinis for this year, and try again when it's not so hot and sticky.  It's probably not even the right time to grow them, I'm not too sure about when to plant things so I have a habit of just putting in seeds randomly and seeing what happens. I'm still quite proud the plants got so big from just a little seed.