2012 Wrap Up

Well it's been a hell of a year.

I started this blog in April but the real work started a little earlier; from constructing the garden beds, to removing the grass & top soil from the backyard where the beds ended up and getting rid of all the excess soil & grade; that was several trips to the Kimbriki Tip.

A big shout out to my husband for all his hard work and not complaining too much when I bring home another stray plant or five or another garden ornament. He's a trooper.

My family came over for a post Christmas dinner and I was really proud to be able to make a potato salad from potatoes I grew; will I grow the humble spud again, perhaps but not in a whole gardened for themselves, maybe a wire round on a smaller patch.

My green salad was also made from many a plant from my garden; carrots, radish, spinach, parsley, nasturtium flowers & by god corn, yep I grew corn and it was sweet right off the cob, no cooking required. I have to thank my dad for bringing lettuce from his own patch as well as spring onions.

I may not be self sufficient but I don't aim to be. Plus I am a keen juicer and could not grown enough to eat & juice as well in my yard. My aim is to reduce the amount of vegetable I have to buy. I get that I still buy fruit and a portion of my veg from the greengrocer, there are some things I just can not grow.

I have discovered that cabbage & broccoli are a no go in my patches, I can not keep up with the cabbage moth; but i have found something they love to eat and may grow so they eat it instead....Mustard, they love it so I'm thinking perhaps grow that and use it as a deterrent .

I relocated my curry plants form one of the beds to the front of the house in the courtyard near the rosemary, they are forming a nice hedge. The beetroot is growing a little quicker now and should be ready by late January.

The 2 Thai chilli I have in different beds are growing at different rates, the one that is getting the morning sun (about 6 hours) is outgrowing the one that gets afternoon sun (about 7 hours).

The strawberries are coming along, maybe for February, well see. My fist lot of sunflower have bloomed and are on the way out to becoming seeds for the birds and hopefully more plants.

That's all for 2012, Happy New Year & good gardening.

Having harvested my potato patch I got about 5-7KG of spud. They are sitting in the dark waiting to be used. They range from the tiny spud; about the size of a pea to a decent 500g. I have renewed the spud patch with compost & manure ready for replanting. Cucumbers, capsicum, leeks, purple carrots, lemon basil now take up the patch. I grabbed 3 corn cobs but unfortunately 2 of them had corn grub, but the 1 that was good tasted great. I didn’t even cook it, just shaved the kernels into a salad. I have new Sunflower’s sprouting to be planted just before Xmas. Once again I have planted the wrong beans. I want to grow small compact bushes, but I keep getting the wrong plants/seeds. Now I have planted long green beans but they are of the viny variety. I let my green coral lettuce go to seed and have collected what should be enough seeds to last a year. The dogbane I planted is working a treat, turns out it also helps to repel possums too. It has just started to flower and appears to be growing a lot each day.

Mint Mint Mint

I have gone mint crazy in any spare ground in the yard and not just because it smells so damn lovely. I have discovered that the local critters do not eat it. Critters my way are possums and their little fury friend the bandicoot. Don't get me wrong I love the local wildlife and even advocate on there behalf occasionally, but I don't wont them eating my produce. You ask What type of Mint! Spearmint, Peppermint, Moroccan Mint, Vietnamese Mint, Chocolate Mint (my favourite at the moment)they are just covering any open space which in turns stops the animals digging up my yard that is not wired off. It grows real quick, especially at the moment as it is very humid. The Chocolate mint is pretty hardy and even tolerates afternoon sun. However the Vietnamese Mint needs plenty of water, I have seen it used in a small pond as a water plant. I have mine in an old half barrel with some Golden Oregano, they seem happy together. Though I do find the odd little frog in yet every now and then (yeah for the environment go frog, Yuck a Frog says the scaredy cat girl gardener)

just a couple of photos before & after

When I first moved into my house I took a panoramic photo of the back yrad, well afew days ago I thought I should get another. Just a bit of a difference.