- Value of produce harvested: $330 combined Feb & Mar total
- Money spent: $58
- Most valuable crop: Cherry Tomatoes
- Seeds sown in punnets:
- Tomato – Winter mix (thanks Nina)
- Lettuce – Mix
- Broccoli - Calabrese/Green Sprouting
- Kohl Rabi – Purple Vienna
- Cabbage – Tronchuda
- Spring Onion – Straightleaf
- Preserving:
- 57 Fowlers number 27 jars of tomatoes bottled (from fruit from my garden but mostly mum & dads)
- 1.5 litres plum jam (from mum and dads fruit)
- 3.7 litres tomato sauce (ketchup) (from my fruit)
- 12 Fowlers number 27 jars of peaches bottled (from bought fruit)
- 4 litres Madras Chutney (fruit from various sources)
- 750ml Eggplant pickle (my fruit)
Firstly a note to a couple of people who asked for it – I have now added “What to do in the kitchen garden” for both Feb and March – these can be found in the Planting Notes menu above. They are a little late for this year I know but exceptionally early for next year which is how I like to look at it. There is now a page for every month of the year. If you have anything you would like me to add to a page then please let me know.
Summer like conditions extended through most of March this year, so my failure to write up the garden at the end of February actually makes sense as the two months can be viewed as one summery whole. We had a warm summer this year, although we had a lot of hot days we didn’t have the horrendous extremes (ie successive days over 40C) we sometimes get and for that I am grateful. It was over 30 a lot though and as a result some of the plants did suffer a bit. Others though seemed to really enjoy it.
Their leaves might be starting to look a bit flaccid but they continue to produce eggplants which I am very happy with. Also doing really well are the peppers, particularly the chillies.
L from the (currently very quiet) 500m2 in Sydney sent me the seeds to the Birdseye chillies on the right. Previously when I’ve grown Birdseye the plants have been small squat things. Not so these ones, which are huge – a good metre tall with loads of fruit on them.
Although much of my garden at the moment is looking either tired, empty or simply past its best there are still pockets of green. My silverbeet and rainbow chard, planted with some parsley and sorrel, are looking happy and healthy in a reasonably shady corner.
Also in that corner, but extending up and into the sun, is a passionfruit, now in its second year. It hasn’t fruited despite looking really healthy and having loads of flowers on it. I presume this is because it is young. I will forgive it and anxiously await some bounty next season.
Its not only me that likes this part of the garden. The chooks are only about 8 weeks old so I am giving them free reign at the moment, but there will come a time when I need to section off some no go areas or else my crops will be decimated. Particularly the sorrel, they really seem to like sorrel… I am hoping they eat all the long grass though so I don’t have to mow it.
I am experimenting with winter tomatoes this year. I’ve planted out a few relatively cold tolerant varieties and I’m hoping for the best. I have to say I’m not tremendously hopeful as the plant look pretty sad already.
As well as planting new plants I’ve pruned all the fading foliage from a couple of the older plants. These were plants that had new growth so I’m hopeful they might produce a late crop. We shall see.
Otherwise I have a few winter veg in the beds. Beetroot, Calabrese Broccoli, Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts have all gone in and are growing really well. I’ve had a few cabbage whites in the garden but not as many as usual which is nice.
Also doing well is the celeriac you can see in the background of the below shot. I have 5 plants in the ground and one in particular is swelling very nicely at its base. I’m not sure how long they are normally left in the ground for but I figure another couple of months and it should be perfect.
What’s doing well for you at the moment?
