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Monday, May 4, 2015

Garden Share

It is an absolutely lovely time of the year to have a garden. The pressures of summer weeding and intensive work in the garden are over for a few months. More time to enjoy just being outside without the sun making things unbearable.
 
Bed 3- Herb garden

In April we had 70mm of rain which I think is just about perfect. Minimum temperature of 6deg C and maximum of 32.5deg C (measured on my sheltered veranda). Temperatures like that mean that the some summer things are still hanging on but will definitely be ready for the compost heap or the chooks soon.

Rainbow chard
 Harvesting: This is the only time of the month that I really look at my overall harvests and I'm always surprised at the variety of goodies in the garden.
  • honey- lots of honey
  • pumpkins
  • zucchini
  • chard
  • chillies
  • Jerusalem artichokes
  • capsicum
  • chillies
  • strawberries
  • citrus
  • herbs
  • flowers
  • potatoes
  • cucumbers
Romanesco
 Planting: While I was away I did buy a few things to plant. An Egyptian walking onion plant and a couple of Russian garlic bulbs. I hope I can grow them as well here as the grower I bought them from on the coast, they are huge and very interesting.
  • carrots
  • leafy things - lettuce, rocket, Asian greens and so on
  • brassicas
  • broad beans- yum
  • peas and snow peas
  • rainbow chard
  • radish
  • beetroot
  • and things I don't remember

Warrigal greens

The Warrigal greens are threatening to take over an entire garden bed. I do like my greens but we can't keep up with them. I chopped them back to make way for some leeks and it only encouraged them. I think they are my final frontier in converting Hope into a veg lover. She has come over to my side and is enjoying chickpeas and lentils and all manner of veg but green things are proving harder to sell. I'm sure cheese will be key ingredient  in selling her on them.

Yellow-podded pea plants

Peas are reaching for the sky. Some have been patchy in their germination. The freebie dwarf snow peas I received from Diggers of course because I only had a handful of those. I guess that batch will be for seed saving... mostly. You have to taste test to make sure you really want to grow that variety again right?

nettles

I like it when the weeds start earning their keep too. The nettles are looking lush. It's the cooler temperatures and the rain. I make nettle soup for the two who enjoy that (not me) but it's the gnocchi and pasta I like. I made nettle beer last year just because I could and from all reports it is a nice refreshing drop similar to a pale ale of some description (I wouldn't know).

To do:
  • compost
  • tidying up- Biggest Morning Tea is coming up
  • planting
  • taking things a bit easier
Happy gardening
Tracy
http://www.strayedtable.com/2015/05/03/garden-share-collective-may-2015/
Garden Share happens on the first Monday of each month. Hosted by Lizzie. It's a friendly collaborative with a focus on sharing and encouragement. What could be better?

7 comments:

Deb R said...

Such a lovely 'green thumb' post.

lizzie {Strayed Table} said...

A true gardener, embracing the weeds too. You know I have never had a nettle grow in any of my gardens, I always have cobblers pegs but I read the other day that you can eat them too. Your garden is doing well and with the rain it is nice to know that you can take a few days off watering.

Jeanette said...

Great garden Tracy. Hugs,xx

Merryn@merrynsmenu said...

Wow nettles and warrigal greens you are creative. Your garden is looking wonderful and I really do wonder what nettle beer tastes like. Well doe Tracy :)

KERYN B said...

Always wonderful to see what's happening in your beautiful garden.

africanaussie said...

Oh my gosh you are busy, and your rianbow chard had my mouth watering. I never developed a taste for warrigal greens either, with or without cheese.

Anonymous said...

Nettles are world-wide I guess. I don't care for them 'cause they sting when I touch them. They came into our garden from some manure we brought in from a local farm. I wear gloves now when I weed since they hide in with some other nasty weeds that have been growing there too. Weeds, weeds, weeds. At least they're all easy to pull and I've been able to keep up with the weeding this year.

I had a good crop of chard this year. I planted kale which did not come up, but thankfully last year's kale did come up again and spread seeds all over, so I think we'll have kale for a few years to come. Yum.