We have ongoing progress in the vege gardens. In particular, the ‘organic’ approach I’m taking seems to be working well – although the extremely mild weather we’ve have prior to this week seems to have helped.
The beginners garden, with accompanying crops
The first photo shows the beginners garden, and the potatoes have really taken off. They’re planted too close together, so I’m ignoring furrowing properly, and will harrow the lot come August. You can also see that the rye grass has done pretty well.
Rye grass turned under
I’ve turned the rye grass under, and have sown a lot of mustard seeds on the same patch, come August I’ll turn that under before putting garlic in this section of the garden.
And finally, the upper garden has had it’s final treatment. The fertiliser and soil conditioners have had a week or so to mellow, and I added a wheelbarrow of compost mixed the remnants of my peat moss. On top of that was added some lupin seeds, and yet more mustard seed. In August (the magical month it seems) this whole section will be turned over to potatoes.
The Upper Garden
Over the the right of the garden is a bunch of pavers someone was giving away! Win! Saved us at least $100 by grabbing these and carting them around to here. My next project for this part of the property is sinking those in.
And last but not least, coriander!
Coriander Seedlings
These little guys are destined to be the main ingredient in a curry!
A good couple of weeks. Now to see how the garden handles this cold snap.
Time will tell.
27 May, 2010 at 8:43 pm
My advice is to let at least one coriandar plant go to seed – you’ll get hundreds of seeds that you can either resow or keep in the kitchen for curry pastes.
27 May, 2010 at 9:11 pm
you’re a wise man danyl.
if this becomes my coriander patch, i’m all for it.
27 May, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Gotta say I’m feeling major envy here. Well done that man!
28 May, 2010 at 6:26 am
hey, newlands man… not so bad on this front. if you’re still looking we got a neighbourhood full of old skool housing stock and big yards.
also, views like roseneath, with the planes to match!
31 May, 2010 at 10:48 am
I’ve been trying to get him to move to Newlands for years. He seems remarkably resistant, despite the clear value for money and good cycling links.
31 May, 2010 at 8:43 pm
guess he’s just too good for us.
does he know we have running water, internet?
1 June, 2010 at 3:00 pm
How long will property prices stay within reach? It’s not something I can afford in the next few years, but a young man can dream….
27 May, 2010 at 11:16 pm
I’m very impressed, and envious even, of gardens which get water that falls from the sky. But we’re working on solving that problem.
I’d be giving the coriander some tender loving care: it’s not fond of the cold. A bit of pea straw mulch? Or even grass clipping mulch, provided it’s not so close that it burns the plant. Or a mini-cloche, made out of a plastic bottle.
28 May, 2010 at 6:28 am
and we have A LOT of water just at the minute. my main concern has been the gardens not draining, but they seem to be fine.
i have a bunch of plastic bottles set aside for this very purpose! will follow your advice.