28 Jun 2013

garden share collective: july

I was chuffed when Lizzie at Strayed from the Table invited me to be part of the Garden Share Collective – a virtual tour of people’s vegie gardens from the tip of Australia right down to the bottom (ie, me!). Oh, and across the way to New Zealand too. Unfortunately, I missed the last round – the first round, the inaugural round! – but I’m excited to contribute now.

My tatsoi - isn't it pretty?

After I got over the initial ‘wow – me?!’ of Lizzie’s invitation, I then realised what a potentially boring post you would be reading. At this time of the year, there is not much going on in my vegie patch on Hobart’s eastern shore. I’m largely resting my three small garden beds before spring. Around Easter I pulled the last of the summer beans and dug in lots of bags of goodness to feed up the soil. I don’t have the luxury of lots of garden beds that I can rotate plantings in, so I just rest about 80% of it over the winter months.
Silverbeet with bird deterrents that don't appear to be working

Those winter months can be best described as ‘dark’. Before I leave home for work, the sun has barely peeped over the horizon; by the time I get home around 5pm, the sun has gone for the day. It’s dark. This lack of light and my full-time job means that, at this time of the year, I see my vegie and flower gardens only on the weekend; my friend B and I have lamented how disconnected you become from your garden (unlike in the summer months, when we can joyfully garden for a couple of hours after a day stuck inside the office).
Frozen parsley
 
We had the shortest day - winter solstice - last week, and it is something that every person in Tasmania (or so it seems) anticipates and celebrates, because it’s a promise that the days will slowly creep ‘upwards’ towards summer, light and warmth (even if, in reality, the next few months are the coldest in the calendar).
 
So this time of the year, I am doing my gardening on Saturday and Sunday only. Even though I’m resting the garden, I do have some hardy leafy greens in: hardy stalwart silverbeet; a pretty row of curly kale (which seems to love the frost we get here); my first attempt at purple sprouting broccoli or ‘PSB’; and another newbie, tatsoi, which is so pretty to look at in the garden and tastes good in a toasted cheese sandwich.
Garlic sprouting thru! Trying a grow bag; hopefully it won't get waterlogged this way
Kale above and PSB below - both with pots of pyrethrum to deter caterpillars (like the bird deterrents, also not appearing to be working)
And... frozen kale!
What's on my to do list for the coming month? Well, if you'd asked me a few weeks ago, it would have been watering. Contrary to popular belief, Tassie is not all wet and rainy; not in my neck of the woods anyway. Hobart's eastern shore is sometimes called the 'sunny side of the river', and the downside of that is I can watch rain clouds swirl around Mt Wellington, but the wet stuff never seems to cross the bridge and come over here. So watering is a regular part of my gardening schedule if I want it to survive, even in the winter months.

Current water tank, collecting from the garage

But I am pleased to tell you that a fortnight ago, we got some decent rain. Not just momentary drizzle, but actual rain that lasted days and made a proper dent in the rain gauge. I took most of these photos on that wet weekend, because everything looked fresh and glistening; it was a pleasure to get soaked while I took these pictures for you.

Ever the optimists (or pragmatists), dad and I are in the process of installing a second tank for the vegie garden. To clarify: dad is installing; I am doing what I am told and making cups of tea and cake. It’s not connected up yet, as you can see, so keep your fingers crossed that by the time we do that, there is still rain about.
New water tank. Not quite installed properly. Below: self portrait in puddle! I couldn't resist
I hope you enjoyed this wintery tour around my Hobart vegie garden. Please check out the other gardeners in the Garden Share Collective!
 

30 comments:

  1. Oh, I just love a nosey around other peoples' gardens. All your vegies look super healthy, and I love your cute birdscarers.. although they are not very scary! I am waiting on rainwater tanks - that is one of this year's projects. I was amazed to discover recently that Launceston has less annual rainfall than Perth WA. How is that possible? But this has been a dry winter so far..

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    1. Hello Jo! that's the great thing about the garden share collective - lizzie has done all the leg work rounding up the gardeners and their gardens for us! i love seeing other people's gardeners, even if it makes me feel inadequate.
      i'm with you on the rain. we need to bust this myth that tassie is wet all the time. if only!
      ps the ikea birdscarers are very pretty things :-)

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  2. Curious about tatsoi - I've seen markets selling little pots of it. I might buy some to try next time. :D

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    1. hi leaf. totsoi is worth getting just for its good looks alone. i'm thinking of getting some for my flower garden - to make a pretty border, perhaps!

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  3. Your garden looks great and conditions must be difficult with the heavy frosts and short days! The photos of your frozen vegetables are amazing. The garlic in the bag is a great idea, there is nothing better than having a supply of homegrown garlic. Good on you for trying to rest beds and crop rotate where you can...I have a big garden and struggle to achieve this properly! Happy gardening.

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    1. thanks jane. there is beauty in the frost - my friend M says i am the only person she knows who loves a frost! it's great for the brassicas, however it's cruel to my flowers.

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  4. Wow...the tatsoi is gorgeous! I can see I have much to learn. Thank you for sharing your garden with us. Your vegies look full of goodness.

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    1. SB, thank you. i love my greens, so it's great they keep going over the cold months. i just have to pick them for my dinner with a torch!

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  5. I have the same problem with leaving home in the dark for work and arriving home in the dark as well, even up here in the 'sunshine state'. Looking forward to longer days so I can also be more active in my garden. I have never tried tatsoi before, but anything that goes well in a toasted cheese sandwich is exciting so I will have to go on the look out for some.

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    1. hello louie and welcome to dig in. glad to hear (sort of) that the darkness is limiting for gardeners up north too. yes, roll on summer - we miss our gardens!

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  6. Hi, I'm visiting from the collective :) Its interesting to see what you're growing over winter, its similar to me in QLD, I find all the brassicas do well at this time of year. I might have to try garlic in a grow bag too, mine were waterlogged last year, and I just put them back in the garden, so will probably have the same problem again. Cheers, Liz

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    1. Hello farmer Liz! i'm hoping the grow bag is the solution for garlic. that and not over-watering(killing them with kindness). i've lifted the bag onto a kind of pot stand mum gave me, to help drainage even more.
      thank you for stopping by Dig In (a fellow e!). it's fascinating to read what we are doing in our different gardens and climates.

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  7. Kale is so sturdy when it comes to frost - how does your parsley hold up? I thought it was always wet in Tassie, you have me corrected now. I like that you are catching water off anything that can that is great, you never now when it stops raining for more than a month. So your silverbeet gets eaten by birds - I don't think birds here in qld know what it is and the caterpillars do. Great post, glad you have joined in.

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    1. hi lizzie, and the biggest thank you for all organising the collective (and big applause for lizzie, everyone!).
      the parsley has survived the frosts okay, as have the rest of the vegies (my new pelargonium seedlings from mum, on the other hand, are not looking good...).
      there are certainly lush green parts in tassie - i'm just not in one of them! so whenever you see the weather for hoabrt and it says 'rain' think - nope, not near e!
      and i shoudl have clarified that the birds don't eat the silverbeet - they dig and scruff amongst the mulch looking for worms, creating bare patches where the soil dries out. or they cover over the little seedlings, smothering them. i love a blackbird's song, just not its scratching habits!

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  8. Hi, I am visiting from the Garden Share Collective and it is my first round too. It is great to see how some of the plants contend with the cold snaps. Our weather is not so cold and I have been worried about some of the morning frosts. I don't think I have too much to worry about after seeing your frozen kale and parsley!

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    1. hello kyrstie, and welcome to dig in. i'm about to head over to your site to have a read... it's the wonderful thing about the garden share collective lizzie has organised, we get to pop our heads over the fence, so to speak, and have a sticky beak in other people's gardens! the frost was pretty spectacular, and as i said, luckily some of the vegies can stand up to it pretty well.

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  9. Oooh -I thought I was cold up here until I saw that parsley, and now I am cold just thinking about how cold it is down there!!

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    1. hi jeannie, and welcome to dig in! we don't have frost every day here, but we have had a good run of them this year already. i'm lucky the vegies can stand up to the frost fairly well.

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  10. Oooooh, that frozen parsley... looks like you have a cracker of a frost there. Just like our place this morning.... and it's foggy too. Always enjoy your posts. Never boring.

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    1. Oh lizzie, thank you for your kind words.
      'cracker' is a good word for it - 'crunchy', too! i love walking on frozen grass - hearing and feeling it crunch beneath my feet. frost brigns out the child in me.
      frost and fog usually means a good clear day will follow.

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  11. You're right: I am one of those who thought Tassie was particularly wet, given all the lush green we saw when we visited some years back. Good on you for installing more water tanks!

    Your tatsoi looks so pretty - I hope mine grows to be as impressive!

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    1. hello melissa, and welcome to dig in. we should all form a tatsoi admiration society! not only is it pretty but it is surviving the cold - a good thing.
      hopefully dad and i will get the tank upright and connected in the next month or so. i shall tell him "dad, we have to get this done so i can report back to the garden cshare collective!" :-)

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  12. Anonymous02 July, 2013

    Tatsoi! Never heard of it. I suppose because its green it'll be good for you :-P I'm particularly impressed with your new water tank and concrete\tiling work. Your father should be congratulated on a superb job! I do agree the Garden Share Collective is a brilliant idea.

    anonymous

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    1. hello and thank you! the new tank will be even more impressive when it is functional. we had rain yesterday - 10 mils, a great record for my side of the river - and was wistfully thinking, 'but the tank's not connected yet...'. soon!

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  13. Yet another garden with lovely kale growing. I really need to plant some. Thanks for the tour!

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    1. hello claire, and welcome to dig in. yes, kale is the new black, isn't it :-) mine gets hit by the cabbage moths caterpillars and aphids, especially as they are going to seed, but those pests are easily dealt with by a good blast of pyrethrum.

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  14. Hello Elaine, thanks for sharing your garden, I know what you mean about feeling disconnected from your garden, I feel exactly the same way. It's lovely to see how some plants can keep going though, even with a little bit of neglect.

    I read once that frost is good for Kale, it sweetens it up a little. At least I think that's what I read. You should give blueberries a shot next winter, I've read they love a good frost. Anyway, you're on the upward track now, the days are getting longer and soon we'll both be able to garden after work. All the best, Erin.

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    1. hi erin, thanks for your lovely words (and...um... it's elizabeth :-)). i notice my kale grows curlier than usual once it's had a frost - pre-frost leaves are not as riotous. and yes, peter cundall i think said frost is good for their flavour too.
      blueberries! now there's a thought... will add to my to-investigate list. thanks for the idea.

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  15. Your kale, PSB and tatsoi look delectable. A great effort for winter in Hobart. It is good to rest beds over winter, and I agree, it is tough when the days are so short and after work evenings are dark. You already have garlic peeping through. Cheers Merryn@merrynsmenu

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    1. hi merryn, and welcome to dig in. i'm sure there are hardy souls out there gardening in the winter time - then again, i don't think i've heard my (retired) dad mention his veg garden for a while. so resting the beds is a goodfor the soil and the gardeners alike.
      and yes i'm very excited about that garlic!

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