Herbs
Replanting the vege gardens in midsummer
29 December 2007 14:47 Filed in: Planting
The replanting is done, well for now anyway :)
I'd already taken out the peas and broad beans, and reduced the silverbeet, mesclun, carrots and lettuces by eating them. A couple of days ago a new row of peas went in and I bought a couple of punnets of plants, so I was ready to go!
Today I took out almost all of the rest of the gone-to-seed silverbeet, the last of the carrots, and the last two lettuces in one row. So with all the space I planted:
In general I'm pretty pleased with how it's go so far. The rotation is mostly working – once the broad beans go in each section will have had a legume season. What I'm not managing so well is constant production, I'll have a couple of weeks of total glut of one kind or another, weeks like this one where there are relatively limited options (leafy green things and the last of the carrots), and then the occasional well balanced fortnight.
And before I forget, the tomatoes are fascinating me. Clearly the ones in the lemon garden are much happier than the ones in the front garden. The lemon garden ones are huge happy plants and I expect to start seeing tomatoes soon. The front garden ones get solid morning sun but not so much in the afternoon, and it shows.
I'd already taken out the peas and broad beans, and reduced the silverbeet, mesclun, carrots and lettuces by eating them. A couple of days ago a new row of peas went in and I bought a couple of punnets of plants, so I was ready to go!
Today I took out almost all of the rest of the gone-to-seed silverbeet, the last of the carrots, and the last two lettuces in one row. So with all the space I planted:
- Beans – Roquefort (the last fornight of the progressive planting I started a little over a month ago).
- Red onions – California red
- Potatoes – unlabelled well sprouted ones from the cupboard :)
- Kohlrabi – Early Purple Vienna
- Carrots – Mini sweet, the same as the ones I'll eat the last of this weekend
- Coriander – Indian Summer
- Parsley – Flat leaved, this time in the blueberry garden as the ones in the herb garden were replaced by the summer basil crop last week
- Dill – Bouquet
- Lettuce – a mixture
In general I'm pretty pleased with how it's go so far. The rotation is mostly working – once the broad beans go in each section will have had a legume season. What I'm not managing so well is constant production, I'll have a couple of weeks of total glut of one kind or another, weeks like this one where there are relatively limited options (leafy green things and the last of the carrots), and then the occasional well balanced fortnight.
And before I forget, the tomatoes are fascinating me. Clearly the ones in the lemon garden are much happier than the ones in the front garden. The lemon garden ones are huge happy plants and I expect to start seeing tomatoes soon. The front garden ones get solid morning sun but not so much in the afternoon, and it shows.
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Renovation
23 December 2007 20:41 Filed in: Planting
After finishing up the pond today's game has been renovation, pulling out spent plants and putting new ones. The gone-to-seed parsley has been replaced by basil (fino verde, Genovese giant, red rubin and cinnamon), the peas are out and shared with the chooks, and so on.
The chooks have turned into lovely friendly birds, with an occasional streak of insane panic – strangely reminiscent of Seb actually. They enjoy pottering around their section of the garden; scratching, eat and snoozing. Their combs are starting to fill out and they're starting to make grown up chook noises, so eggs can't be far away.
I'm enjoying working out what to feed the chooks. Every morning they get homemade mash, a variety of leftovers and often (their absolute favourite) cooked whole grains mixed with yoghurt and kelp powder. Interestingly they like that mixture way more than its component bits (which are still pretty special) so I guess there's something about the texture of the combination which works for them. They also get greens, sometimes weeds, sometimes some of the gone-to-seed silverbeet. Then I throw down mixed whole grains last thing so they have something exciting to scratch up the next morning.
Late Autumn
07 May 2007 00:08 Filed in: Pictures
I think that we’ve reached the end of the tomatoes —
the sungold cherry tomatoes were definitely the
outstanding performers and are on next year’s must
have list. The paste tomatoes aren’t too bad either,
but the rest hated the slow start to summer and
didn’t make it to red.
The sweet peas are also winding down, with seed pods galore and only wind battered flowers left. The mulberry has already lost its leaves, perhaps because it’s exposed to the northerly and we’ve had a few over the last few weeks. I’m hoping that planting Raubritter up wind from it next year might give it some protection, but it’s been pretty happy and has lots of glossy buds waiting for spring.
The grape and persimmon are also losing their leaves — I can’t wait until the persimmon gets a little bigger, the leaves are truly gorgeous as they change and it works well next to the grape.
The herb and flower bed along the front of the house is still going strong, the pineapple sage is stunning (possibly because it was also delayed by the summer), and the alliums, salvia and oregano are also in full bloom, I’m enjoying the salvia more than I thought I would, the strangely curled flower stalks make a strong display and the bumble bees love it.
Anyhow, lots of late autumn tasks to do, the roses need to be tied up once I disentangle them from the sweet peas, then I should weed and mulch that bed. Although I really need to get some seeds in pots today and the daylilies need temporary homes for the next few weeks.
The sweet peas are also winding down, with seed pods galore and only wind battered flowers left. The mulberry has already lost its leaves, perhaps because it’s exposed to the northerly and we’ve had a few over the last few weeks. I’m hoping that planting Raubritter up wind from it next year might give it some protection, but it’s been pretty happy and has lots of glossy buds waiting for spring.
The grape and persimmon are also losing their leaves — I can’t wait until the persimmon gets a little bigger, the leaves are truly gorgeous as they change and it works well next to the grape.
The herb and flower bed along the front of the house is still going strong, the pineapple sage is stunning (possibly because it was also delayed by the summer), and the alliums, salvia and oregano are also in full bloom, I’m enjoying the salvia more than I thought I would, the strangely curled flower stalks make a strong display and the bumble bees love it.
Anyhow, lots of late autumn tasks to do, the roses need to be tied up once I disentangle them from the sweet peas, then I should weed and mulch that bed. Although I really need to get some seeds in pots today and the daylilies need temporary homes for the next few weeks.