Garden Share Collective Report for January

 

It is that time of month again, when gardeners across the country, and across the world, report on their activities, as part of the Garden Share Collective. This is kindly hosted by Liz at Strayed from the Table.

Only a quick report for this month, as Christmas and a bad round of colds has slowed us down a bit. 

 Above is most of the veggie garden on 26 December - taken from the other end for a change. Then, below, to the right of this is the "extra", where I am playing with plants in compost bins/bags

The pumpkin is going gang-busters, and I think will take over the vacant space in the front - have moved tanks etc out of the way to make it possible. In the centre the zucchini is also going gang-busters. I need more zucchini recipes!

Hey, Lizzie, do we need a facebook group where we can post recipes for using seasonal excess???

The story of the shadehouse on the right, above, can be seen HERE - although it is now artistically wrapped in my favourite black-flowered hoya. What you can see on the bench is 21 pots of Hoya "Krimson Queen". It has a brilliant pink-variegated leaf, but have I got 21 friends to give them to???

The rest of the garden is spread across various pots at the other end of the garden - still with some empty pots waiting. We found a potato sprouting in the cupboard, so even it has gone into a pot (but cut in three first and surfaces allowed to dry before planting).

Happenings this month

All bar one lemon and all of the limes have dropped. But another flush is coming. Have lost track of how many that is this year.

The birds continue to make merry hell with the seedlings.

I continue to be concerned abut the tomatoes, especially the Grosse Lisse. A repeat of what I posted earlier this month: "Had pleasant lunch with a couple who garden-share with Italian neighbours, who grow all their tomatoes from seed. They are saying the same thing as us - the Grosse Lisse and Romas are not growing as well this year - especially the Grosse Lisse.  So since their plants definitely originated from a different source to ours, it has to be the season."

I keep getting worried about how slow the tomatoes are, but I just looked at my preserving diary (fancy name for an exercise book with notes), that I have kept for the past 14 years - I generally get to boil down the first lot for freezing in mid to late January, so there is a little bit of time yet. Even last year we only had yellow cherries on 31 December - exactly the same as this year.

Overall the month continues to be cold and damp, with only a couple of days of more than 30 degrees. However the figures are in, and this has been our hottest year on record. I THINK that has something to do with the amount of rain we have received here. Certainly it is a concern.

Planted - carrot seeds (Chantenay Red-cored). There is no appreciable difference between those that were soaked for 24 hours, and those that were not.

Radishes

Lettuce - have learned they will not germinate if exposed to more than 30 degrees.

A giant sunflower - just for the fun of it. We used to grow them when I was a little tacker. I tried growing them in my last garden, but the parrots always decimated them.

Harvesting
Cucumbers (Lebanese and Apple - not a lot), a couple of cherry tomatoes. first feed of beans (French, some climbing), lots of Zucchini, Tree and Spring Onions, Carrots, Lettuce

Plans

Plant out (mainly in pots), the capsicums that are coming along slowly from seed.

And, as always - Weed, Water, Watch and Wait.

 LATE NOTE - I am changing from open vats for watering, after having three birds drown in one day, and one on another. I am moving to using garbage bins, where I will have a lid on them when they are not in use. And that should control the mozzies too.


And finish the first bird-proofing over the tomatoes.

There are a couple of other posts for the month over on the left-hand sidebar, but in particular I have plaited the garlic, and had a long and serious think about watering cans. (For those following the Great Garlic Plant-off - the garlic planted in March went much better than that planted on the shortest day of the year)

And, as always, Milly says "woof". The argument about who has first dibs on the potting bench continues.