Home grown food. Amazing stuff, even in winter. I have really surprised myself this winter, by pulling out all the stops and growing vegetables that I would not normally grow. In the past this has been because I haven’t usually had the room, but since my additional 11.5 sqm of front yard garden bed, and the pool area wicking bed, I can put in so much more.
Our favourite citrus tree at the moment is the Lemonade tree. It is still giving us fruit, and I have not picked the entire harvest. This is because we find that for a few months at least, the fruit stays fresher on the tree, whereas it would otherwise rot if we picked it all at once.
The broad beans are going gangbusters. There is no delineation between my saved seed at the front of the bed, and the purchased seed at the rear of the bed. Just goes to show that these two batches of seed are equal at the moment. However time will tell when I taste the final beans.
Looking a bit sparse, this bed did have carrot seedlings in it, but something dug them all up. The English spinach is still surviving, but not thriving very well, as it looks a little worse for wear. The three Tuscan kale seedlings were planted last weekend, and are going strong. To the right are masses of snow peas that my Mother-in-law Pam planted before she left in early May.
As you can see, the snow peas are thriving. They are growing so well, and climbing up the trellis. Getting plenty of winter rain, and a little bit of liquid worm wee every few weeks.
Lots of pea pods ready for the picking. Every time I walk past, I pick a couple of pods and snack as I do the weeding. Such a delicious morsel from the garden. Hugs to Pam for planting them!
The brown onion sets that I planted in early April have come on well. They are a lot stronger near the front of the bed, because this part received more rainfall. As we get most of our rainfall during this time of year from the west, the brick wall blocks part of the bed, which stays dry. I have to hand water that bit to stay moist, but obviously I am not doing as good a job as Mother Nature.
The citrus trees have masses of blossom, which is about a month earlier than normal. We have picked about 10 Tahitian limes, which go down well in Cerveza beer, and a slice in Earl Gray Tea.
When we get a few more fruit, I will make some Lime Marmalade, which is one of my favourite conserves.
The front yard veggie beds are producing lots of veg. Last weekend, Kim harvested so much kale and made a big bowlful of kale chips. Delicious stuff, and thankfully I planted some additional seedlings two weeks ago. What a wonderful vegetable.
Such brilliant colours. I love the variegated leaves.
Deep crimson kale. Who knew it would add so much colour to the winter garden?
Here is the front most bed. I have lots of cabbage in this bed, but you wouldn’t know it. Because I had some small potatoes left over from my January harvest, that had just gone to seed, I thought I might chance it and plant spuds over winter. If the weather had been normal this year, similar to the long-term average, they would have been killed off by frost last month.
However, because our winter has been at least two degrees above average, sometimes more, there have been no frost, and the spuds are massive. It all looks very healthy, and is disguising the cabbages from the cabbage moths.
I have found a couple of caterpillars on the few purple cabbages that are visible, but they are done relatively little damage at this stage of the plants development. The cabbage heads are forming and hardening, so it doesn’t really matter what the caterpillars do to the outer leaves.
Finally, the pool area wicking bed. The lettuce is still going strong, and hasn’t gone to seed. The arugula is a little on the hot side now, with a distinct mustard flavour. It is quite refreshing and adds some zing to the salad.
Not that we have been eating much salad because of the colder days. We have mainly been cooking stews in the pressure cooker which have been both hearty and filling on cold winter nights.
Anyway, that is what’s been growing in my garden. What about yours?
Southern or Northern hemisphere, it doesn’t matter. I would love to hear what is growing in your part of the world.
Looks amazing, Gavin. Do you find that you need to buy much in the way of food, with this much garden produce? What kind of things do you find yourself still purchasing?
Hi Lex, sounds like a great question for a another blog post? Are you okay if I do that?
Gav
Sure, that’s fine with me. 🙂
Looks good, Gavin. My garden has been much improved in the last couple of months since getting my 5 bantams (encouraged by your book, The Way of the Chicken). So many thanks for that. Keep up the great work. Di from Perth WA
Hi Di. So glad that you discovered that chooks are a great addition the the suburban garden. My soil has never been so rich and friable. I owe it all to my chooks and worms!
Thanks for the eBook feedback as well. Great to know that it is making a difference out there!
Gav
Loved going for a walk around your garden. I am a little jealous of your potatoes …that’s what mine looked like until a couple of weeks ago the frost wiped them out! We have kale and I have finally mastered the art of growing cauliflower , so lots of that in the garden. In the hot house I have capsicums just popping their heads up and mini roma tomatoes ….annnnd my hot house tomato did bear fruit and I am picking them now ( took the whole of Winter for them to ripen).
Hi Kim. I took a chance with the spuds, because I have been caught before with frost. I figured that as we only had one frost last year, and this year has been exceptionally warmer, that it would be a good chance that a frost would not eventuate.
Sounds like you have a very productive garden during the cooler months!
Gav x
Your garden is looking great, Gavin. Oh, I wish I’d planted snow peas! Yours look great. I’m just clearing the vege beds to get ready for spring planting. There are always a few surprises when I do this. Lots of volunteer self seeded plants I hadn’t expected. I replanted some chamomile seedlings yesterday and noticed a few leeks in the bed as well that we can use for soups and stews. The lettuce self seeded in the pathway around the garden is doing well, but the ones I planted in the beds were eaten by slugs or snails.
Thanks Deb. I am always amazed at the gifts nature leaves me when I am clearing garden beds. Last year I was gifted about 20 oregano plants that popped up in my garlic bed, so I saved half of them and they are growing great in a pot.
Gav x
It looks like we are growing many of the same plants in our winter gardens Gavin! Fantastic to see that you have so many kinds of Citrus growing in pots! Ive been doing a bit of a case study on how its done over on the blog, I really think its the best way to keep those fabulous citrus plants going through the whole year!
(also, I too love to snack on snowpeas through the gardening day!) Happy growing!
Hey Kathy, Snow peas are nature’s fast food. Love them!
We have had our citrus in pots since 2007, and all are doing well. I just have to remember to fertilize them more often than normal fruit trees.
Gav x
Im loving the colour of the Kale. So ornamental and nutritious. I am so envious of your Lemonade tree, it has always been exceptional. Is there something special in your pee? (So Naughy!)
Worm pee of course!
Of course! 😉
Hi Gav,
I loved seeing your Winter garden. At the moment I have a bit of broccoli and bok choy left for picking, and a few carrots and onions. Hopefully sometime soon I will have cabbages, kale and more broccoli ready to eat. I also have a big bed of garlic on the go for the first time. I left a few beds to rest over Winter (and truth be told, I was just too lazy to weed one of the beds in the Autumn 😉 )
It’s been a warmer Winter than I can ever remember here in Armidale (NSW) but I’m not complaining as it’s meant it was easier to grow some Winter crops. As long as we get enough hours below zero to suit the fruit trees I’ll be happy.
Have a great day,
Madeleine.x
It’s allium city here at the moment. For some reason I am terrible at growing onions but I have a few that are going ok. My potato onions are going gangbusters though as is all my garlic. I’m on a mission to rid the entire world of vampires given the size of my crop. 😉
My cabbages are doing well and there are a few with lovely big heads that I am deciding how long to leave before turning them into sauerkraut to keep us in top nutrition for the rest of the year. I too have cabbage moths, right big ones too. We had a killer frost here last week with the temperature down to -6.4 which toasted all my self seeded potatoes. There is no sign that there were any even in that bed that’s how hard it toasted them. Instantly turned to mush. 🙁 Still and all, it’s nearly spud planting time and I’m considering some floating row covers to get a jump on the season. I saved lots of little spuds from last year which all have nice long tails on them ready to plant out now so I’ll be growing a heap in pots in about a weeks time.
I’ve just mulched a few beds in aged horse manure and I’m fiddling around readjusting some of my garden beds at the moment but I have a few beetroots left, my mangle wurzel which I’m going to see if I can get it to seed, turnips that I’m harvesting and although I have peas planted, they’re just flowering now so I’m hoping for no further frosts. My brussels sprouts and cauliflowers have shown little int he way of action so time to worm wee them perhaps. My turnips are harvesting nicely and I have a few baby carrots left too. Otherwise, just hte spring onions. I have some lettuce in but it’s pretty slow to grow surprisingly.
It never ceases to amaze me how very different our climate is to yours Gav. 20 minutes drive away (if that) but 400 metres higher and several degrees difference.
I have finally worked out how to connect my blog address to my comments! As I said back at the Melbourne CR training, I am very tech-challenged.
We’ve had great success with broccoli this year; 8 perfect heads harvested so far this winter. In Adelaide, broccoli is now $10/ kg and not even organic! We are also growing kale, onions, garlic, silver beet, celery, 4 varieties of lettuce, broad beans, fennel and cauliflower; we harvest daily for our meals.
Goodness, that price is very high. Sounds like you’re saving a small fortune by growing your own veg Veronique!