Getting the garden growing once again

Getting the garden growing once again. 

There hasn't been a lot of action in the garden patch of late. The tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and cucumbers didn't do so well over Summer with some bouts of heat and less water when I was away for a couple of weeks. Today, the unseasonably warm weather of the past week has gone and been replaced by rain. With the rain has come the appearance of a few snails as well. I have planted a few things in the last couple of weeks so this bout of rain should really help, provided the snails don't get too greedy. 

The last remaining zucchini plant. I have had a few zucchinis from this one, the only plant of a few that survived the couple of weeks in January with little water. 

My latest rescue mission from Bunnings - Thai Basil. After a slow start these seedlings are starting to look quite healthy. 

The Silverbeet and Joi Choi have settled into their new surroundings quite well, although the Joi Choi seems to have had some visitors. 

The Kale hasn't settle in quite yet. 

The lettuce is growing very well. 

With the rain, comes the snails! Last year they had quite a feast. I hope to save more from their munching this year. I have removed a few of them today. Keeping on top of the weeding around the garden beds should help a lot too. 

A new garden and a snail

A new garden and a snail. 

Today I enjoyed some delicious wood oven pizza at the launch of the 2012 Magic Harvest Program in the Hackham area. Yum! Magic Harvest is a program based on the book One Magic Square by Lolo Houbein. A group of people meet regularly in hubs to learn how to grow their own food at home and share their skills and produce. I will be in a group which will meet fortnightly for about an hour to share our gardening adventures and also establish and maintain a small community garden. There will also be workshops throughout the year to learn gardening and cooking skills and we will have the opportunity to visit each others gardens. It feels like it's going to be a lot of fun. 

Today, as well as the yummy pizza, a couple of members of another hub gave a small demonstration on planting a garden in a polystyrene box. Then it was raffled off and I was lucky enough to win it! Yay! I was planning to go to Bunnings to see if there were any seedlings I could rescue but I was saved the trip. The box contains lettuce, celery, silverbeet and chives seedlings. All things I had been planning to get in the garden soon. I've told my daughter the snail she got at the community market we went to this morning is not welcome in the garden! 

The July garden update

It's the last day of the month. Just enough time to squeeze in some news about what has been happening in my garden. I haven't done an update for a while. It was already the start of July when I realised I hadn't done an update for June. I did mean to do one a little late but that didn't happen. 


Things have been going along quite well in the garden despite little input from me in July. It has been reasonably wet so I haven't needed to water quite as much. A good thing or some of the plants would be exceptionally thirsty I think. I have planted some beetroot seedlings which seem to be growing very well. I look forward to trying out some salad, dip etc recipes in the not too distant future. Yum! You can see some of them in the next photo, amongst the grass and other weeds. 

I have quite a bit of silverbeet in one of the garden beds and it is very tall. I need to find some recipes soon I think! A little while ago I picked a lot of the rainbow silverbeet and made a very yummy side dish with pine nuts and raisins. It was very tasty and super healthy too I'm sure. Here is a link to the recipe I used. 

I have masses of parsley in the garden, both the Italian parsley which self seeded from last year and the parsley I rescued from Bunnings which certainly no longer needs rescuing! 

Some of the cabbage is getting eaten by snails. It is quite interesting how the different bugs will almost completely eat one plant and yet leave another nearby alone. The Kale is next to the cabbage and not touched at all. There are also some broccoli florets starting to form. The onions I planted a long time ago are getting bigger. The lettuce is still growing well and is the biggest lettuce I have ever seen! I also have lots of rocket in the garden at various stages of growth. The last photo below is of some flowers from one of the rocket plants which has gone to seed. I really like those flowers! I hope to get some time soon to do some caring for the garden and also get some more things planted. I guess it will soon be time to plant some summer crops. Tomatoes! Yum! 

Looking back through some of my posts too, I was amazed at how much my 'Magic Harvest' plants have grown. Maybe I should post some before and after pictures soon. 

and now I am actually posting this on the first day of August. With a teenager in the house there was strong competition for the computer and I lost so the post I started yesterday wasn't posted. 

Six Word Saturday - June 4th, 2011

Magic Harvest babies are growing up.

I have mentioned before that I am participating in the Magic Harvest program which encourages people to grow their own vegetables at home and to increase their gardening and cooking skills. 

In some very exciting news, this program which began last year in a couple of Adelaide's southern suburbs and this year has expanded to a couple more is going international. The Magic Harvest concept is going to Japan! For more information about this go here. 

The seedlings I planted 3 weeks ago seem to really like their new home. They are growing very well. A few little nibbles here and there but generally all are going strong. Look how much they have grown: 

photo taken May 14th, 2011

photo taken June 3rd, 2011

Magic Harvest involves regular catch ups. The members of the gardening hub decide how often and where these occur. The group I am in meets fortnightly at the local community garden. It's great to catch up and talk 'gardening' with others. There's always lots to learn! Also, every few weeks there are workshops to learn more about gardening and cooking. Unfortunately I will miss the cooking workshop this week. :(  

This post can double as my gardening update for May. The planting and growing of my Magic Harvest seedlings are the main news for May. I haven't yet got around to getting snow peas planted. I had planned to post an update each month but then on Wednesday I realised it was June already and I hadn't done the May one. Oops. I'm still wondering where May went. It seemed to go so fast. Is it really June already??

Six Word Saturday - May 14th, 2011

Magic Harvest babies in the garden. 

I am excited to be part of the second batch of Magic Harvest participants. Magic Harvest is a program which encourages people to grow their own vegetables at home and increase both their gardening and cooking skills. Last week I attended a workshop where we received seedlings and compost. Yesterday I planted the baby seedlings in the garden. It will be interesting to see how they go. There is broccoli, cabbage, spring onions, lettuce and others. I have been gardening for around a year now and have enjoyed some success but am particularly looking forward to the sharing of ideas and experiences with others as part of the Magic Harvest Program. I think I will particularly benefit from the cooking workshops later. It's always possible to learn from reading books and from the internet but there is something great about being with other people and learning together. Cooking is not really a strong point of mine so I'm hoping for some ideas and motivation.

Here's the babies as well as some carrots in the front.

I have already learnt a lot from my involvement in the program. One thing we talked about was a way to discourage white cabbage moths from laying their eggs on the plants. Their was some debate about whether it actually worked but I figure it can't hurt to try. It was suggested to make pretend butterflies and put them near the plants. As the moths are territorial creatures it is suggested that they will not land on the plants as they will think another moth is already there. I thought I might tie some white material to sticks so they will flutter in the breeze. Can't hurt to try. I think it is the white moth caterpillars that have been enjoying quite a feast recently. 

Something has been feasting!