It's beginning to feel like autumn might really be here. Most years, this cooler weather doesn't seem to arrive until after Easter, but this year after some long hot days of 40+C degrees, the thermometer has been sitting in the mid 20's during the day and dropping down into the mid-teens at night.
This post will about my garden, so if you're more interested in pretty quilty things, there'll be more of that next time :) I just like to do a garden update every so often to look back on.
The garden is looking tired and in need of some TLC. Our raised garden is right near the clothes line, so after I went out to hang up some washing, I thought I'd pull a few weeds and trim back a few things. I managed to fill our green bin almost to the top (even though it was only emptied this week).
Pumpkins are going crazy. It's meant to be the time to collect them but there are still a tonne of new babies growing. I pollinated a couple with a paint brush this morning and hope they still have time to grow and ripen before it gets cold.
Capsicums and chillies are ready to pick. I'll probably chop up and freeze the capsicum to add to food when needed.
I'd like to use the chilli to infuse in olive oil and then add a few drops when cooking. I don't think these are very hot, so will probably need to add quite a few for effect. My dad grows birds eye chilli and those little things are hot.
My herbs are outta control. I cut back the sage and froze bags of leaves for when we don't have any through the winter.
I pulled out the greek oregano which was taking over the world. I've planted a few pieces in a pot to keep it under control, but I've no doubt that I haven't got all of the roots, so will probably have oregano sprouting again. I knew that planting mint in my garden was a bad idea, but didn't know about oregano being the same invasive type of plant. Whoops.
Over the last few weeks,when my basil has started flowering, I've cut the tops off, but I think it's time to let this poor plant retire. I'll let these flowers/seeds dry out and collect those for planting later in the year.
My early summer dill plants when to seed so when I pulled them out, I planted them in the same spot. Now we have lovely fragrant sections of dill growing again.
I have both Italian and curly leaf parsley in the garden and discovered another pumpkin nestled in the parsley. It's going to be a great year for pumpkin soup!
Regular and lemon thyme are also enormous, so i've given them a bit of a hair cut... and found another pumpkin. Note for next year, plant the pumpkins around the side of the house where they won't take over... but then they may not grow as well. Gah!
My dad is a gardener from way back. His family back in Portugal were farmers & market gardeners. He always tells me that if I want to plant seeds, it's best to do it a couple of days either side of a full moon because that's when they'll grow better. I don't question, I just do what he advises.
Did you know that the full moon of March is called the Lenten Moon but is also known by some other names: Worm Moon, Crown Moon, Crust Moon, Chaste Moon, Sugar Moon and Sap Moon. I didn't know this, but just learned it from google :)
Passionfruit was planted against the back fence a couple of months ago and after some rain and sun and rain and sun, it's grown a lot of leaf, but no flowers yet. Passionfruit season here can range from mid summer to mid winter, so we'll see how it goes.
As it was a full moon this week, I thought I'd better plant some seeds for winter veggies. After clearing out some space, I've put some spinach, kale and rainbow chard into the ground.
There is more that I'd like to plant, so even though I may be a little late with the moon cycle, I'll spend some more time preparing the soil and planting a few more seeds this weekend.
I think the pumpkins are trying to tell you which herbs to use when you cook them. My thyme used to take over everything. I can't wait to see what your passionfruits do.
ReplyDeleteyour garden is doing great... so lovely having home grown as it always tastes so good
ReplyDeleteHugz
Congratulations - You surely have a green thumb!
ReplyDelete