Garden log 02/01/13 – courgette!!!

Posted by rosemarysruminations on January 2, 2013 · 2 Comments 

Yeah, yeah, I’ve been busy. With the garden. And stopping my children from murdering each other. And my in-laws came to stay. And making a dress. And general life. But lots of things have happened since I last updated.

zucchini!!

For example, I went to look at my huge zucchini plant yesterday and found a zucchini on it! On the downside, that plant is growing in a circle instead of a vine and trying to take up much more space than it’s supposed to. I was planning on trailing them along the grass paths. The others are behaving fairly well though, which is just as well since I’d otherwise pretty much lose sight on them among the insanity that is my nasturtiums.

Lord B’s shorn tomato plant

Hello!

My tomatoes

I had to prune off most of the non-fruiting branches of Lord B’s tomato plant yesterday. It was HUGE. It’s still quite large, needing 4 or 5 stakes, but at least now the fruit can see the sun to ripen (and I can see them to eat them when they ripen). My tomatoes are also getting huge – some of them are trying to climb onto the deck. Also have green fruit, some of them. Thinking maybe I should have done bigger gaps between their sowings – something to keep in mind for next year.

I acquired some Italian parsely and comfrey and dill to add to my herb collection. I’m planning on converting a bed that runs the opposite side of the path to the veges into a herborium. Ish. This will unfortunately involve lots of work cos it’s full of widow’s bonnet, which shoots up everywhere in a most annoying fashion. The soil will also need a bit of work. I’ve already got a rosemary I put in, and a wild feverfew. In a corner of the veges I have chives and thyme that I bought, and oregano that I grew. And lots of basil with the tomatoes. Plus chamomile with the brassicas, nasturtiums with the gourds, and borage with the strawberries. And marigolds dotted about the place.

Too lazy to go check what’s in here and can’t quite remember, but some herb or other, peppers, a gourd or two, and a tomato I think.

Still unplanted are also some other things that I’ll let grow a bit more before putting in the herborium, mostly cos it’s not ready yet and plus hopefully then they won’t get ridden on by bikes cos they’ll be more obvious…

See the wee oats among the grass?

lupins and flowering peas

Ooooh I have oats! This might sound like an odd thing to have in a vege garden, but they’re in a green manure patch I was too lazy to sow peas and beans in all three of the legume patches so two are a lupin/oats/peas mix (one I only sowed, finally, a week or so ago so it’s got some lupins but not much else) and the older bed has flowering peas and green oats and is looking quite pretty. My actual-sown-to-maybe-eat beans and peas are doing ok too – interestingly have had a few pea pods already, though those plants are younger – maybe cos they get more sun? – and I think the beans are flowering now. The sweetpeas in that bed keep looking like weeds though, and I’ve almost pulled them out several times. Oops.

I’ve harvested several beetroots. Must look up whether it’s ok to resow in the old spots – have done a couple but probably shouldn’t. One of them was HUGE – my mother made a cake out of it which we are going to taste this afternoon. She used another one I gave her for in case she needed two in dinner, which my brother pretended not to be impressed by but actually was. He has a clever sister. Have also been harvesting kale, silverbeet, and spinach twice most days to keep them down (hit upon the cunning idea of steaming them and juicing them since lots raw isn’t so good for you and really wanted to get them into the boys), as well as lettuce and nasturtium leaves/flowers in juice and salads, herbs, TWO tiny strawberries (which Lord B ate), a carrot (wanted to see if they were finally getting some flesh – they are, but still pretty tiny – and we had the green top in the juice too). That’s all so far, I think. Wish my early purple sprouting broccoli would get on and sprout! Oh, and I pulled out all my garlic, which was mostly pretty puny but some had clearly defined cloves.

This patch is looking a little less exciting now that I’ve harvested quite a few beets (and one more since the picture was taken) but the smaller ones will fill it up soon. Have also been given some perpetual spinach seeds which should last the summer better

Cabbages are starting to look more like cabbages. And the chamomile (underneath) is looking good, though not spreading as much as I’d hoped

The kale is sprouting side shoots with mini kale

My prettiest eggplant.

All the dead leaves of the strawberries are gone now and they’re looking very healthy. And sending out shoots which I’ll take for next year’s plants at the end of the summer. The lettuces are doing well too.

My tiny carrot! Below it you can see the crazy green growth of the others.

Yesterday’s harvest. Steamed the beet leaves and kale and it went into the juice with the lettuce, nasturtiums, and a wedge of beet.

My onions hanging up to dry.

Wild nasturtiums and sprawling zucchini.

A general overview. Literally.

Filed under garden log, gardening · Tagged with vege garden log