Mid February update

Weird white growth on aloe. Aloe does not like full sun or too much water.

Main veggie patch is looking sparce 

Some plants are taking over in the containers though.

Strawberry spinach is blushing 

A lot of the others died. 

Lettuce is doing ok and strawberry is setting out runners. Everything is bolted. 

Time to plant new seeds. Got a handful of strawberries this year.

Bee is buzzing about the oregano as I type this.

Things are recovering ok after a few hot days. Today is nice and cool.

Malabar has gone crazy!

Tomato recovering from wilt. Cucamelons are so slow this year!!!

A lot of tomatoes are turning yellow and dropping leaves, bottom up.

Blueberry too. I think it's iron deficiency. 

You can see my beloved winter savoury died as I repotted  it.

Only surviving pepino melon so far.

Beautiful indigo rose thriving.

You might glimpse some cape gooseberry lanterns forming. Dead strawberries spinach and nearly dead chamomile.

Stevia is always thirsty in this pot, it is not hardy for desert themed pots, so I must move it. The olive plant went to seed and half died. 

Bike shed pots, doing just ok. 

Grape has a black mould, ad might peek the oca and nasturtium. 

Mangle wurtzel and volunteer broad beans. Catch a glimpse of the pepino and yacon. Bean climbers throughout did not do well at all. 

Hamburg Parsely - a taste test

Before I begin, dad dug these up early because he was amending the patch and the greens had been more than decimated by snails.

I microwaved them for about a minute and ate them, i still had a chinotto flavour in my mouth so that may have skewed the results. They were tiny, only a sample! haha...

 

Ok the ends were woody.
They taste like a weaker carrot with a peppery undertone without the spicyness and less sweet and an almost more starchy consistency, strangely getting a hint of banana though... Interesting. 

---NOTE I have never tasted parsnip other than in a soup once so it could very well taste like parsnip?

Spring is Near

I have decided to be smart this spring and only plant foods that work well in my garden (read- make a decent harvest) and that I or a family member loves to eat. Here are my lists:

NEW/ YET TO BE PLANTED:
Black Salsify
Summer Savoury
Salad Burnet
Asparagus Winged Pea
lucerne (green manure)
Parcel
Toothache Plant
Tiger Nut (chufa)
crimson forest onion
tomatoes- stupice, snow white, yellow pear, green zebra, ...


SUCESSFUL & REPEAT:
Mouse melon (didn't get any mildew or wilting, lots of produce! Delicious)
Borage (already self seeded)
Vermicompost Tower, (doing very well)
Australian yellow stuffing (or another yellow, like snow white-gotta keep the birds and harlequins away)
Lemon
Basil (will focus on producing more)
Lentil- as a cover crop!
Mushoom Herb (Only a few small harvests, but DELICIOUS)
Grape Leaves (Plenty, yum! but half got a black mould, birds ate grapes)
Southern Wormwood (LOVE the scent and tea, barely making it past winter...)
Parsley (more than we will ever need, but it's lovely!)
Nasturtium (2 plants were not enough! Mother loved it, so did leaf miners, bees had a taste, will plant about 4+ next time, hopefully more colours)
Olive Tree (Plenty for canning!)
Purple Broccoli (last year made half our needs, this year nothing yet despite planting double. Keeping 1 for bee flowers)
Sunchoke (delicious roasted, made a nice amount)
Chinese Celery (HEAPS- too much, good in soups. Might dig up some, seriously too much, but attracts lots of carpet beetles and crab spiders and such beneficial insects like hover flies)
Rocket (Bolted fast, need to keep making resows of it.)

OK I'LL KEEP IT:
Stevia (only if it overwinters, here's hoping!) IT DID!
Olive Plant (leaving it in, it's ok to eat, wont die anyway!)
Apricot (WAY too much! I personally would graft the nectarine to this and heavily prune because too much shade and i'm not even fond of the tart stone fruit it produces but my parents disagree)
Oregano (I'll keep it but i don't remember harvesting it because it seemed wooly)
Pineapple sage (flowers are nice, leaves not so much, will keep because it is thriving)
Compost Heap (didn't break down much but was ok, made for some efficacious dark chunky soil.)

SWAPS:
Roman Chamomile (swapping for some noble chamomile)
Other Kales (Curly, Red russian)- it's just not really worth watering as no one likes the taste, maybe a handful instead of a handful of each kind, I'd rather plant cover crops.

Roots. Turnips (1) (They just don't produce in a pot, i'll try in ground - worked!)

Tom Thumb Lettuce (12 were just enough, delish! and grew well, will try a straight leafed butterhead this time for ease of washing and larger size)

Tigerella (might try get some pale ones because the birds beat us to most of our red ones!- also truss style for more harvest)

FAIL AND 2ND ATTEMPT (COS I WANT TO): 
Strawberry Spinach (heat killed it)
Capsicum (seedlings are now about 1.5 years old by spring, they never died in winter, nor did they take off in spring weirdly enough, stayed 5cm tall for 6+ months, only at 20cm now!)- died at the end of winter, i forgot to water them and they were in a shady spot.
Nigella - still haven't managed to germinate ONE! :(
Dark Opal Basil (1. Colour)
Sweet Max Corn (3 and 3 mini ones - I planted too late)
Sunflowers (only in full sun! and Early! Also gotta keep the harlequins away)
Dill - (I HAVE to because we have a vine and love making dolmades!!!)
Snow Peas (the birds will not let out, they can't grow! :'( so yummy though )
Purple King Bean (didn't fruit much because planted late, but nice and colourful!)
Silver Beet (birds wont stop munching new growth, father likes it in soup)
Tomatoes (many succumbed to blossom end rot. Need one that needs less water, also green-white-orange so birds don't get them)
Mints (only to deter rodents really...and occasional use for fish or beverages)
Strawberry (Now that the mother plant is older it is putting out an outrageous amount of flowers! Hopefully this year is the year! Low pollination rate though)
Boisenberry (Few handfuls, hate it but mother loves it)
Persimmon (2- but it was young)
Nectarine (growing because mother loves it, the fruit is usually inferior)
Fig (1, birds took the rest, also in shade, hopefully this year it reaches above the roof)
Marrow - Just 1 plant. The only cucurbit I will try (other than mouse melon) in a pot with reservoir.
Chives- to flower

WAITING FOR HARVEST:
Mangle Wurtzel 
Hamberg Parsley
Lady Fingers Carrot
White River globe onion
Various root veggies

-----------Not Planting:

NOT WORTH IT: 
Chia (barely survived and made 1tsp seeds)
Pigface
Valerian (I hear it smells like socks)
Amaranth (Not yummy and too much effort/shade inducing)
Perino (WAY too small to warrant watering)
Dinosaur Kale (hate the taste, once they die, no more!)
Cornflower - (they are a nice flower, bees don't care for it, neither do I)
Black Nightshade (they produce but are scary to eat)
Georgia Southern Collard - Basically like eating a broccoli leaf, not really worth the space

NOPE. MADE LITTLE/NO HARVEST DUE TO DISEASE: 
Marrow (1 fruit) - but will plant 1 in a pot with reservoir and treat mildew early
Zucchini (3 fruit)

NOPE, MADE LITTLE/NO HARVEST DUE TO CONDITIONS: 
Rosella (too late, died)
Eggplant (not enough sun or water)
Mimosa (finally grew to a decent size but wet feet and cold weather killed it. Pretty happy to give up on this or use it as a novelty if i can be bothered)
Watermelon (2 out of 3 plants made 1 viable fruit)

Winter Chores Time!

Due to buildings and trees my yard gets ALMOST NO direct sunlight all Winter!!! 

So sad! Maybe 2-3 hours if it's a good place. As a result everything is extremely stunted, half the peas didn't sprout...it's a bit horrible really.

Kale seedlings in biodegradable newspaper cups growing...and time to transplant the last of them!

Brassica Patch

 I added another 2 tight rows in the Kale patch, Brussel Sprouts (red and green)

left to right: Curly Scotch Kale, Red Russian Kale, Green Brussel Sprouts, Red Brussel Sprouts, Purple Early Sprouting Broccoli. And on a separate bed nearby on the right is Georgia Southern Collard, and at the back horizontally is Dino Kale. I also transplanted (white river?) onions, manglewurtzel or mangold, a beet, an amaranth?, and turnip. The carrot and hamburg parsley are just starting to sprout.

I had so many seedlings I had to squeeze in a few out of the neat rows (my garden is volunteers everywhere so I don't mind the mess, I do see it confuses pests if you clump the same plant in multiple areas, they will leave a patch unscathed!), and my dad also stuck two curly kales from before in a random spot in the middle slightly ruining my rows that I made today- so I had to bow the rows slightly to accommodate them instead of moving them. I also had 2 close together when I thought one seedling will die because I snapped the roots or whatever.

Today's harvest

And this is about half of ....no, a quarter of what I could have harvested today. So, I'm still getting a good batch of greens, edible flowers and such which is good, and some lovely root vegetables are well past ready too that I will have to pull asap (and some even have bolted with flowers so I'll eat the flowers instead!)! This portion will last my family over a week, and by next week there will be more to pick too! I have a bunch of hybrid rocket/radish, it grows pink stems, tastes super spicy. Half have started to bolt- no idea why. Some leaves are now bitter- it's like a lucky dip! I'm loving the Mache! But my favourite lettuce is still tom thumb! So buttery. Mache is creamy and slightly gritty, or grainy in texture- but still tender and beautiful, nice and bland. Arugula- BABY arugula is brilliantly flavoured without too much spice. Might need to pull out the rocket in the barrel as it's tall and bolting, but could wait till spring planting.

I tidied up some plants that died off for the winter and re-arranged my pot plants- tossing out a bunch of baby snails, sowed some upland cress, and put out the seedlings that were BEGGING to be repotted/transplanted. Those chores had been waiting for months! The weather combined with my hatred of cold, LIFE, and lots of work prevented me from doing it earlier!

I only have a few chores left to do and some seed saving- I doubt it will take over 3 hours, and then I can rest until the BIG SPRING chore list rolls around!!! I will likely get around to it....next weekend or a weekday if work is quiet.

Remaining Chores by spring:
- repot strawberry runners (in 2Lt bottles, because, why not)
- pull out mints, cut into a controllable size, return to pot.
- plant out 2 remaining red russian kales that I forgot to today
- harvest the mini shallots. Almost all of them, we have way too many it's impractical how they are taking over the place
- ensure repotted parsley is alive, (IT IS!) if not make a new one (need one under cover for when we need parsley but don't want to walk in the rain. I tore this ones roots but it was in the lawn so it was being weedy anyway)
- harvest rocket in veggie patch
- plant peas if it's not too late
- plant alfalfa and lucerne etc green manure, when time comes!
- remove Weedlings (yes, weedlings) in pots
- collect lettuce seeds, thai basil seeds, chia seeds and any other plant that is seeding currently.
- check on cress seedlings -1 germinated so far...
- water mushroom plant thoroughly
- plant a new batch of mixed lettuce and arugula as the rocket has bolted and gone bitter
- trim back the chinese celery to ensure my onion seedlings / brussel won't be choked
- remulch pots with grass clippings as soon as lawn is mowed- as i ran out this time, especially strawberries!
- repot beetroot/ruby chard seedlings (I'm pretty sure they are beetroot but I didn't label them...)
- collect a tray of compost, fill 2 together, and fill another full of food
- spread collected vermi-compost all over veggie patch- once mixing with dry clay = full strength doesn't work well I've found. Or mix in water in a bucket and pour all over the place mixing frequently- give them heaps of newspaper to un-bog their vermi-compost and add "soil wetter" properties
- top up pots with soil after harvest, they have sunken so much they are shading the plants
- net up lettuce and etc
- put lots of worms with chamomile pot
- plant nasturtium in side of blue barrel
- harvest jerusalem artichokes
- harvest sunflower seeds

Lots of volunteer borage popping about all over the place, I can see how if I didn't plant this in pots it would be a weedy issue here. The bees adore borage, so much that I think they ignore everything else, so I feel like I owe them quite a few plants of this, it's the only plant I nibble from the garden. So delish! The bees also loved the broccoli so I'm going to leave a head to continue on all year, I still have last years one but I cut it down to a lower sprout because it was getting too tall and in my way shading stuff.

I learned that plants entirely sheltered from wind REALLY are these weak soft fragile floppy things. It's crazy!!! I read it once but I didn't believe it...All plants are now free from their "mouse cage-turned greenhouse" prison. Hope frost doesn't get them now...I'm anxious to see which plants will overwinter and survive- that would rock my world if they all do! only 1 basil still surviving and 1 capsicum is at the stubs stage, lets see if it springs back in spring (must be why they call it spring!)!

Anyway, that's it for now!

First Post!

I've been gardening for about a year. In my mid 20s, though the size of a 12 year old, and still living at home. I don't have all the freedom I want to do with what I want. I work from home so sometimes have plenty of time to tend to it, and sometimes none!

Here is the produce I've grown in the last year to keep us up to date! ( Keep in mind I'm a total noob, and feel recipes are just a guideline (this is not so with plants, I've learned- but I can't help my rebelious ways!)

WHY?
Because I was contemplating one day, how can I really make a difference and save the world? And the biggest way is to make our own food. We need food, shelter and clothing to survive. As we eat multiple times a day, this is a very important third of our needs met. Every item we grow, is an item we didn't pay to have chemicals pumped into the earth to keep pests away, and poison bees - an item we didn't pay for fossil fuels to pollute the atmosphere to transport it to our homes, and to run a refridgerator for storage for it to become stale. Why do this, when we can eat it fresh and free. It's a chain reaction. You plant food, that needs food itself, so you recycle any bit of organic material into compost to feed it. Pretty simple! It's amazing for the earth, our bodies, and every fellow human and future generations- by making that much smaller a carbon footprint- to save our Earth!

Homemade gluten free Lentil Bread with garden fillings

What I've LEARNED:
Gardening lesson # 1. Plants love sun...and if you don't give them enough, they will be "me" versions of plants (10% of their supposed height)
Gardening Lesson #2: Plants like water, if you don't water them, you will cause a deficiency of calcium causing leaves to curl and blossum end rot everywhere, as well as literally burning your plants to a crisp. Talk about solar DEHYDRATOR, and virtually no yields!
Also, powdery mildew, blight, and all other mouldy/fungus nasties, and pest insects freaking suck.
In "short":
1- Plants need sun...but not australian sun. So, give them like 6 hours of cool sun, but on hot days give them a shade cloth.
2- Plants need water. So water them....not like me....and let them dry to a crisp
3- Plants need good soil. Also, don't ever put clay in pots...STUPIDEST THING EVERRRRRR.
4- Plants that are super delicious need to be covered in a fine net to keep out the butterflies/moths etc. My beautiful tom thumb lettuce is only alive because of this.
5- Maybe don't prune your tomatoes so much....and stake them well, and burry them deeply.
6- Pots kind of suck for growing most edible plants. Also, sun and pots suck. Pots and clay suck....Basically only plant mediterranian things in pots with clay in the sun. Everything else will suffer.
7- Pick often for encouraging more harvest...and only so much as you can eat in that time or else think of preserves or sharing.
8- Don't spend all your money on seeds....
9- Plant in batches, this way harvest isn't all on the same day! Also don't put all your eggs in one basket. Plant in different areas to see peak area for each plant.
10- Don't cry when your plants die because you never watered them and you put them in clay in a pot in the sun. That's your fault entirely.
11- Catch the pests early (powdery mildew....harlequin beetles) or else you have no chance.
12- Plant things when you're meant to, or else they will grow and die before they produce, just depleting your soil for no reason.
13- COMPOST EVERYTHING!!!!!
14- Mulch. - Which blackbirds love to dig around in.... *woe*
15- For the love of God, LABEL YOUR SEEDLINGS! (and use a soil that you know has no seeds in it, not like me who tries to compost the birds wasted seed and ends up sprouting it everywhere)
16- The best seedling pots are folded newspaper placed in a stairmaid tub, filled from the bottom with seasol water, and topped with fine mesh to keep out leaf miners and other pests, but let sun in. Plant the whole thing in the soil but make sure the top doesn't stick out because it will wick the water out drying the plant! You can make a lot of seedlings, and have a few trays going in batches, they get the best start, and it costs nothing if you have the tub lying around (I did). This being said...
17-  REPOT ASAP. Plants will stunt and pause in a miniature state if you do not repot. If you are wondering why it is growing so slow, repot and see the transformation in a week. Truely-truely even if you think, "but there is so much room it looks so small" JUST REPOT!!!! I waited a total of 2 months for my "seedlings" to take off, only to discover planting out a few made those selected ones grow 3 times the size while the others didn't budge an inch! Simple. No growth = stunted, don't think it is growing, it has stopped. No fertilizer will fix lack of root room!

Autumn batch

My Attempted Sows:

DEAD: Strawberry Spinach, Capsicum, Nigella, Strawberry, Amaranth, Valerian, More I can't remember...
DYING: Chia, Pigface...
SURVIVNG: Borage, Marrow (1 fruit), Stevia, Sunflowers, Tigerella- Australian yellow stuffing- Pepino etc Tomatoes, Persimmon (2), Turnips, Compost Heap, Vermicompost Tower, Lemon, Basil, Dark Opal Basil (1), Zucchini (3 fruit), Sweet Max Corn (3 and 3 mini ones), Dinosaur Kale, Lentil, Fig (1, the bird took the rest), Cornflower, Black Nightshade, Dill (meh), Snow Peas (handful), Purple Kind Bean (Handful), Rosella (no flowers yet), Eggplant (3 mini fruit- with worms inside, ew), Mushoom Herb (Only a few small harvests), Mushroom- (just a few).
THRIVING: Mouse Melon, Grape (leave only, birds ate the rest), Boisenberry (Few handfuls), Silver Beet, Olive Plant, Southern Wormwood, Apricot (WAY too much!), Nectarine, Lettuce (Just enough!), Nasturtium (just enough!), Olive Tree (Plenty for canning!), Purple Broccoli (half as what we need), Sunchoke, Chamomile, Mints, Strawberry, Mimosa (finally!), Chinese Celery, Rocket, Oregano, Pineapple sage, Purple King Bean, Parsley...

I'm not very good at this gardening thing yet...

My Garden in the Summer (It's always organic and messy, I like to confuse the predators that way, it works!)

PROBLEMS:
Blossum end rot took most of the tomatoes, zucchini, marrow, mildew took the marrow and zucchini. Watermelons were planted too late. Same with corn, began to mould had to pull early. Lots of harlequin bugs all over the place sucking at the sunflower and tomatoes. Not enough sun for the eggplant at all. Not enough watering either. Caterpillars and mostly leaf miners decimated my greens. Only greens under a net were good enough to eat. Also the fact that I saw very few bees compared to my childhood worries me deeply- So next time MORE FLOWERS!!

PESTS:
Summer Enemies: Leaf Miners, fungus, birds and caterpillars, Winter Enemies : earwigs and snails!
YOU CAN NEVER AND WILL NEVER WIN THE WAR!
Autumn, Winter: Slugs and sparrows and caterpillars.
Summer and spring: Earwigs and leaf miners, harlequin beetles, powdery mildew, blight, mould, fungus.

SOIL:
Heavy thick clay, which has been improved on the last year, with vermicompost, and mushroom compost (introduced many weeds as well as i assume the mildew that's covered my silverbeet and black marks on grape vine as never had this issue!), kitchen scraps and shredded paper. The other areas of the garden are like a rock. It's a miracle the plants grow, the first 1cm is a rich hummus, and under that is thick clay with a surprising amount of worms!

SUN:
Due to a shallow yard, tall trees and south facing house, we surprisingly get very little sun, on the smallest portion of vegie patch. The areas with the most sun is lawn or concrete, I have moved pots and containers to some of these areas where I can, which has rectified, somewhat, the situation.

WATER:
I would LOVE a rainwater tank, but alas this cannot be. Instead I water minimally with the hose, feeling guilty for every drop I use.