“See how my garden grows”

 

“See how my garden grows”. 

I have planted two more courgettes because often plants get powdery mildew and peter out before the season has finished, so by planting more latter, I hope to prolong the season.

I planted peas and supported them with bamboo canes criss crossed.  I put in snow peas (flat pods that you eat) and ordinary peas (that you pod).  They are mixed in together and planted too closely, they are difficult to harvest.  I won’t do that again. I’ll plant just one variety and space them according to the instructions on the packet.  The snow peas haven’t got a lot of flavour, but are nice for something different.

The red onions are looking grunty but I think they have a way to go yet.  I poked my finger in the soil to feel round the bulb and it’s still quiet small even though the tops look big.  I have been “stealing” some of the leaves to put in salads. Yum! We’ve had a good feed of radishes and I have sown more seed a couple of times.  They’re a fast crop.

The carrots and beetroot are coming along nicely and I have sown more of those too, for successive harvesting.  We like eating the young beetroot leaves in salads and the bigger ones steamed, tastes like spinach.

Lots of lush growth

There has been lots of lush growth since the first photo of my vegetable garden at the end of October.

The brassicas and beets have all grown really well. On warm sunny days I have seen good growth in just one day.  I have harvested brocolli (see my last blog), cauliflowers (the tops nibbled by slugs ruining the look of them but not affecting the eating), cabbages (nice and tight), and lettuces (not very big, not very good and riddled with slugs). I’m very pleased with that bed, it has produced well without too much watering.

The silverbeet and spinach have grown quickly and been very tendered to eat.  I have planted more caulis and brocollis and lettuces. With each plant, I put a big handful of manure in the planting hole to feed the seedling as it gets going. I don’t know why the lettuces have been so poor, I’ll have to work on that.

I have put in another slug trap at the other end of the bed and hope to eventually drastically reduce the slug population. There don’t appear to be any snails. The first slug trap I use beer for bait which works well but attracks slaters as well.  This second one I have put pellets in the bottom, so we’ll see how that goes.  The bird netting is working well at keeping out the white butterfly. I often see them flying all round the plants trying to find a way in, but fail.

Peastraw has been very successful too in keeping out the weeds, and reducing moisture loss.

Grow giant brocolli

I picked this head of brocolli from my garden today. It weighed 1.450kg.  I used plenty of well rotted manure in the soil before planting and then covered it with peastraw to retain the moisture.  I didn’t have to water everyday which is just as well, seeing we have watering restrictions. I covered the garden bed with birdnetting to keep off the whitebutterflys and it worked well.  I’m very pleased with the result.  This brocolli will feed the two of us for several meals.

Always peel the brocolli stems particually the tough stalk.  The inside stalk is very nice especially raw.  In my opinion it is nicer and sweeter than the florets.  I have left the plant in the ground as there are two or three side shoots that I will leave to see if they grow much more.  I suspect not, probably just get tough.

Beer trap for slugs and snails

This trap is full of beer and is then dug in so the lip is level with the soil.  The slugs can slither easily into the bowl and for some reason seem to be attracted to the smell of the beer.  When they go in, they get pickled and die.

The lid that fits on top stops rain and irrigation filling the bowl and diluting the beer.  Its simple but effective.  It seems to have attracted alot of slaters also which is a shame.

Slug trap

Slugs are a jolly old nuisance. I have often sprinkled around the garden lots of Quash Slug and Snail bait, but with limited success.  It is a pet and wildlife friendly product but it does break down in rain or irrigation.  Baysol is the only one that doesn’t break down in rain but is a lot more expensive.  I recently tried one of these snail traps that you fill with beer.  The first time I tried it, it was full of slaters which don’t do any harm in the garden, but when I emptied it, I discovered the bottom had a lot of slugs in it.  I filled it again with beer (such a waste of beer according to my husband) and this time you can see for yourself in the photo, it is full of slugs.  I am very pleased with the result.  I hope it continues to be so successful.  It hasn’t attracted any snails though!  Maybe there aren’t any.

Making compost

If you were to read a book about making compost, it all sounds very technical, complicated and the average person would be put off giving it a go. It has to be easy or we won’t do it.

There is no doubt that turning our garden and kitchen waste into compost is the right thing to do for the planet and our own immediate surroundings, as well as feeding and conditioning our garden soil.  So how to make the process easy? A balanced diet is the answer.

To much of one thing and the heap will be either too dry or too wet and smelly.  You need a good mix of ‘wet and dry’ material, or carbon and nitrogen.  Basically though, I just throw in the bin the green waste as I get it. By that I mean, kitchen waste (uncooked) goes in each day and at weekends when I do a bit of gardening, I throw in the weeds and some prunings (chopped up a bit).  If I put in grass clippings, then I mix them with peastraw to dry them out otherwise the grass will go sludgy and smelly.

Now you have all the ingredients in there, the key is in the turning. This means digging it out of bin 1 into bin 2.  You can turn it after two weeks or two months, or leave it a lot longer if you want to but it will take a lot longer to break down. The sooner you turn it, the sooner you have compost to use.

Add water to keep the mix well moist as a dry mix won’t rot. Turn it three times and its done.  Each time its turned, it puts fresh oxygen into the mix and this cranks up the decomposing process.  So now you have the basics, get composting, your garden will reward you for it.

Planting a new raised bed vegetable garden

Welcome to my new vegetable garden.  Over the coming season I will update this blog and explain what I’m doing, why, and tell you about the successes and problems I encounter. I have never had a garden of this size before, so it is something of a new journey for me too.

The raised beds were already made and filled with soil before I took charge. I topped up the existing soil with horse manure, peastraw and compost and I let that mixture sit a while before planting into it. I added seaweed gathered from the beach to one of the three beds, the one that I have planted with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers because seaweed adds the nutrients for growing flowers which turn to fruit.

The second bed is for root vegetables, I have planted red onion seedlings, and sown carrot, beetroot and radish seeds, along with peas and cougettes, and the third bed is for leaf vege, silverbeet, lettuces and brassicas.

Then I covered the beds 2 and 3 with birdnetting supported by fibreglass rods. Different length rods bent over the beds give different height framing. The netting will not only keep off birds but also domestic animals and hopefully white butterflies.

When the seeds of carrot, beetroot and radish were taking a while to show through, I realised the top of the soil was drying out too much each day and this was compromising germination, so I covered the bed with shade cloth.  This, I thought was successful in stopping the sun drying out the soil and scourching the delicate seedlings. It made a warmer environment too.