Time for Feb's beginning of the month garden photos. It's such fun to see how much things have grown and changed in a month!
The zucchini plants along the front fence have grown hugely and are producing, though not as well as I'd like yet. They've had some problems with blossom end rot which I now know is due to inconsistent water supply. That slightly raised bed is a lot drier than the rest of the section - one of the reasons it was in weeds for years is the ground was so rock hard I couldn't dig it! (Hint: You'll find a cunning solution in March's pics)
This pic shows the middle patch of corn, which was sown on Dec 23rd. It's growing very well! The bed to the right was sown on Dec 29th and is growing too. The one to the left as sown on Jan 8th, and has sprouted. The corn are proving to be very interesting from a moon-planting point of view so I'll create a whole separate post about them.
This area has now been expanded and planted in herbs around the lemon tree. A small lime tree that my eldest son gave his sister has also been added. On the left are some pumpkin vines that self-sprouted from last year's compost heap. I decided to just let them go for it.
The first of the original wooden raised beds, planted in two rows of dwarf green beans. The row on the left was sown in the first week of December, at a time when the moon-planting guide said I should NOT plant veges. The row on the right was sown on the 17th of December, which, according to the moon guide, was the right time. Now, some weeks later, the differences are obvious - more seeds germinated on the right than the left, the right hand plants are stronger and more upright, and they've produced more beans. Exact statistics will be able to be found on my Beans post.
The second raised bed - the carrots are sprouting, and the rosemary at the front is doing well, as usual. I've never had much, if any, success with carrots before, so this is very exciting! I took note that carrots will fork if there is too much organic matter in the bed, but they need deep loose soil. So I chose a bed that's deep enough for them, and was formerly occupied by heavy-feeding silverbeet. I added only a little fresh compost to the bed.
Third raised bed - the Mexican sunflower I planted last year has come back well this year, and the bees are loving it. The kumera vines have grown from wee sprouts and are covering the bed. I planted a couple of kale plants at the front, and they're doing very well also.
Fourth raised bed - the raspberries were attacked by my milking goat when she got into the garden in Jan. Shortly thereafter my husband found me on the computer looking up how to make goat sausages. Suffice to say she will no longer be getting into the garden. The raspberries and boysenberries have been producing, and the netting helps to ensure I beat the birds to the juicy fruit!
I now have 3 of the wooden bedframes my husband made me down and planted. The one on the far left has had the lambs quarters removed. The peas are doing well and the snap peas are climbing some wires at the back of the bed. The yellow beans are producing nicely, and the lettuces getting bigger.
In the middle bed, I planted the front half with more carrots. I tried the trick of mixing some radish seeds in with the carrot seeds as they germinate faster and help mark the rows. Well, I got a LOT of radishes! Only my husband likes them raw, so what to do? Don't worry, I came up with a tasty use for them. See my Radish Relish recipe post. The back half is planted with some Maori corn - far too late, but my friend gave me the seedlings so I bunged them in the garden to see what they do. This is an heirloom corn, producing large white cobs. The Maori traditionally use it to make "rotted corn" which is done by placing the corn kernels in a sack, and leaving it in a flowing stream for 3 or so days to ferment. It's then eaten hot or cold. But apparently it's also nice as a sweetcorn. I also planted more peas in with the corn. Parsnip was originally sown in this part of the bed, but few came up, and the ones that did got attacked by white butterfly, so I pulled them out.
The right hand bed has beetroot seedlings at the front. I sowed more beetroot seed, but so far none have come up. A few silverbeet seedlings have been put in the rear of the bed.
In the middle bed, I planted the front half with more carrots. I tried the trick of mixing some radish seeds in with the carrot seeds as they germinate faster and help mark the rows. Well, I got a LOT of radishes! Only my husband likes them raw, so what to do? Don't worry, I came up with a tasty use for them. See my Radish Relish recipe post. The back half is planted with some Maori corn - far too late, but my friend gave me the seedlings so I bunged them in the garden to see what they do. This is an heirloom corn, producing large white cobs. The Maori traditionally use it to make "rotted corn" which is done by placing the corn kernels in a sack, and leaving it in a flowing stream for 3 or so days to ferment. It's then eaten hot or cold. But apparently it's also nice as a sweetcorn. I also planted more peas in with the corn. Parsnip was originally sown in this part of the bed, but few came up, and the ones that did got attacked by white butterfly, so I pulled them out.
The right hand bed has beetroot seedlings at the front. I sowed more beetroot seed, but so far none have come up. A few silverbeet seedlings have been put in the rear of the bed.
The second bed of zucchini are doing well, and producing nicely. Most of them turned out to be yellow zucchini, with a couple of green ones thrown in. I'm leaving a couple to grow for seed. I've started planting some silverbeet and cut-and-come-again lettuce behind the zucchini, in the area where I've now extended the no-dig bed back to the fence.
One of the yacon plants was never very strong, and the dogs ended up killing it. The other two are growing well. In this pic, my worm farm bin is sitting on the bed.
Rua potatoes are sprouting and have had some extra mulch added.
The Comfrey, which basically died off after transplanting (normal) is making a great comeback. Comfrey is loaded with nutrients, and is a great compost activator, as well as being useful in herbal remedies.
Tyres have been weeded out. The strawberries are producing nicely! Later in the year I will move them to a new bed.
I was given a ton of pumpkin seedlings, way too late in the year to plant really, but I feel bad if I just toss them out. So I dug up an extra patch in the front lawn near the corn for some, added some to a patch of the fence line where the zucchinis are, and made a new no-dig bed under the grapevine. I figure whatever they produce is a bonus, and at the very least they've given me cause to cultivate more ground which can later be planted in other things.
Tomato seedlings waiting to be planted.
I cut out parts of a plastic water tote we had for camping, and planted chives in each end. They're doing really well.
I got given lots of tomato seedlings. We turned over a patch on the sunny side of the grapevine, and added lots of compost and sawdust. Old bricks lined the edges. I had an unfortunate accident while working on this - a paper wasp nest was adhering to the iron wall. I didn't see it accidentally knocked it when leaning a tool against the wall. Wasps flew out and stung me multiple times on the wrist. I am very allergic and could normally expect a nasty reaction. But thanks to what I'd learned the week before about broad-leafed Plantain, I ended up with almost no reaction at all. More about this HERE.
My eldest daughter followed my example, and used sawdust on the garden bed beside her room, then planted it in Coleus, Geraniums and some pretty purple flowers.
Some of February's harvest.
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