3 May 2015

garden share collective: may


With the slide towards winter, the busiest and most productive time for my vegie garden is on the wane.

Two weekends ago, mum and dad came up for a much-needed ‘backyard blitz’. Three pairs of hands made very light work of end-of-season tasks, the two biggest being dismantling the tomato patch (rolling off the netting, pulling up the stakes and the now brown and brittle tomato plants, and giving the bed a quick once over) and pruning back the yellow peach tree.

About six weeks ago, maybe more, I came home from work to find one of the peach tree’s limbs had dramatically split, due to the weight of all the fruit it was bearing. The limb had sort of cleaved, forked, but somehow was not entirely damaged; the fruit continued to grow and ripen. But with most of the fruit now picked or fallen, it was time to cut back the broken branch (to the relief of the sage and chrysanthemums trapped beneath) and many other limbs, too, that knocked and scrapped noisily against the gutter in any winds.
 
Poor ugly tree
 
Dad largely did these two jobs, with mum and I catching limbs, picking up tomato debris, and tidying things into the council green waste bins or a pile for dad to come back and take away on his truck. Mum then took to two of my roses with the secateurs and gusto.
 
All this dramatic cleaning out and pruning – combined with the dramatically reduced lily-pily and the now denuded autumnal birch trees in my driveway – left me feeling a bit exposed for the first few days; like a kid with a too-short haircut. It was so bare, everywhere.
 
Work in progress. Tea essential
 
Elsewhere, I’m waiting for the various lines of beans to completely finish, their swollen pods to dry off for next season’s seeds. I’ve already collected a good handful of borlotti beans for this purpose.
 
The zucchinis are on their last legs – I get a couple of delicately slim fruit every couple of days; enough to make me wistful for their fat summer siblings.

Over the next month, I hope to pull out just about everything, then feed the soil before letting it hibernate. This was new soil put in after dad built the frames lastspring, and  I have been feeding the soil ever since, mostly by digging in kitchen scraps directly, between the plantings. On the weekend, when he was uprooting the tomatoes, Dad said this was doing good – there were a pleasing number of worms about. Which cheered me tremendously, because wormies are a good thing! I’ve organised to get some bags of horse poo from a co-worker who has horses, and I’ll be looking out for bagged-up sheep poos when I drive the country road down to my parents place. Ah, the bliss of being a gardener – getting excited about poo.
I am also collecting marigold seeds for next season
 
The only things I intend to plant next are some silverbeet, some purple sprouting broccoli (if it’s not too late) and some garlic (if I get around to buying some local organic bulbs).

The biggest and newest addition to chez Dig in is my second lemon tree. Say hello everyone to Lemonicious (Beyonce has a lot to answer for). She is a birthday present from mum and dad, after I have been whinging every since I bought my home (ten years ago) that I wanted a better lemon tree. Last weekend, I enlisted the help (muscles) of my friend A to dig the hole, and together we planted this sturdy, upright young tree (thank you A, you shall get some lemons!). This variety only grows about a metre to a metre and a half tall, which is just perfect for my backyard. I’m already dreaming of the G&Ts in a couple of years’ time – yes, I know you have to let the tree, not the fruit, grow for the first year or two. Gardeners need patience – and a few helping hands - don’t they?

16 comments:

  1. Lucky you having some garden help. It's all looking very neat and organised, and I'm sure the peach tree will grow back into a beautiful shape next year. I know what you mean about the bare feeling though. We just ate the last of our borlotti beans last night, and I've got the new plants to put out soon. I'm envying you your outdoor lemon tree. Lemons are one of my absolute favourites, but mine have to stay inside, for winter at least. I like your tip of burying the kitchen scraps directly into the soil, I think I might try this, my soil is very poor in the garden. CJ xx

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    1. Morning CJ! I am hopeless at making good compost so burying the kitchen scraps is a really good solution for me! i bury teabags, eggs shells - just about everything except citrus skins - and it seem to be breaking down quite rapidly. so do give it a try.
      oh and it's much neater now i have stacked away that tangle of tomato stakes :-)

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  2. I wish lemons could grow here, but sadly we get way way too cold for that. I hope that naked feeling goes away. For some reason I always like too see the garden bare and all ready for winter. Well sometimes. I guess every fall is different.

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    1. oh how dreadfully sad daphne not to be able to grow lemons! a lemon tree in the backyard is such an aussie thing. i will enjoy my lemons for you.
      i am getting used to the bareness - and i agree, it is satisfying to see everything tidied away for the colder months. it's the natural rhythm of the garden.

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  3. Those borlotti beans are so pretty e! Great seed saving. Best wishes for the lemon tree, there is so much hope and promise in a new tree isn't there? I am a horse poo fan too...and collecting it is good exercise I think. It is a great time of the year to work on some soil improvement. Happy days! x

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    1. yes, aren't borlottis some of the prettiest things to come out of the vegie garden? and thank you for your lemon tree wishes jane; I shall go down and whisper them to the tree tonight.

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  4. I can imagine how strange everything must seem being so bare Elizabeth. So wonderful watching the seasons and the circle of garden life. Love Lemonicious and hope you'll enjoy many G&T's and other lemony delights from her in the years to come. Catherine x

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    1. thank you Catherine - there is much depending on lemonicious! 'circle of garden life' is so true - I love the ebb and flow, the rhythm of this change.

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  5. She is a beautiful lemon tree and will grow well for you. Lemonicious is a gorgeous specimen and hopefully will encourage your other lemon tree to grow as well. What variety is it? I bought a dwarf meyer lemon but it does not do well in our climate. You have been very industrious - your borlotti beans are amazing! How wonderful to bare it all to then enrich it with manure which your worms will love as well and be ready to plant for winter. Like a kid with a too-short haircut, oh you made me smile with this comment :D

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    1. merryn your words are encouraging too! i'm not exactly sure what the other lemon variety is - they are small, round and very smooth skinned fruit. I probably haven't given it much thought because I was always intending to rip it out and replace it! but I was much chastened by the lady at the nursery who sold us lemonicious, so I am now showing it some love and citrus food.
      thank you for your thoughtful comments, glad I made you smile :-)

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  6. Great pictures. Wow, I would come and help you in your garden :)
    Thanks for sharing.

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  7. you are welcome anytime Cecilia! I pay my labourers with cake :-) thank you!

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  8. I love that you left the calendula to flower cheerfully on in the bare garden. I do exactly the same thing:)

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    1. I also have a sprawling deep-purple viola that is in the same bed that we have dug around! I need the colour at this time of the year!

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  9. How nice to have Mom and Dad show up when work needs to be done. I like your lemon tree. Mine is in a pot, and I am hoping to get a few lemons this year.

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    1. it's a beautiful lemon tree, AA - i'm very pleased to have her in the garden. I just need patience now to wait for those lemons. enjoy yours!

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