VEGE GARDENS

[lynda]

Hi ladies,
Just wanted to report the vege garden is in and more to come.  Lettuce, beetroot, spring onions, silverbeet (prefer to spinach) found a 2x2x2 with cabbage, broccoli and something else. Planted some mint, parsley, basil mint and chives.  Couldn't find a basil plant but will look again.
Husband is on a roll and has taken over the whole flower garden (which hasn't been planted for a few years but this is the first year the snap dragons didn't come back) and plus the rose garden has been comandeered as the roses there weren't doing well.  Not sure what else he will put in there.  got some dwarf beans and I would like some rhubarb.

I worked very hard - all suggestions gratefully received!

[Annamaria]

The sap must be rising! How sexy!!

[Kiwismum]

My first reaction is good on you, fresh veges from the garden are better than anything.

To answer your question, grow what you like to eat firstly. If you hate spinach there is not much point in growing it, and don't feel bad about what your choices are. I grow both spinach and silverbeet, but I use them in different things so it suits me to do that.

Now you don't want to grow tomatoes or strawberries with your roses because they don't like each other. in fact the things that roses like are stuff like parsley, garlic, onions etc. So if you are leaving the roses in maybe plant some of those under them.

If you are looking for a high return then you could send me your address and I could post you some zuchinni seeds, one plant can make you wonder if you will ever want to look at a zuchinni again. They grow quickly and crop for ages

Dwarf beans are another good option, and if you stagger the sowings you can have green beans for a long time. If you want to do cucumbers the easiest are the apple ones and if space is tight they can be trained to climb, you just need to then support the fruit if they get to big. Actually one of the best cucumbers I ever grew was at the top of a retaining wall, and I just let it fall over the side. Made harvesting very easy too because I just walked to the other side and picked whatever was hanging down.

How much space do you have as somethings need a bit more room than others.

[lynda]

Hi there,
I hve some dwarf bean seeds to plant as its my fave vege.  I suggested courgettes too but he wasn't too sure (because he doesn't like them that much - except grated on his pizza on friday night!!)   I'd like to do some peas but "the boss" isn't too sure about that.  He has very set ideas about "his garden".  He has real green fingers when it comes to veges and when we've had vege gardens we can supply the whole neighbourhood!!  The plants all looking healthy.  I need to get the spring onions in too this weekend.

My herbs are looking great too.

[lynda]

Finished all the planting of the plants.  Got Paul to get some peas and he stole one of daughters green cucumbers - couldn't get one at the shop.  I shovelled and raked some compost and back ached next day.  Veges doing well with the sun and the rain (more of the latter since Monday mind).  Just have to keep the dog off.  I was sitting by the garden reading on Sunday and thought - "wheres that dog gone" and here he was up on the garden lying on top of 4 lettuce plants!!!  Had to resurrect them before dad saw them.  Then I went out later and he'd dug two beet root up!

[Kiwismum]

Well done, sounds like you might need a water pistol for the dog,one squirt should get him off the garden.

[lynda]

Drat - we use the water pistol for everything else, why didn't I think of that!!!  Thank you thank you!!!

[Yvonne]

Water pistol..good idea..but not with my guys..that stream of water is just something to jump up and catch
Only way to keep our dogs off the garden was to fence it.. now the neighbourhood cats are a different problem!

[lynda]

PLANTS ARE GROWING REALLY WELL.  BEANS ARE SHOOTING AWAY.  SOMETHING IS WALKING OVER THEM BUT ITS NOT OUR DOG I AM PRETTY SURE NOW.
WILL BE ABLE TO POST YOU ALL VEGES ANY DAY NOW... HAHAHA

[Annamaria]

Sounds great Lynda, all those yummy vegies! What a clever girl you are. We are eating fresh tomatoes given to us by Italian friends who grow everything organic, even the wine. Very sweet & tasty, can't beat them!

I'm just back from visiting my friend in sunny Sardinia; she works at the big hospital there, and we had a lovely time racing around in her new Fiat 500 seeing all the sights. Very interesting place Sardinia and only a 40 minutes flight from Rome; heaps of history as well as excellent seafood, homemade pasta, cakes & wine of course.

Now I'm back and trying hard to stay on Kiss, but have a very social time ahead this week. We are eating out 3 times in 4 days!!!
Well, best of luck to us all!

[Kiwismum]

Well done on the garden, now that the animals here have settled down a bit again, I will need to go and find my vege garden under all those weeds.

Actually it hasn't done too badly with the neglect as It was pretty good when I got busy, so a bit of weeding should see it right, and it is time to do some more planting, so that I will have vegetables at the end of summer

I love having veges straight out to the garden.

[Kiwismum]

Ok so I have now had time to go out and assess the garden situation.

Somewhere under all those weeds are things we can eat . The asparagus has finished and we got a good crop this year, now it is making beautiful ferns so feed the roots for next years crop 

Somewhere along the line the spring onions seem to have disappeared, but the lettuce they were planted with are doing well.

Garlic will be ready for harvest on time, so will not be short of that at all. Onions are still in there pot so probably will not get any out of there.

Carrots are nonexistant, for some reason I haven't had a very good strike rate so far this season.

Peas despite what I suspect is one of our cats digging them up, are doing well. First lot are podding, second lot are flowering, third lot are still being rescued from being dug up. The row of beans right next to them are growing away happily so the cat obviously likes peas better than beans.

Tomatoes are all flowering, and some have little tomatoes on, basil is starting to bolt away. Peppers seem to be just sitting there hopefully they will start to grow soon.

Celery is going to seed so will have to be pulled, it has feed me right through the winter so can't complain at all. Had the first harvests of potatoes last week, and they are on target to be sure we have freshly dug potatoes for christmas.

Zucchini are doing what zucchini do and we have been eating plenty of them. Spinach - some is going to seed after the winter and some is just coming into its own, I like my spinach and silverbeet to self seed because then I have it harvesting all year around.

Pumpkins - Spaghetti squash and the Austrian hulless(for the pumpkin seeds) and both flowering as are the telegraph cucumbers, all the other pumpkins, apple cucumbers and the water melons are growing away happily, but got planted a bit later so no flowers yet.

The last couple of nights we have had Broccoli, and tonight I will pick a cauliflower for us, so over all we are not too far off target from being were we should be. Looks like my planting planner has paid off and once I get all the weeding done we will be back where we should be.

[lynda]

Wow, the garden sounds great.  Ours is bolting along. I am picking some silverbeet tonight to put in the lasagna I am making for Dylans dinner tomorrow night when he comes.  The peas can now bee seen from my kitchen window and are only about 1 1/2 high, but bolting along.
You should see my scarlet runner container I planted for my Mum!!!! Husband is going to ditch it as it doesn't look good next to his garden - wellhe should have planted them for his mother in law himself!!! haha.
Lettuces are doing well, tomatoes flowering, some idiot animal attacked Pauls lettuce seedlings. Something is  enjoying pulling out the leeks.  The bok choy should be ready to eat in a day or two.  All in all everything is looking excellent.  Courgette is flowering and beans are doing so well.

Its great to hve a vege garden again.  I see there are heaps of plums on the trees too. I stand out under them over the Xmas hols and munch away!

[Kiwismum]

Thats great Lynda, nothing like fresh veges.

We are looking like we will have a good crop of plums this year as well, last year was a bit sad I'm afraid to say. We are also slowly adding more varieties of apples so that we can have a long apple season, when we moved here there was only one type and heaps of the trees were not even fruiting.

In a fit of the guilts I went out and planted those poor onions, I won't expect great things from them, but at least they have some sort of a chance now.

[lynda]

Wow, I got husband to cut me some silverbeet last night - was delcicious.  We have always grown that really dark green stuff but this is lilghter colour.  Put a layer in my lasagna and then had about 3 leaves that I just boiled quickly. Even youngest daughter had some (under the cheese sauce!)

We only have granny smiths which my husband has espalliered(?spelling).  They are the only ones I eat and they are so delicious.  Our plums have a great then not so good season and this is the great one!  They start from December through to March the varieties so am checking them daily.  Even got some nectarines before the birds last year.  Alas my golden queen has died.  Our other peach tree is often so laden that I think the branches are going to break - one year one branch of the peach and another of the plums broke under the weight of the fruit.

Daughters garden is going pretty well too so she tells me.