Spring has Sprung

We are finally getting some sunny days – not many, but a few. It’s still chilly, but it is wonderful to see the sunshine!

Most of the fruit trees are covered in blossom, even the tiny little miniature peach tree I bought on a whim a few weeks ago. It’s called a Pixzee Mini Peach, and I could not resist its adorable tininess when I saw it at the Big Green Shed.

Bees are going absolutely crazy out there – they don’t know where to start, whether it’s the apricot tree, the plum trees, or the rather spectacular Crimson-Flowered Broadbeans. These heirlooms will produce regular looking broadies but look super cool in the veggie patch.

I’m also growing a big block of dwarf broadies, which also look lovely – but not as speccy.

In weather like this, I want desperately to be in the garden, yet it is still too cold to plant anything in the ground. So all I can do is get ready for warmer times.

I’m growing celeriac in one of the wicking beds – a bit of an experiment to see if root veggies will do well in the greenhouse. Of course, I should have tried something that a) grows faster and b) I have grown before. But I am always adventurous, and I had the seeds, so I gave them a crack. The thing with celeriac, is that it is glacially slow. It takes well over 100 days to reach maturity. I might not have the patience for that, tbh.

Celeriac is such an interesting plant, with its cool warty roots and lovely nutty taste. It’s also pretty expensive to buy – at my local greengrocer, which is not overly expensive, individual roots were selling last week for eight dollars each!

The plants have grown beautifully and look super healthy – but they are not yet swelling at the roots. To help boost them along, I thinned the plants out today, which I hate doing, but it really needed to be done to give them the space they needed to expand. Then I trimmed some of the extraneous side leaves so the plants would put more energy into root development. Lastly, I gave them a side dressing of granular fruit & vegetable fertiliser.

Seedlings

I’ve been growing eggplants, tomatoes, chillies, basil, and capsicum from seed in the greenhouse for the past month. With the warmer weather, they have started to take off!

One variety of tomato, Violet Jasper, was ready to be pricked out into larger pots today. This year, I’m experimenting with recycled yoghurt pots as the Stage 1 pot – they are a good size (not too big not too small), free (free-ish anyway, given we buy the yoghurt, but we do that anyway), and will reuse the pots several times before they go in the recycling bin. My husband drilled drainage holes in the pots for me, and I filled them with my proprietary blend of equal parts seed raising mix, perlite and coarse propagating sand.

As only the Violet Jasper were ready, I used the remaining pots to plant some zucchini Cocozelle, pumpkin Golden Nugget, and cucumber Poinsett. There are varying opinions about whether growing zucchini and other curcubits for planting out is a good idea – some say not, others yes. I’ve done both ways, and my opinion is that it doesn’t matter very much. I want to take advantage of the greenhouse to start my plants while it is still cool outside, so I’m doing it this way. It’s so much colder where I live than on the plains, so taking the risk of transplant shock is worth it to me.

I also planted out a feijoa (Pineapple Guava) tree in a pot. My husband is originally from New Zealand, where the feijoa is beloved. They don’t really appeal to me (I don’t enjoy the strong perfumey flavour), but he will love having them around and I’ll enjoy growing the tree. I do quite enjoy feijoa jam, so if the tree produces enough I may make that one day.

Building Jobs

As my husband had his drill out, I asked him to help me build a new climbing frame for climbing beans (similar to the one below).

He also fixed the passionfruit vine trellis, which was sagging due to the heavy weight of the passionfruit. Next week I will lean the axe against the passionfruit as a reminder that if it doesn’t produce any fruit this season, it will definitely get the chop.

I also built several trellises for my future pumpkins.

Picking

This time of the year is not as abundant in the garden as the Summer months, but we are still picking some veggies to supplement our diet. We are picking heaps of greens (lettuce, spinach, herbs), rhubarb, and cumquats.

To fill in the hungry gap, I planted more lettuce seeds and spring onions today. About two weeks ago I also planted more bok choy and some rocket. Hopefully these will keep us going until the Summer plants take off!

I’m so excited for the next few months in the garden!

How about you – what are you doing to prepare for the warmer weather in your patch?

What I’m (Hoping) To Grow This Summer

As I have already mentioned, this Summer, pumpkins will feature heavily in my patch.

However, these will not be the only veggies I will be growing in my garden. I have tried not to go overboard buying seeds this Season (a bad habit of mine), and have also tried really hard to only buy seeds for plants I really want to eat. I have been given to garden experimentation in the past, but this season I really wanted to focus on giving up now my increasingly precious garden space to veggies that everyone in the family will really want to eat and that grows well in my microclimate. So I’m farewelling okra, even though we quite enjoy it, because it is just not productive enough in my garden to give it garden space. I’ll buy a bag of frozen okra if we want some.

Aside from the pumpkins (Anna Swartz, Queensland Blue, Butternut, Buttercup, Jack Be Little, and Galeux D’Eysines), I will grow climbing beans, a melon or two, cucumbers, zucchini/squash, tomatoes, eggplant, capsicum, basil, and chillies. The varieties are:

Eggplant: Rosa Bianca, Ping Tung Long, Listada de Gandia, Tsakoniki, Caspar;
Tomato: Violet Jasper, Rapunzel, Barry’s Crazy Cherry, Yellow Mortgage Lifter, Black Russian, Black Cherry, Jaune Flamme;
Bean: Australian Butter, Black Valentine, Snake Red Noodle, Edamame;
Melon: Sugar Baby, Delice De La Table, Crimson Sweet;
Cucumber: Richmond Green Apple, Marketmore, Heirloom Mix;
Zucchini/Squash: Golden Scallopini, Rondo De Nice;
Chilli: Heirloom Mix, Jalapeño;
Capsicum: Yolo Wonder.

These will be planted in the patch (pumpkins, zucchini, melons, beans), in containers (chillies, capsicum) and in the greenhouse (the rest). I have already planted the tomatoes and eggplant seeds in the greenhouse so they get an early start. As they grow into seedlings I will pot them on into larger pots so they develop stronger root systems before planting out in large wicking beds in the greenhouse. I find that even in the hottest of our Summer days, eggplants, cucumbers, and tomatoes do better in the greenhouse than in the patch – in fact, before we had the greenhouse I could never grow a single cucumber. My mother, who lives about half an hour away on the Adelaide Plains, is the queen of cucumber growing – I could not work out why I couldn’t grow cucumbers successfully.

Part of the issue is our elevation. We live on a hilltop at an elevation about 200m above sea level, compared to the Adelaide Plains (elevation about 50m above sea level). While our elevation does not compare to the hills and mountains we saw on a recent trip to New Zealand, it does make a difference. Family members living on the Plains report ripe fruit on tomato bushes and mulberry trees at least six weeks before our trees even show immature fruit. My cousin, who lives about an hour and a half north of us, is already picking asparagus, while mine is yet to poke its head up (my asparagus is also not planted in the best spot – I will need to move it in Autumn). My eldest daughter, who lives 15 minutes away downhill, has ripe fruit on her apricot tree several weeks before we do on ours. Our backyard microclimate is quite a lot cooler than her sunny backyard just 15 minutes away.

Understanding the impact of microclimates can make such a difference to growing success in your patch. I can’t grow pumpkins in the greenhouse (too humid, not enough space), but being fortunate enough to have a greenhouse means that I can grow other fruiting vines that need an extra boost of warmth.

What are you planning to grow in your veggie patch this Summer? Let me know in the comments!

Weekend Garden Jobs, 16-17 August 2025

There comes a point when one has a dreaded lurgy, and it will differ for each person, when the thought of staying in bed one moment longer is just unbearable.

That moment was yesterday (Saturday) morning. The sky looked blueish enough, my cough was less hacky, and I thought, enough.

Rugged up well so I would not make my cough worse, I ventured outside, where I discovered my daffs and jonquils were in full bloom. I usually don’t pick them, because I love them in the garden, but there were so many I decided I could afford to fill a vase.

Saturday

My first job though was to dig over the chopped down green manure beds. Last week, I had hacked back the green manure and left the roots to release their nitrogen. This weekend, I dug them into the soil. I will leave them again for another week before digging them over again.

I was very pleased to note that when I dug over the bed near the chicken coop, I only found a small handful of roots and rocks. Last time I dug over that bed (in Autumn), I dug up a whole bucketful of horrible roots and rocks. I also noted that the soil right across the veggie patch is returning to a healthy state after my experiment with no-dig gardening went awry.

After digging these beds over, I sprinkled them with pelletised chicken manure and rock dust, and raked each one over.

Rock dust soil improver helps to remineralise the soil

Soils around the world, including Australia, have become progressively demineralised. While agricultural soils are the most impacted, home garden soils can also be affected. Rock dusts are a relatively, cheap, accessible, and organic method of improving the mineral content of the soil.

You can buy rock dusts from a range of sources, but I bought this bag from the Diggers Club when I ordered some seeds and plants recently. I do not apply rock dusts annually – I think I last applied some a couple of years ago. However as I am trying to repair my soil, I decided I would do it again this year.

It’s easy to apply. Just choose a clear day with little wind, mask up so you don’t breathe any in, and sprinkle it lightly on top of your soil. Instructions say a ‘handful per 1 metre square’ – however I have little tiny bird lady hands, so that doesn’t help me much. I just sprinkle what I think looks about right. Scientific!

Rake and water in. That’s it!

I also sprinkled a little on each potted fruit tree. I have four fruit trees in pots at the moment, including a new pink finger lime and a mini peach tree that I bought because it was so cute. I don’t even know what kind of peach it produces.

Then the rain came, and I headed inside so I would not get crook again.

Sunday

Sunday was supposed to be wet and horrid, according to the AI (Google Home), but my standard boring human intelligence informed me (by looking out the window) that the day had dawned clear and perfect. So out I went again, determined to spread sheep manure around my fruit trees, a job that I do every Winter. I am late to this task, preferring to do it in July rather than August, but better late than never.

You know you’re feeling better when you can spread sheep manure.

Every tree received a sprinkle of organic fruit tree fertiliser, a sprinkle of rock dust, a bag of sheep manure, and some mulch. What lucky trees!

I feel so dang virtuous!

You know what else I feel? Actually better – as in, well.

I honestly believe that spending time in the cool, fresh air and sunshine, surrounded by some healthy dirt and sheep poop, was the cure I needed.

How can I bottle that, I wonder? Maybe I should start a wellness Tik Tok. SheepPoopGirl? ManureMama?

Spring & Summer Garden Planning

The blog, like my garden, has mostly lain fallow for the past few months. I had a major project deadline to reach, which meant I worked 12 weeks worth of hours in 4 weeks. When I finished the project I decided to take a few days off, and predictably fell ill with ~~the plague~~ a nasty cold. All my gardening plans fell by the wayside while I languished in bed, cursing.

But resting makes time for planning. In between watching old episodes of Bones and reading delightfully silly Sookie Stackhouse novels, I also did some planning for my Spring and Summer veggie patch.

You might recall that I decided to grow green manures and legumes in my veggie patch over Autumn and Winter, letting my soil rest for the whole cool season. This was after my disastrous ‘no dig’ experiment, which left me with a rocky, dry, rootbound patch of sad looking soil.

Planning for Water

I am hoping that after this season of rest, my soil will be much happier and willing to take on some heavy producing plants. Think pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. Last season was incredibly disappointing for pumpkins, which I mostly put down to the terrible weather. However, I do not believe that was the only reason. I think that the dodgy soil and my watering regimen was also a problem. I hope that this season’s soil repair efforts will make a big difference, but I have also decided that it is well past time to give up my old-school watering system (hose and sprinkler). This is just not serving me well anymore, partly because I am getting older, and partly because it takes way too much time (the part-time gardener’s most limited resource), and most of all because it just not efficient. This last year was the driest on record. My water bill for the Summer quarter was our highest on record. Something has to give.

From my sickbed I did some desktop research and contacted the highest rated and most consistently well-reviewed irrigation company near me, and asked them to quote. They contacted me five minutes later, and I organised for them to come out a few days later, when I was not so cooty-filled. They said they were not worried about my cooties and came out two days ago. While I sat in the weak sunshine feeling sorry for my snotty self, they measured and took photos, and then sent me an incredible quote (think about 25% of what I was expecting to pay) for an irrigation system for the entire veggie bed and all my backyard fruit trees. They are coming to install next week. If they do a good job, I will ask them to quote for the front yard fruit trees as well. If this system shaves down my Summer water bill and saves me time on watering, it will be money very well spent. If it improves my pumpkin growing experience, it will be worth its weight in…pumpkins. Which are quite heavy.

Last year was a singular disappointment in the pumpkin department. I refuse to live that disappointment again. That is the main reason for investing in the irrigation system. My brother had a spectacular melon patch last year, and he had installed a watering system. Pumpkins and watermelons are cousins, so I figured it was time to stop being a ~~cheap~~ stubborn old biddy and just do it already.

If you build it, they will come. Pumpkins, that is.

Planning for Spring

Spring is a great time to grow a quick cheeky crop of greens

The idea that we have four seasons that correspond to European seasons (but backwards) does not really fly in Australia. The Kaurna people, who are the traditional owners of the Adelaide Plains and the lands on which I live, describe four seasons, but start about a month later than we traditionally believe (i.e. Wirltuti or Spring, starts in October, not September, and Summer or Warltati starts in January, not December). That makes a lot of sense to me, when you consider that our September weather is still often so cold we have continue to run the heating at night. The soil is still often not warm enough to plant tomatoes outside until mid-October.

That means it is possible to plant a crop of cool season plants in Spring, if you plan well.

I don’t plant cool season veggies that take a long time to reach maturity in Spring (i.e. no cabbages or anything that has to form a head), but it is still worth planning to grow quick growing cool season veggies that will fill the so-called ‘hungry gap’ between the Spring and Summer harvest. This Spring I am planting:

Spinach – Heirloom mix
Lettuce – Heirloom mix
Mizuna
Dill
Coriander
Bok choy – Baby Red
Park Choi – Do Cheong Chae
Pak Choi – Extra Dwarf
Chinese Broccoli – Kailaan
Rocket

I ordered a batch of el cheapo bargain seeds from one of my favourite suppliers, Happy Valley seeds, when they had a $1 a packet sale. Even if a few of these run to seed when the warmer weather hits, it doesn’t really matter much. At $1 a packet, if I can harvest a quick crop I will have done well.

I still have a healthy crop of spinach, bok choy, coriander and dill that I am harvesting now in the greenhouse, and a small crop of celeriac in a wicking bed that I am keeping my eye on. That may not reach maturity before the hot weather hits – it was always a risk to grow it in a wicking bed, but I am hoping it will start growing lovely warty roots soon.

Planning for Summer

I have a clear plan for my Summer garden this year, and it involves pumpkins.

Pumpkins, you say?

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins.

Also, beans, eggplants, chillies, zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

But mostly, pumpkins.

To be honest, I love growing pumpkins much more than I love eating them. They are so beautiful, have so many varieties, and are just fun.

This year, in addition to the old faithfuls (Butternut, Buttercup, Queensland Blue), I am going to try:

All ordered online from the Diggers Club, the home of funky heirloom pumpkins.

On the bean trellis I am trying several kinds of climbing beans. I enjoy eating fresh green beans more than I enjoy eating pumpkins, to be honest, but for some reason, growing pumpkins is just so much more fun. So most available garden space will be handed over to the pumpkins. I may try a melon in with the pumpkins, despite my annual vow to never grow melons again.

Everything else (tomatoes, eggplants, etc) will go in the greenhouse. I ordered the eggplant, cucumber, and tomato seeds from Diggers Club and they arrived in less than a week, along with a native finger lime and lemongrass plant that I ordered on a whim, just coz.

On one sunny day when I felt slightly less like death warmed up, I staggered out to the greenhouse, masked up to avoid breathing in any dust and crud, and planted some eggplant and tomato seeds. Then I crawled back into bed.

Good job, soldier.

What I’m growing this Summer

I’ve been a bit late to planting this season, because I’ve been working non-stop, seven days a week. Unfortunately, just at the best possible time of year to be out in the garden, I am also usually the busiest, work-wise. My little office overlooks my front garden, and I have been watching the Spring garden bloom away while I have been working away. It’s kind of a bummer, to be honest. But not having any money is also kind of a bummer, so I have sucked it up and looked forward to the time it all settles down and I can get back out there.

That time is now, before the next major project starts (any day now). Carpe diem, my friends.

This weekend I spent the first full day in six weeks out in the garden. There was a *lot* to do out there, from digging up the used brassica plants, to a heckton of weeding, to feeding and mulching, to planting. Let’s just say at the end of the day I was in some state of pain. Seven days a week sitting at a desk is not good conditioning for a day spent digging and weeding.

It was lovely though, to be outside in the sunshine, not thinking about the election of schmonald schrump and focusing on what I can personally do to make my little patch of the world more beautiful and sustainable and healthy.

I tried to make some ruthless decisions about what to plant this year, based on experience about what has continually succeeded and failed in my garden over the past couple of years. I’m kicking out melons this year, and have carefully selected the type of eggplants, chillies, and capsicums. I tried to reduce the number of tomatoes but I have to admit I failed at that, big time. I’m trying to grow a lot more beans (both bush and climbing).

I am continuing the okra experiment, but it is not going well at all. After transplanting from the greenhouse, they are spindly and slow-growing. My husband thinks they will do better in the greenhouse as it is more humid, and he may be right, considering their natural habitat. I might plant some in the greenhouse and compare their growth to the open garden beds. I know that the cucumbers do not do well in my open garden beds, but in the greenhouse they do really well.

ladies fingers lot — Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

The cucumbers are getting even more greenhouse space this season – we love them fresh and pickled, but it does depend on the pickle recipe. I did both sliced and spears last season, and the spears recipe was not very tasty (waste of delicious cucumbers!). We still have some and I will get through them, but it makes me a bit cranky when I make a pickle recipe that is not as delicious as it should be. There is no excuse for a bad pickle, when they could be so good.

Zucchini, squash, and pumpkins are also getting generous garden space. Last year’s pumpkins were a bit average. I love growing pumpkins, but I grew an heirloom variety that did not do well and wasted a whole season and a heck of a lot of garden space (Wrinkled Butternut – way less productive than the regular tried and true Butternut and much less tasty – my recommendation is not to bother). This year I am still experimenting with an heirloom (Musque de Provence) but also growing the tried and true Kent, which always kicks butt in my patch. From now on, I will combine an experimental pumpkin with a trusted variety so if the experiment does not work out I will still have the trusted pumpkin in pocket.

This year I am growing:

Beans: Kentucky Wonder Wax (Climbing), Cherokee Trail of Tears (Climbing), Goldrush (Bush). When I spotted Cherokee Trail of Tears I knew I had to grow it. This was apparently the bean that the Cherokee brought with them from their homelands and carried it with them all along the Trail of Tears – heirloom seeds tell a story of the people that have grown it, and this is a devastating story of horror but also resilience. To grow it and save the seeds is to honour their resilience and history;
Capsicum: Yolo Wonder, Sweet Chocolate;
Chilli: Anaheim, Jalapeno, Serrano;
Cucumber: Marketmore, Dragon’s Egg, Jefferson, and another one I can’t remember the name of! I grow Marketmore every year, it is a real trooper of a cuke, good disease resistance and is prolific;
Eggplant: Listada Di Gandia, Tsakoniki;
Okra: Clemson’s Spineless, Crimson;
Pumpkin/Squash: Kent, Musque de Provence; Oregon Winter Squash; Squash Sweet Dumpling.
Tomatoes/Tomatillo: Black Cherry, Black Russian, Jaune Flamme, Costoluto Fiorentino, Azoychka, Tomatillos;
Zucchini: Tromboncino, Ronde de Nice, Cocozelle.

This year’s planting decisions were made based on: what we like to eat and the cuisine we mainly cook (Indian, Italian, Mexican, all vegetarian), what grows well in my garden, what I have space to grow, watering requirements, and what I have the time to take care of.

How about you – what are you growing in your patch this Summer?

Welcome to Autumn…sort of

Still picking chillies almost at the end of Autumn

It’s been several weeks since I’ve been out in my garden. I’ve been working almost non-stop for six weeks, punctuated by one heck of a respiratory virus that knocked me on my butt. So, six weeks has gone by with little more than a wishful glance outside my window to watch the leaves on my pomegranate slowly turn golden.

Technically, it’s Autumn. I say technically, because with the change to our weather patterns, mid-May is still dry and quite warm in our part of the world.

We have had almost no rain since late January, and the long-range weather forecast is for very little rain to the end of the month and the start of Winter. These warm, dry autumnal conditions are sadly becoming the norm in Southern Australia.

While this has enabled me to continue to grow some Summer veggies into late Summer/early Autumn, it has also delayed planting of cool Winter veggies. I have planted turnip and swede seeds, and I have planted out some brassica seeds. But I am also picking tomatoes, tomatillos, and chillies, two weeks before the start of Winter. And I don’t mean from the greenhouse – I’m talking from the outside garden patch. That should tell you how warm the soil and air temps still are.

Summer Garden Duds

At the end of the season, I always review the season’s successes and duds, to help me think about what to plant the following year.

This year, the absolute losers have been the eggplants. It breaks my heart to tell this tale yet again (last year, they were the losers as well).

I adore eggplants, but honestly all my efforts have led to a couple of meals-worth of mixed eggplant from about 15 plants.

Why were they duds, yet again?

The cool start to the Summer season was the main reason. They grew slowly, not putting on much growth until quite late. As they took so long to pick up, pests set in, particularly the ~~little jerk~~ spider mite, which has been the bane of gardeners in our region this year. After I got on top of the spider mite, the aphids have set in to take advantage of already weakened plants.

I think the other reason is that I was lured by the seed catalogues to try fancy heirloom varieties instead of going with old faithfuls that are known to do well in our areas. Instead of going with the classics, such as Lebanese or Bonica, I just had to try the bright red, white egg, and Thai ball varieties. This is nothing against heirlooms. I love growing heirlooms, particularly tomatoes, and most do very well in my garden. But you do have to select carefully, and I think I was not careful enough in my selections. The varieties I chose just don’t do that well in our region. Next year I’m reverting back to the classic varieties that have stood the test of time in South Australian gardens.

Another dud was again, as usual, melons. If I say I am trying melons ever again, someone send me a comment or message to remind me that I cannot grow melons in my area. It doesn’t seem to matter if it is in the garden bed or the greenhouse, it doesn’t matter if it is an heirloom or a hybrid, full-size or a mini – if it is a melon, it just ain’t fruiting in my garden.

The other dud in my patch this year was, unusually for me, pumpkins. I understand that this has been the case for many gardeners in our region, so will try not to take it personally. Usually, I have a good run with pumpkins of all types. This season, perhaps again due to the late start to the season, I had healthy vines but not that many pumpkins. In the end I picked seven pumpkins. That’s not terrible but not great for me.

My mother has had a bumper crop of Butternuts from her tiny courtyard garden down the hill on the Adelaide Plains, which goes to show it can be done.

The lower early Summer temps also caused some issues with Summer squash. This year I had a few nice, big, Bennings Green Tint squash before they just started fasciating due to the low temperatures. Fasciation is a rare mutation that can occur in certain plants exposed to lower-than-normal temperatures. Squash and zucchini can be affected, causing contorted flower production at the end of a stem. Several squash plants started off well, produced fruit, and then fasciation set in. It did look quite cool though.

Summer Garden Wins

I have had some great wins this year though. The biggest winner was our Travatt apricot tree, which went bananas (er…apricots) and gave us the biggest crop of fresh apricots we have ever had. We gave away, we dried, we stewed, we bottled, we jammed, we gorged. If apricots were dollars, we were filthy rich in golden orange goodness for about a month. It was awesome.

The other winners were chillies, tomatoes, cucumbers (yay), tomatillos, and zucchini.

I wrote about chillies recently. We have had an excellent crop this year, and they continue to produce.

While tomatoes have not been prolific enough to make sauce, they have been really delicious. We grew three varieties this year: Green Zebra, Riesentraube, and Mysterioso, which I have mentioned before is an unknown beefsteak variety I grew from a storebought tomato. All three have been good, although the Green Zebra has outperformed in terms of productivity, while the Mysterioso is my favourite for size (huge! One slice fits a piece of toast or a sandwich – crazy!) and flavour (so sweet). My husband prefers the Green Zebra, as he loves the firm texture and tang. We have planted another crop of both in the greenhouse. My friend K has a crazy prolific cherry tomato plant that popped up in their garden – I have saved seeds from that and am giving it a go. Will let you know how K’s Tomato does on the productivity and taste test – seedlings went into pots last weekend.

Related to the tomatoes are the lovely tomatillos. I have not grown these for many years, but when we were in Tasmania last year, I bought some seed at Salamanca Markets. The other seeds I bought at the same stall turned out not to grow too well in my region (Hobart and Adelaide – not being very similar, weather wise), but the tomatillos have done well. We have a freezer full of salsa verde, and another bagful of whole tomatillos in the freezer ready for when we run out of salsa. Considering how often we eat Mexican food, I would say that will be pretty soon. Aside from the usefulness and deliciousness, I love growing them for their lovely flowers and beautiful growth habit.

Cucumbers were another great win, and probably my proudest. I have not always had success growing cucumbers. I love them – particularly pickled – but also fresh for snacks and in salads, and homegrown taste so delicious. But my efforts have been very pitiful, until this year. I have grown a huge number in the early season, that we enjoyed in salads, as little snacks, and then I made pickled spears and sliced cucumber pickles for burgers and sandwiches. I could not have been prouder of the jars of cucumber pickles in my pantry – not so much for the pickles, but because I actually succeeded in growing enough cucumbers to make pickles! I grew several varieties, including Marketmore and Mini White, and Gherkin. So far Marketmore and Gherkin were the winners for productivity and resistance to powdery mildew.

Zucchini have always been a bit hit-or-miss at our place. Some years we have a good crop, and other years, quite average. This year, I took a chance and planted Tromboccino, an heirloom zucchini that is a bit like a pumpkin, growing on a climbing vine that spreads all over the place. It produces long, skinny fruit with a bulbous end (like a trumpet or trombone – hence its name). I love this plant. Zucchini is one of my favourite vegetables, but when they grow too large they can become quite watery. Tromboccino stays lovely and firm even if you forget to pick it, makes delicious pickles, curries, or pasta, and keeps for a long time. You need space to grow it though, as it will run rampant across the garden. It produces for months.

I did try a couple of other zucchini this year – Rondo, Black Beauty, Cocozelle – but tbh none of them really took off like the Tromboccini. Given garden space is at a premium and that Tromboccino takes up so much of it, next year I will just grow Tromboccino and let it go hard. I will keep trialling some Summer squash though.

How about you – what were your garden winners and losers this year?

Summer Daze

The long hot, El Nino-dominated Summer we were promised has not really eventuated: instead we have been hit with a coolish, damp, stormy season – more reminiscent of the sub-tropics than the warm temperate climate we are used to in Southern Australia. I feel like the weather has not honoured the bargain I make every year: I agree to put up with the cold and wet from late Autumn until mid-Spring, and then I am rewarded for my (admittedly grumbling) forbearance with a lovely warm Summer in which to bask. I guess climate change is making fools of all of us, and there will be no more handshake deals with the weather from now on.

There have been some benefits and downsides to this lower temperature, wetter Summer. The benefits are obviously more water around, which has kept trees and plants hydrated well into January. My garden looks lush. Usually by mid-Summer in our area, things are starting to look a little dusty. This year, the extra water, followed by bursts of warmth, has led to heavy, lush growth, so my backyard resembles a little jungle of tomatoes, squash, and beans. I have never had a bean crop like I have had this year! Obviously, I have been too stingy on the water in the past – if I want to replicate the results of this year, future me will need to increase the water ratio in the veggie patch.

Apricotapalooza

We also had the largest apricot crop we have ever had. I think that is both due to the abundance of water, and a heavy late-Summer prune my husband gave the tree last year. We had about 200 kg of apricots from our one Travatt apricot tree. It was delicious, amazing, and overwhelming. We gave away about half the crop to friends, family, and neighbours. We preserved them, jammed, dehydrated, stewed, and ate them fresh. We made ice cream. We ate apricots until we were almost orange. At one point, I called my sister, begging her to come and get some apricots. She popped around to take some off my hands and took some for her friend as well. It was a great problem to have, but seriously, it was a bit overwhelming.

To save the crop from the wet weather and the parrots, we had to pick them as soon as they started to blush. Apricots continue to ripen off the tree, so it is fine to pick them a little underripe, and it is also preferable to preserve them when slightly underripe.

It’s Tomato Town

Just as the apricots finished, the tomatoes have started to ripen. This year I grew four main varieties: Riesentraube (a cherry tomato), Green Zebra (my favourite heirloom, green and yellow striped, sweet and tangy), San Marzano (an heirloom saucing tomato), and Mysterioso – a tomato I grew from saved seed and had forgotten both the colour, flavour, and name of. Now that it has fruited, it appears to be a Black tomato – possibly a Black Russian, a lovely black ribbed beefsteak tomato that is sweet to eat and can grow as large as my hand. We are eating tomatoes every day for multiple meals – on toast for lunch, with pasta, in salads, as salsa. When the San Marzano ripen, we will make sauce.

The tomatillos have also started to ripen. Tomatillos are also known as husk tomatoes, although they are not actually a tomato. They look a bit like a cape gooseberry: they grow with a lovely papery husk around them. On the bush they look pretty, like little paper lanterns.

Once ripe, the husk dries off and they are ready to pick. Peel the papery husk off (the fruit feels sticky once peeled, so do not peel until you are ready to use) and wash before making salsa verde (green salsa). I’m currently testing different recipes to see which is the best way of cooking these. They are incredibly prolific. I have about six plants and they are going off. I intend to can as much salsa as I can for the later months. We eat a lot of Mexican food.

Mulberry Success

After five years of disappointment, our efforts with the mulberry tree have been rewarded by an actual mulberry crop! It’s not a big enough crop to make mulberry jam or anything like that, but we are picking about a cup of mulberries a day at the moment. Unlike previous years, the mulberries are fat and juicy. When we pick them, the juice runs down our hands. I put this down to diligent watering and feeding over the past year.

Thanks to the prolific veggie patch and fruit trees, we have not had to buy any veggies or fruit from the supermarket, except mushrooms, onions and potatoes for over a month – not a bad effort at all!

This weather has also caused problems though. The storms, rain, and wind, followed by warmth, are a perfect breeding ground for powdery mildew on squash, zucchini, and pumpkins. I have had to pull out vines just as they start to produce because the mildew has taken over. I can’t manage it with usual fixes (Ecofungicide, diluted milk spray). The weather is also causing plants like zucchini to produce only male flowers or only female flowers, creating pollination problems. And the cold-warm-cold weather is wreaking havoc on hot weather loving plants like eggplant, that are taking forever to produce anything at all. So while the green beans are happy and producing, I have sulking eggplant and mildewy zucchini. A vegetarian can’t live on green beans alone!

I’m choosing to see the positives. I think we can expect a longer period of this weather, heading into March and April. So, I am planting up another batch of cucumbers, squash and zucchini seeds to take the place of those I have already lost to the powdery mildew – I think I will have a good chance of a second crop. I have sought out some seeds of varieties that are supposedly more resistant to powdery mildew to see if they can last out the season – I’ll report back how they do. I intend to keep the greenhouse going in tomatoes, chillies, and cucumbers as far into Winter as I possibly can. In a few weeks, I will also start my seeds for brassicas for Autumn and Winter. Last Season wasn’t really productive in terms of the broccoli and cauliflower, so I have plans for different varieties, and also for a lot more root crops next season because I know these always do well in my garden – lots of turnips, swedes, and parsnips.

A perfect weekend of gardening

After a month of busyness, both personal and professional, this was the first weekend I had two full days off, and I chose to spend them doing my favourite thing in the world: gardening.

On Saturday, I spent the whole day in the backyard, tidying up the veggie patch and pottering about in the greenhouse, repotting plants and generally having a lovely time. After a month barely spending an hour or two a week in the garden, it was a blissful time. I downloaded hours of gardening podcasts (local and international), and listened to various gardening experts natter on about compost and fruit trees and rainfall. I picked four cucumbers, half a dozen beets, some spuds, a handful of green beans, and an armful of rhubarb from the monstrous rhubarb plants that appear to be untameable. Nothing could have been better.

The only way to demonstrate the size of the rhubarb is to show my hand on a rhubarb leaf. That is one leaf, and my hand. Admittedly, I have fairly small hands, but even so. I picked about two kilos of rhubarb, cooked it up with some blueberries and frozen cherries, and made a pretty great rhubarb cordial. And I still have half of it in the fridge. Lawks, as Nanny Ogg would say. I only picked some of what is out there. Might have to make some jam next weekend!

Rhubarb leaves are toxic of course, so I don’t feed them to the chooks, but it is great for compost. Not sure why, but my compost always speeds right up when I add rhubarb leaves to it (I also find that pineapple bark and cores are spectacular for compost, but I assume that is the bromelain).

I planted out a bunch of seedlings I have been raising in the greenhouse: sunflowers, okra, and more capsicums. I think the veggie patch is officially full. It is starting to look lush and gorgeous, with a mix of beautiful green veggie plants of all kinds and flowers such as cosmos, petunias, alyssum and calendula creating a colourful display and attracting the bees. Sunflowers are on their way, which is always very exciting to me – I just love their cheerful colour.

We are almost at that exciting time of year when all the veggies we eat come straight out of the garden. That is my favourite, favourite time of the year. Last night’s dinner was soft tacos, with black beans and jalapeños, roasted potatoes, beets and broccoli, served with cucumbers and tomatoes. Everything but the broccoli and tomatoes came straight from the garden. I heard a podcaster today say that there is a name for the flavour profile of food from your garden: ‘smugness.’ Classic.

Gherkin cucumbers growing like the clappers

Speaking of smug, check out these flower trusses on the Riesentraube tomatoes in my greenhouse:

This prolific flowering is a feature of the Riesentraube, according to the tomato bible, Amy Goldman’s The Heirloom Tomato. She writes the Riesentraube (which is a cherry tomato) “sets fruit on large sprays bearing as many as three hundred flowers and buds, although only 10 to 20 per cent of the blossoms bear fruit.” It’s certainly the most prolific flowerer of the tomatoes this year, although I’ve got to be honest, the crazy flowering is not why I grew it. I just liked the name: Riesentraube. It means “a giant bunch of grapes” in German. I picked it out of a seed catalogue for that reason alone.

Today (Sunday) I determined to tackle the much less fun, but important task of tidying up the front yard in time for Christmas. We are hosting this year, so it did have to be done. The Spring flush is over, and many plants required deadheading and generally tidying up, especially a Pineapple Sage bush that had never been trimmed and was nearly as tall as me. I actually don’t mind these tasks, but if it is a choice between playing in the greenhouse or deadheading the roses, I know what I would pick. Happily, as I had both days this weekend, I could do both!

Salvias and sages should be trimmed annually, but ideally not this time of year – that is a bit naughty of me. Wait until Autumn preferably, and give them a really good haircut then. I just did this one because it was looking very ratty and it has not been too hot and dry this season. Don’t be like me – give salvias a prune in May, not December.

I even started weeding the pavers – now that is a job that is bloody boring and no one should have to do. But I did make a start, and I have to say, it already looks much better.

I rewarded myself for my hard work by spending a last half an hour planting some seeds: dill, zinnia, bush beans, more zucchini (Rondo de Nice – a funky round zucchini that is just fun to grow), and some cos lettuce. Yes, I know I said the patch was full, but these are just in case. And just because. I’m sure I’ll fit them in somewhere.

Weekend gardening jobs, 18th November 2023

It was a stunning morning in the garden today – lovely and warm, sunny, and not too hot. I had exactly two hours to spend in the garden before a family event, so I spent time feeding the pots in the greenhouse with liquid fertiliser and planting out more of the seemingly endless capsicum seedlings I have grown from seed. I also sprinkled organic snail pellets around the patch. This is the first year I have ever had much of a problem with snails. Usually, a bit of snail damage does not bother me, but they have been really having a go on new seedlings. A new organic iron-based pellet has been released on the market. It’s not harmful to other critters, and breaks down to harmless iron in the soil.

I have also been diligent keeping up with the mulch in my front and back gardens. Organic mulch decomposes over time. I topped up the bare patches that have broken down since the start of Spring with chopped sugar cane mulch. Keeping up the mulch is critical at this time of year as the weather warms up and because it has been incredibly dry all Spring. According to the long range weather forecast broadcast on ABC radio last week, the dry weather will continue for the rest of Spring. This is not good news for we gardeners, especially those of us that do not have a rainwater tank. I have been watering my garden since September, as we have a lot of fruit trees that need regular water through blossoming and fruit set. Mulch is necessary to maintain all that good work and save water.

I threw a couple of handsful of fertiliser under each fruit tree – in the Summer growing season I try to do this each month.

Walking around the garden mulching, hand weeding, and feeding, I can keep an eye on changes in the garden.

This week I noticed baby quinces growing (above – so exciting), the Violet Queen beans have started to flower (so pretty), and I picked two Pepinos and four cucumbers already! Cukes are my garden white whale – I think I built the greenhouse just so I could successfully grow cucumbers.

I’m also happy to see that the squash and pumpkin plants I planted about six weeks ago (probably too early, tbh) have almost all survived the snail onslaught and are starting to put on some lovely new growth. I usually have good success with pumpkins and limited success with squash (the mysteries of life!) but I really hope this year that I do well with both – I love steamed summer squash with butter or olive oil and a little salt. I could eat just a big old plateful of them for dinner and be very happy! The squash plants look as good as I have ever managed, so fingers crossed!

Capsicums (Sweet Peppers)

This year I am growing a lot of capsicums (in the US, known as sweet peppers). I am mostly growing the long Italian-style capsicums, used primarily for frying and cooking, rather than the salad-style capsicums (although I am growing one sweet salad variety, Sweet Chocolate, which I like because it grows a lovely dark brown when ripe).

I personally find capsicum really easy to grow from seed, and more fun because you have access to more interesting varieties than the standard Californian Wonder you can buy from nurseries. However, I do have a greenhouse, so that does make it easier to grow them from seed.

If you do want to try it, use seed-raising mix in trays (I like the Yates seed-raising mix best – but it is pricey – and I also think the Seasol brand is good), and plant as many seeds as you think you will need, plus a few extra. Water well and keep damp until seedlings emerge. Keep the seedlings going with a weak liquid feed every week or so, and then when they are about half as tall as your iPhone, prick them out gently and replant them into pots to harden off. Keep them watered and fed weekly until you are ready to plant them out into the garden – or you can grown them in larger pots. They will be happy in pots throughout the growing season. Just make sure to grow them in a warm, sunny spot and keep them well fed.

For chillies – just do the same! I find chillies fruit earlier and more prolifically than capsicums though, so don’t be surprised if you find you have chillies well before your capsicums have even flowered – they are related, but chillies seem to have started their run before capsicums have tied their shoelaces.

What to do in the garden with the time you have this week

I am flat out this week! It’s deadline time for the next two weeks – so I will barely have any time in the garden – as with today, I will be carving out a set period to spend in the garden, and that will be that.

If you are like me, and time-strapped, here are some suggestions for what to do in the garden this week with limited time.

If you have an hour

Plant some seeds for Christmas giving, or pot up some seedlings ready for Christmas giving. It may almost be too late to plant seeds ready for Christmas, but you could have time, depending on what you are planting. I have had some plants growing from seed for quite a while with certain people in mind, ready for Christmas giving. I also have had some growing from cuttings. They are almost ready to pot on for giving in four weeks. I am keeping an eye out for a lovely pot to give the plant. Caveat: I love to receive plants, but I also understand that not everyone does! I have chosen these plants and the receiver carefully, based on what I know they will enjoy.

If you have 2-3 hours

Feed and water – but keep an eye on the weather. You should not liquid feed your plants if the temperature will exceed 25 degrees C, as it can burn your plants. Choose a cooler day, and a liquid fertiliser for your plant type (there are many different types on the market, including organic). It can take some time, which is why I do it on a weekend when I have a little more time to go back and forth with my two 9L watering cans. I find it is a great way to get up and personal with your plants.

If you have 4-5 hours

Then you are living the dream! If it was me, this week, I would be deadheading roses and other flowering bushes to keep the flowering flush going, hand-weeding, mulching, and choosing some showstopper pots and plants for a front door and patio Christmas display.

Unfortunately, I don’t have that time this week – but hoping to carve some out in a couple of weeks to do these jobs!

Have a great week!

Planning your vegetarian garden

I’m a vegetarian, and although my partner and young adult living at home are not technically, they are in actuality, because I do most of the cooking.

We are not vegans, because I have severe, life-threatening allergies that prevent me from being a healthy vegan. Our happy chickens produce eggs, and we eat dairy products. I don’t enforce my dietary choices on the rest of the family – they can eat what they like – but at home for the most part, we are a veggie family.

This means that how I garden has changed quite a lot. In the past, I was a bit more haphazard about what I planted. I often planted things for fun and interest rather than what we needed. Now I plant more intentionally, thinking about the plants that supplement a healthy veggie diet. We eat a lot of legume-based Indian curries, Mexican meals like burrito bowls, quesadillas, and fajitas, tofu stir fries, soups, and some veggie burgers and pasta. With these in mind, I have planned my Spring and Summer garden around the veggies that supplement these dishes.

variety of vegetables — Photo by Adonyi Gábor on Pexels.com

This Spring and Summer I am growing a lot of:

Chillies: a mix of very hot and milder chillies, for our curries, Mexican dishes, and stir fries, and for Indian and Mexican pickling. This year our choices include Devil’s Tongue, Jalapeño, Siam, Serrano, Guntur, Scorpion, Bird’s Eye, Habanero, Cayenne, Bhut Jolokia Chocolate. Er…we love chilli!
Capsicum: Sweet Chocolate, Italian Fryer, Quadrato D’Asti Gialo. These are sweet and frying peppers for salads, salsas, fajitas, and pasta dishes;
Eggplant: Japanese White, Thai Purple Ball, Slim Jim, and Turkish Red, for curries, fajitas, and pastas, as well as for our favourite Indian Brinjal pickle;
Basil: Lettuce Leaf, Cinnamon, and Sweet for pestos, pizza, and pasta dishes;
Squash and Zucchini: Tromboccino, Bennings Green Tint, and Lebanese, for pastas, curries, and stir fries;
Cucumbers: Gherkins, Mini Muncher, and Marketmore, for salads and pickling;
Tomatoes: Riesentraube, Green Zebra, and Mysterious, for salads, salsas, and sandwiches;
Tomatillos for salsas;
Spring onions: Candy Stick, for salads and stir fries;
Silverbeet: for stir fries and curries;
Herbs: Annual and perennial herbs for everything;
Melons: Mini Yellow Watermelon, and Rockmelon Petit Gris De Rennes;
Beans: Kentucky Wonder and Violet Queen, for stir fries and curries;
Pumpkins: Wrinkled Butternut, Buttercup, and Kent, for soups, curries, and pastas;
Lettuce: Cos and Freckled Cos, for salads.

90 per cent of these were raised from seed. All of these veggies, planted across our front and back yards and the greenhouse and balconies, when combined with dried and canned pulses, grains, dairy (cheese and milk), homemade yoghurt, and eggs from our chickens, give us a healthy veggie diet. We still supplement with some purchased produce like potatoes, onions, garlic when I run out of homegrown, ginger, and other veg I can’t grow. At the height of the season we can easily live out of the garden for at least 6 weeks, not including all the pickles we put up, which last for months.

I could choose not to do this, of course, but a) it’s fun, and b) I have the space. Also, have you seen the price of a capsicum lately? I generally believe that growing your own veggies is not cheaper than buying produce, but I have to say I might be willing to reconsider that theory soon.

We are fortunate to have a lot of space that we can dedicate to a garden and chickens. If I had less space, I would focus on growing chillies, capsicum, eggplant, lettuce, and herbs in pots.

Of course, you don’t have to be a vegetarian to have veggies that are your gardening must haves! What are your ‘go to’ Spring and Summer veggies?