31 Oct 2013

garden share collective: november

 

Welcome to another Garden Share Collective post and mini-tour around my vegie garden. I must tell you how much I look forward to these posts, sharing my progress and woes with you. It's especially lovely now that my garden is looking just right. Lately I have been standing in the backyard, surrounded by bees and blossoms and lush greenery; if the sun is out at the same time, it's a glorious time of the year. So it's wonderful to welcome you into my garden right now.

We have just had 'show day' (or, the opportunity for an extra-long four-day weekend for public servants like myself). Common wisdom is that you don't plant your tomatoes out til after show day, when (theoretically) the frosts are over for the year; show day itself this year was bitterly cold with a beautiful blanketing of snow on the mountain, so make of that what you will. However there seem to be some risk-takers around; Tino on Gardening Australia planted his tomatoes a few episodes ago, and about a fortnight ago, the tomato-planting fairy visited while I was at work and did this:

 
Yes, dad came over and planted four of the seedlings he had raised. Two are black krims, probably my favourite tomato variety; a mamma mia, a good reliable one, fingers crossed; and granny's throwing tomato, a new variety for us this year. All big hearty tomatoes, perfect for thick slabs on a summer sandwich, or on a plate with basil and mozzarella and a dribble of olive oil, or in the sauce pot for cooking. Hurry up, planties! I have plans for you!
 
Dad even put up plastic wrap to shield the plants from the damaging winds we've been experiencing this year; are they worse than previous springs, or have we just forgotten how ferocious they can be?
 
Where there's a tomato, there must be ... basil (mmmm, pesto). So a day or two later, I planted some basil seedlings (also from dad) inside the plastic with the tomatoes.

 
Peekaboo!
 
This is the big family experiment this year: growing basil in the ground, with the tomatoes. Mum and I usually grow our basil in pots, where they can catch optimum heat and sun (mum's, for example, is usually up against a brick wall to capture the reflected heat). In all, I have one, two ... seven plants dotted around the garden, but only two in a pot. So wish me luck. 
 
What I don't want in the garden is this intruder: stinging nettle. Can you believe it?!

 
It's the spiky dark green plant in the middle.
 
According to Jane on the Gardening Australia website, the presence of stinging nettle is a sign of rich fertile soil, so on the one hand I am chuffed, but on the other hand - literally - I did not enjoy my brush with a very very small plant, which left my skin puffy and itchy and hot. But I'm still unsure, incredulous even, about how it got here - I've never had nettle before, and it's not like I'm a dairy farm (Jane reliably informs me nettles grow amongst cow pats. Thanks Jane).
 
So one of show day's chores was to don my leather gloves and carefully pull it out. I then buried it in a section of the garden I'm not working yet, as a bit of green manure.
 
Here are my beetroot, in the growbag. Do you remember last time I was despairing that they had not germinated, and that perhaps I needed to re-sow? I did. And now all of the beetroot has germinated. There will be some thinning out required!


Below is a lovely pic of my dwarf broad beans, two generations. The first lot are only about 45 cms high; I had actually forgotten it was a dwarf variety, and was getting anxious over their stunted nature. But like normal broad beans, they are a very sturdy plant, and are already covered in those lovely white flowers with the black eyes. Broad beans for Christmas lunch?
 
 
This picture also reminds me that my struggle with the blackbirds continues. Every day I come home to find half my mulch covering plants or obscuring walkways and stepping stones. I wonder if the neighbours hear me mutter 'bloody blackbirds!' ? They are forgiven though because they are such beautiful warblers, and constant company around my garden.
 
Finally, here is a bunch of my PSB. The plants are nearing the end of their productive life (once done, I will pull them out and give them to mum's chooks, as they like cruciferous leaves); fat florets like this are getting rarer. This was the first time I grew PSB and it was a real success, so I shall definitely grow them again next year - and probably more than two plants. Mine is a small backyard vegie garden, with limited space, but I can make room for something so delicious, striking and productive.

 
To do this coming month? Really just maintenance: water, seasol, plant new generations of peas and beans and mixed lettuce. My garden space is pretty much taken up now, except for a couple of rows saved for those later plantings of peas and beans.
 
But most important thing to do: enjoy the garden.
 
Don't forget to see others in the Garden Share. Click on the logo in the column at right to find more green thumbs.
 

42 comments:

  1. Hello, I grow a bed of stinging nettles. They are a great tonic for your plants. Find as many of them as you can and cover with water. When it smells awful, dilute and water your plants with it.
    I planted my tomatoes today. I usually wait for Cup Day, but enjoyed the sunny Hobart day and got them in.

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    1. Hello claire! ooh yes, yesterday would have been lovely for planting - for being out in the garden fullstop!
      ah, so you make a kind of (smelly) tea with the nettles? okay - i'm sure there will be more appear, so i shall do that next time. thank you for the idea.

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  2. Your dad is wonderful! And your garden is flourishing. Thanks for the peek. We planted our tomatoes out too, but then the frost came, so out come the little plastic bags to protect them. Fortunately, they survived. It's still cool overnight, but hopefully we are done with the frosts. Happy gardening. What's PSB by the way?

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    1. oh sorry lizzy - PSB is the lazy person's shorthand for 'purple sprouting broccoli', but i have seen english writers simply call it PSB without the necessary explanation!
      we are still cool overnight too (and i'm glad your toms survived). i am really beginning to wonder if we are having consistent warm weather this year.

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  3. Your garden is looking great, especially with all the flowers, hopefully the tomatoes will be fruiting in no time for you :)

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    1. thanks louie - i saw flowers last night when i watered, so we are on our way!

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  4. Yay for the progress on the beetroot! As for the nettles, maybe you can eat them next time!

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    1. well leaf, my dad said i should make nettle tea. i was so nervous just pulling them out, i couldn't comprehend cooking or eating them! i think i'll adopt claire's idea of making nettle tea for the garden instead.

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  5. Oooh, I want the tomato fairy to come to my house! Isn't it wonderful to go out into the spring garden with the bees buzzing, and a promise of warmth and sunshine? Your garden is looking splendid! So much food!

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    1. well, almost jo :-) thank you, i'm really pleased with it right now, even though i'm weeks away from harvesting. it's the "promise", as you say!

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  6. You have good things happening in your garden e! Good luck for the upcoming tomato and basil season, your tomato looks very protected and happy.

    I think nettles are a good sign, we get them growing in our sheep yards. I am sure you are aware that you can make pesto with them or use them like spinach? Unfortunately I have not been able to find enough nettles recently to give this a try.

    Your beetroot looks healthy. I love the flowers in your vegetable patch too. Happy gardening and cooking and thanks for the tour!

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    1. thank you jane! the flowers make it very pretty.
      i found another nettle plant in the front garden over the weekend, and i'm going to don the leather gloves again to make some nettle tea for the garden. i'm too scaredy-cat to eat it!

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  7. With the nettles, I am wondering if you have added any manures - horse, sheep or cow? Because they all come with nettles, I think nettle seeds are adapted to especially survive digestion. I have lots and pull them young.

    If you have docks, and are stung by a nettle, just pull a leaf and dab juice from the stem on the stop. Bit of complementary planting.
    Linda @ Chloe

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    1. hi linda, i must have got some horse or sheep poo from dad, it's all i can think of. i did feed my garden beds up over winter so that must be it. as i said, i'm looking at the 'silver lining' and taking it as a good sign about my soil's health.
      dock? i don't think i have dock. shall have to google that to know what i'm looking for, and then investigate. thanks for the tip!

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  8. Your garden looks beautiful right now. Your tomato fairy has done a sterling job! Thanks for the look around, enjoy!

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    1. thank you kyrstie - i'll pass on your comments to the fairy when i see him next :-) i'm off now to check out everyone else's gardens.

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  9. Your garden looks great, I have serious envy of your garden fairy! Yes nettles do make a wonderful fertilizer, full of trace elements. It stinks though! I too am at the end of PSB maybe one more meal, I will be growing it next year for sure.

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    1. hi sharon! good to meet another PSB fan. but since writing this, it's having another flush of life! i think i shall get another couple of weeks out of it, which is delicious.

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  10. Fab post ... your tomatoes look very happy indeed. Love the plastic shelter idea too. Basil is great with toms and so is parsley - good companion plants :)

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    1. hello frogpond :-) thank you! the parsley is all self-seeded - i was hoping it was self-seeded basil but sadly not. i should be making parlsey pesto while i wait for the basil to grow.
      the plastic is essential to protect the plants while we are still having cold weather and very strong winds.

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  11. Love the PSB! Hope your basil does well in the ground :)

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    1. thanks lisa - i will pass on your best wishes to the basil tonight ;-)

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  12. I love the thought of someone coming into my garden and setting up some beautiful tomatoe plants. Not going to happen! Those plastic sleeves look like they will do the trick with cold winds. I can send you some of those long beans to try, but you better try a sheltered position and keep up the water as they grow in the wet season here. E-mail me your address to vemvaan(at) gmail (dot) com.
    Gillian

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    1. wow thank you AA - i shall of course have to share them with my dad, aka the tomato fairy. i shall think carefully where i shall plant them. then i shall call you the bean fairy!
      (head over to AA's site everyone to see her long-long-long beans!)

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  13. Your garden has really taken shape this month, the weather must be getting warmer in Tassie too, even the slight snow wont stop it. I think those tomatoes will do rather well in that plastic with the basil. I love picking my tomatoes this year as I also planted basil between them the smell of brushing up against both tomato and basil is amazing.
    I have heard a lot of stories about stinging nettles coming up this year. I blame my infestation from birds - maybe your bloody blackbirds?

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    1. Maybe it is those bloody blackbirds! ha!
      oh lizzie, isn't the smell of basil just the best? i always remember indira naidoo in her book saying she thought basil was an erotic smell. i don't know if i'd go that far, but it certainly is very intoxicating.

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  14. I remember nettles being part and parcel of going to the dipyards when I was a child, so there must be some truth in the finding them with cows story.

    That nasty wind must be everywhere at the moment. I love the tomato fairy concept!!!

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    1. i love my tomato fairy reality!!
      maybe there are cows marauding thru my garden at night when i'm asleep, jeannie?! :-)

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  15. Stinging nettles are a good thing, soak them in water for a couple of weeks and use the nettle water as liquid fertiliser at a ratio of 1 part fertiliser to 9 parts water. That aside, your garden looks wonderful!
    Good luck with the basil in the ground. There is no such thing as too much basil, ever.
    ps I assumed you were a public servant, the 'PSB' was the giveaway ;) from a former public servant!

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    1. thanks jacqui for the diluting ratio. i pulled out the lone remaining nettle and drowned it last night. now i am looking for nettles to make this juice! i have to thank everyone for telling me about the nettle solution for the garden.
      oh dear, does the use of acronyms give me away...? :-)

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  16. Love your first photo. Thanks for sharing your garden.

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    1. thank you, little m. it's a perfect spring scene right now.

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  17. Oh your garden looks delightful, I can see why you're enjoying it. I grew sprouting broccoli last year too, what a revelation. Good luck with the blackbirds, my neighbours hear me cursing to dog for getting into my (supposedly fortified) garden beds.

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    1. glad to meet another blackbird sufferer, barbara! i think with blackbirds, where there's a will there's a way - our human constructions and fences and netting won't deter a blackbird!

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  18. The tomato shelters are a brilliant idea - keeping them cosy while they get their roots down! I hope you manage to stop the nettles before they get established in your garden, although the leaves are very good cooked in a risotto...

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  19. oh GD, i'm just too scared to eat nettles! i have to pysch myself up just to pull them out of the garden, how on earth would i go putting them in my mouth?!
    today is lovely and sunny and warm so i have taken the plastic guarding off to let them get some fresh air and sunshine and vitamin D.

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  20. What a stunning garden. It is so pretty with such varied colours and textures. I love your idea with the plastic around your tomatoes. It all is so lush and healthy. I too look forward to the monthly garden collective garden posts where we get to peek into each other's gardens :D

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    1. hi merryn, and thank you! i would like more flowers around my garden - my marigold seedlings have not taken off yet, and they were my grand hope for companion plantings. but the blue aquilegias really attract the bees, so i'm very happy with them.

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  21. Nettle pesto! Nettle pesto! http://hellokateberry.com/lunchlady/nettle-pesto-is-the-besto/
    I know, I've never been game either... the yeouch factor deters me!

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    1. ha ha becs, okay, okay! though now i have to wait for the new crop to appear.
      now i WANT nettles in my garden ?!

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  22. What a clever garden fairy you have E. I don't know how anyone can say they don't believe in fairies. :)

    Your beautiful garden reminds me of an English cottage garden. Great use of space, both functional and beautiful.

    Nice bunch of PSB. Your mum has a few good tips too. I am interested to know how the basil and tomatoes grow together.

    I have just returned from a trip up north and the produce gardens were so lush just like yours. Oh...I had this incredible chocolate pot beef pie at Anvers. OMG!


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  23. thank you for your kind words, SB. i think this is a good time of the year - not too hot just yet, so the gardens do look lush and full, not yet heat-sapped and wilty.
    and i shall let you - and everyone - know how the tomato/basil garden growing goes.

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