27 August 2016

Two Weeks In The Garden

I seemed to lose my blogging mojo last week, so this week you get two weeks of gardening in one post.

Tuesday August 16th
I harvested three cauliflowers and five heads of broccoli today. I let two of the cauliflower go too long waiting for them to get bigger and then I remembered that they are actually mini cauliflowers, I won't be making that mistake again.

There are now flowers on both plum trees. They always flower a couple of weeks apart, a fact that I seem to forget every year.

Wednesday August 17th
Lots of seed sowing today,  Rosa Bianca and Snowy eggplant, Hungarian Yellow Wax and Californian Wonder Bell capsicum, Honeybee, San Marzano and Rouge De Marmande tomatoes, Lyon Prizetaker leek, bunching shallots (my first time growing both of these), coriander, thyme and another sowing of spinach. 

I also sowed marigolds, zinnias, bergamot, two types of sunflower, alyssum and a bee and butterfly mix.

Thursday August 18th
Sunny and blustery today. It's the same every year, as soon as the fruit trees blossom it gets windy, hopefully there will still be some flowers left on the trees. My seed order arrived today.
Some new varieties to try out.


Saturday August 20th
I harvested three more cauliflowers and four more heads of broccoli today as well as a few side shoots and the first of the Early Crop Massey peas.

 I won't bother with mini cauliflowers again, they take up just as much room as a normal one, but you need three of them to get the same amount of cauliflower. I think both the cauliflower and the broccoli will be finished next week and it will be time to sow the chickpea and bean seeds.



Sunday August 21st
After three applications of the milk/water solution the eggplant is looking much healthier with no signs of powdery mildew at all.

Monday August 22nd
I bought six crowns of Torrey strawberries at Aldi today, I've never heard of them, but according to the packet they are easy to grow, produce an abundance of tasty, large to medium sized fruits. I hope they do.

Thursday August 25th
I spent some time in the garden today as it was too nice of a day to stay indoors. I potted on the two Rouge De Marmande tomato seedlings that I overwintered in the greenhouse, they were looking a bit worse for wear, but hopefully they will pick up now they have more room to grow.  Planted out some more Calendula seedlings and some carnations grown from cuttings taken from a bunch I bought at Aldi. The two borage seedlings I planted last week are not looking too good and I don't hold out much hope for their survival, time to sow some more seed I think. I also sowed some seed of Golden and Red Globe beetroot.
Golden on the right and Red Globe on the right.
So there you go, two weeks in the garden and although there is a lot happening there is also a lot of waiting happening too. All the pea vines are flowering, and I'm waiting for the pods to develop, the garlic is growing well, but I have to wait until at least November to harvest it, and I'm also waiting for seeds to turn into seedlings so they can be planted out into the spring garden.

There may not be a post about the garden next week with all the waiting going, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. There will be another post on Monday though for this month's Garden Share Collective, the theme this month appropriately is seeds. I hope to see you then.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Jan. I didn't grow cauliflower at all this year as last year it wasn't successful, got decimated by caterpillars! Broccoli though has done really well, with no sign of caterpillar attacks, and we've been enjoying it with our dinners. I got some little seedlings from my favourite nursery for Chinese Broccoli. It's growing well and will leaves will be ready to pick and add to stir fries soon. I hope your strawberries grow well for you. Nothing like a freshly picked strawberry! Meg:)

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    1. I never grow broccoli or cauliflower until the weather starts to cool, I can't be bothered trying to protect them from the White Cabbage butterfly. having said that the butterflies hung around a lot later than usual this year and did quite a bit of damage to the plants early one. Hopefully I will get to enjoy a few strawberries this year, but I think the plants will be too small for much fruit. Thanks for dropping by and enjoy your Chinese Broccoli.

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  2. Hi Jan, your cauliflower and broccoli harvest looks good and so much nicer than the shop bought. I'm the same and every year forget that the plum trees flower a couple of weeks apart. Hopefully your new strawberry plants will produce lots of yummy strawberries!! I miss having a large patch of strawberries in the garden so will have to rectify that :)

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    1. My poor strawberry plants have been moved from one spot to another all over my yard. I finally decided on a permanent spot in a garden bed at the back of my house. The new strawberries were to replace the ones that didn't make it, I'm hoping to get at least a few strawberries this year.

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