It's been a while since I posted a photo tour of my garden. I used to do them at the beginning of each month, which is when I would take photos so I could use them to look back and see when things were planted, how they grew, how the garden developed etc. Whipping around your garden with a camera on the 1st of each month can be a very useful tool, and is one I recommend, even if you don't show them to anyone else. Let's talk a walk around mine....
This is the entrance to my vegetable garden area, built just over a year ago to keep the dogs from the garden. The rescued Banksia Rose on the left is starting to fill out the trellis nicely. To the right, my manic pumpkin vine, which is planted a long way from that spot has sent out runner that have now engulfed that fence and the nasturtiums growing there, and several very large crown pumpkins are ripening.
Here we're looking at a bit of a jungle of popcorn, my manic pumpkin, and there is a choko vine shoot galloping through the popcorn too. The Choko is mostly growing on the fence, but has also spread over the orange trellis structure just out of the left of the photo. The one pumpkin plant I planted was originally tucked in beside the black compost bin and the fence, for wind protection. I watered it by putting the hose into the compost bin, so that it was getting "compost tea" and this plant has gone for world domination as a result. This photo doesn't really show clearly how large this area is. The pumpkin is all over the intended area behind the popcorn patch, under the apple tree, plus all through the popcorn, all over the lemon tree, all over the fence to the right pictured above, as well as a fence to the left behind the orange structure, and from there had sent out runners another 10 metres or so through my herb beds and along another fence. And it's just ONE plant! Can't wait until it dies down and I can see just how many pumpkins there are - in the past I've never got more than 4-6 good pumpkins off one crown plant, but there are definitely more than that on this one!
The popcorn hasn't done tremendously well - I think the soil in this part is just too poor. When winter comes, I'm going to start sheet mulching and dumping lots of things on this area to compost in-situ, and then plant a green manure crop. It needs building up before I can grow anything else. Either that or I'll get my husband to concrete it and build my dream outdoor kitchen. ;-)
The popcorn hasn't done tremendously well - I think the soil in this part is just too poor. When winter comes, I'm going to start sheet mulching and dumping lots of things on this area to compost in-situ, and then plant a green manure crop. It needs building up before I can grow anything else. Either that or I'll get my husband to concrete it and build my dream outdoor kitchen. ;-)
The next two photos are my yacon (left) and my newly sown cut-and-come-again lettuce patch - both are rocketing away thanks to the fact we've finally had some rain! January brought only 5mm of rain, and February 52mm. 78mm in March as made a huge difference! There are a couple of zucchini plants tucked in below the yacon. Bird netting over the lettuce will be removed as soon as it's established enough to stop the birds digging it up. When the rest of the seeds sprout, the bed will be completely full, and I'll cut as much as needed at a time with scissors, leaving it to regrow.
  |  My trellis arch still has cucumbers growing on it, but I've had about enough of them - the rest can go to the chickens. You can see the choko starting to cover the top of it. I need to weed this out, and get some peas started on both sides for winter.  |
My main vege beds are doing pretty well. I won't post pics of each one here, as you can see what is happening with them in the recent Taming the Jungle posts HERE.
We will take a look at two of them though - on the left below, my spaghetti squash on the trellis (there are also Golden Midget watermelon, Sweet Banana peppers, Chocolate capsicum, parsley and telegraph cucumbers in the bed). The spaghetti squash is something I've never grown or eaten before, and I'm really pleased with how well they have done. They are ready for harvesting when the fruits are yellow, and the stalks turn brown. The plant is close to finished, but still has some growth on I, and some newer, pale green fruits higher up.
On the right, my rainbow chard are doing well - these will bolt in spring though, since they've been there all season, and are biennial, so I will have to plan to have new seedlings to start in spring, and meanwhile enjoy these.
On the right, my rainbow chard are doing well - these will bolt in spring though, since they've been there all season, and are biennial, so I will have to plan to have new seedlings to start in spring, and meanwhile enjoy these.
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My three barrels are doing pretty well - from left, fig underplanted with parsley, orange with strawberries, and mandarin with white alpine strawberries.
Another fairly jungle-y area is the bed along the back fence. The blackcurrants hidden in there are all starting to head towards winter dormancy. They're mostly hidden by leeks and a shoot from a pumpkin, rainbow chard I left to go to seed - interestingly now the seed has been produced, they're all sprouting new leaves all over the seed head stems. Along from that we have lots of nasturtium, some scallopini, rampant NZ spinach, miner's lettuce, celery and some seeding lettuce. I'll give this all a good tidy up after the frost kills off some of the plants.
My boysenberry and raspberry patch, which is also full of strawberries, lemon verbena, fennel and cape gooseberries. I won't go into too much detail on this, as more can be found in my recent post HERE.
 | My blueberry and strawberry patch is under the nets, and in front a young pear tree and a buttercup pumpkin plant. There are about 4 nice size squash on there nearly ready to pick.  |
Below, the feijoa patch alongside the path that runs from the house, down one side of the garden, past the compost bins, and then either through a gate to the paddock where the chickens are, or left to the greenhouse, and the swing seat with Chilean Guavas in front, and a soon to be planted kiwifruit vine over the trellis, with Stauntonia on the other side.
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Below is a dwarf peach tree. We've lived in this house for 8 years, and it's always been two little sticks. Two years ago I was advised to toss it away. Last year it started to grow a little - the photo on the right was taken in June 2014 when the greenhouse was being constructed. Notice the difference in just this season's growth! I think we'll keep it after all! (And yes, it has yummy peaches now it's actually bearing!)
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Speaking of greenhouses, mine is currently full of the last of the tomato experiment plants, as well as an eggplant that has bounced back from really bad aphid problems and is producing well, some peppers, and I've started moving vulnerable plants inside for winter - a mandarin, pot full of kumara and a lime are in there, along with some small kiwifruit plants. The cucumber vine on one wall is still producing lots of cucumbers too. The Chocolate Beauty capsicum are just starting to colour up - can't wait to try them!
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Well, that concludes this wee photo tour. There's more to see of course, but one has to stop somewhere! I'll finish with a photo of the quince tree - due for harvesting. I suspect there is couple hundred kilos of quince on there again this year!
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