Skip to main content

Garden update - June 2014

May has been unusually warm, we haven't had a proper frost, and apart from a few cold days right at the start, since then its been very warm.  This is great because our grass has continued to grow longer than usual.  In the garden, my veges are growing, and so are the weeds!  But I'm not complaining.

Finally the chokos are growing and there are so many we can't keep up.  I have been giving them away, and I've set aside a few to sprout.  We are still harvesting tromboncinos and rosellas.  And all the leafy greens have gone crazy, we have tat soi, pak choi, bok choi, kale, silver beet, mizuna and mustard leaves everywhere, most of it self-seeded.  The nasturtium has recovered, as has the chick weed, and there's still plenty of dill, parsley and chervil.  Also the first tiny brocolli (picked before they turn into flowers).

May harvest basket
chokos waiting to sprout (just leave them long enough and it will happen)
This month I set up another worm farm that was given to me, so I'm looking forward to lots more worm wee (post about setting up the worm farm coming soon).  And I set up a messy "greenhouse" for the potatoes, as they have just come up and won't tolerate frost when it finally comes.  Most of them are just left over from last year (I replanted the small ones) and a few sprouted in the cupboard, so I don't know what I'm going to get, but hoping for some more purple ones!  I really haven't done much else apart from weeding the chick weed to feed to the chickens (and some for my homemade salve).  I also planted some celery seedlings and some broadbean seeds.  The peas I planted last month are taller than me and showing no intention to flower or make any peas!

second worm farm set up
my potato "greenhouse"
chick weed before I pulled it all out for the chickens
aloe perryi flower (all about aloe here)
sweet potato patch (with some beans at well)
geranium flower
In June I think I'll just be harvesting anything that grows, and spreading all that extra worm wee around the garden.


How's your garden going?  What are your plans for June?

Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Simple Saturdays Blog Hop
From the Farm Blog Hop
Homestead Barn Hop
The Homeacre Hop


Comments

  1. Hi, I think your garden looks amazing. And that geranium is just gorgeous. Beautiful colour :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never liked geraniums before, but they seem to survive the most awful conditions and produce lovely flowers, so I let them stay in my garden :)

      Delete
  2. Recently a friend gave me a white choko and I am looking forward to that sprouting, the skin is much more tender and you dont have to peel them. i havent had much success with chokos, everyone else grows them like weeds!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They do seem to be quite picky, just the right temperature and water and they grow like crazy, good luck with the white one, very exciting to find an unusual vege :)

      Delete
  3. I have had a choko sitting on my kitchen windowsill for two months. So far the vine is about 10 centimetres long with leaves just starting. However, I know nothing about actually growing them so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've got a post coming up soon, but you're on the right track, you'll just have to plant it soon :)

      Delete
  4. With our crazy weather down here, i have flowers and pods on pea plants that are less than a foot high. Daffodils are already 10cm above the soil so expecting an early crop. I dont know what to plant. Is it winter or not? We had two weeks of over 21 in May.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. haha, its tricky isn't it, to plan ahead when you don't know what the weather will do :)

      Delete
  5. I love picking the broccoli at the start of broccoli season as it is one of my favourite veggies, i wait all year for it. As per usual you are busy in the garden and now with another worm farm, I think one is enough for us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would start another one if someone offered it to me.... the worm compost has been so good in my garden!

      Delete
  6. Most of my planting has been done.I'm just waiting for it all to grow but there's always space coming on for a few seeds every now and then. I've got the next two days off so I hope to get heaps of gardening done.
    Thanks for the update. Sure has been warm though I'm sure winter wont be far away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's always just a few more seeds to plant right?

      Delete
  7. I have only just gotten my peas in which may be a bit late but since I still have Beans and eggplants growing maybe not? We have lots of leafy greens and like you lots of chickweed. The chickens are really happy with all the buckets of greens they are getting at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Would you believe that my chickens don't eat it? They are too spoiled!

      Delete
  8. Chokoes - that much-maligned fruit! Wonderful about half-size, so sweet especially if lightly fried. Not a fan of steamed Choko. We limit the fruit by pruning the shoots which are over the path, that way we're not overwhelmed by fruit. The fruit can be juiced - I include it with other fruits and veges. Any big ones you don't want for plants can be chopped up and either composted or put back around the plant as a self-in-situ-compost.
    Worms, btw don't 'wee'. The liquid is condensate or leachate. Or made by soaking castings in filtered water. It's brilliant stuff.
    Chick weed is good to eat for us, too!
    So warm here, 1km from the eastern edge of the continent that the Fig is going into dormancy while producing new fruit. The Sugar snap Peas are climbing, have been pruned, yet continue to flower but few edible fruit so far.
    The climate change deniers are not gardeners! They would see the weird things happening to plants in their own yards if they were gardeners.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Elaine, yes I agree, the small chokos are sweeter, I have been trying to pick them before they get too big! I know its not really wee, but that's what everyone calls it, sounds better than leachate! Sounds like your garden is going well too, and yes, the climate is getting weirder.

      Delete
  9. Thanks for the garden update. I look forward to seeing your progress.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks, I appreciate all your comments, suggestions and questions, but I don't always get time to reply right away. If you need me to reply personally to a question, please leave your email address in the comment or in your profile, or email me directly on eight.acres.liz at gmail.com

Popular posts from this blog

Chicken tractor guest post

Sign up for my weekly email updates here , you will find out more about chickens, soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post!  New soap website and shop opening soon.... Tanya from Lovely Greens invited me to write a guest post on chicken tractors for her blog.  I can't believe how many page views I get for chicken tractors, they seem to be a real area of interest and I hope that the information on my blog has helped people.  I find that when I use something everyday, I forget the details that other people may not be aware of, so in this post for Tanya, I tried to just write everything I could think of that I haven't covered in previous posts.  I tried to explain everything we do and why, so that people in other locations and situations can figure out how best to use chicken tractors with their own chickens. The dogs like to hang out behind the chicken tractors and eat chicken poo.  Dogs are gross! If you want to read more about chicken tractor

The new Eight Acres website is live!

Very soon this blogspot address will automatically redirect to the new Eight Acres site, but in the meantime, you can check it out here .  You will find all my soaps, ebooks and beeswax/honey products there, as well as the blog (needs a tidy up, but its all there!).  I will be gradually updating all my social media links and updating and sharing blog posts over the next few months.  I'm very excited to share this new website with you!

Garden Update - July 2013

This month I'm joining the Garden Share Collective , which was started last month by Lizzie from Strayed from the Table , to allow vege gardeners to share their successes and failures and generally encourage everyone to grow more of their own food organically.  This first month, I'll give a detailed update on everything that's growing in my garden, for anyone who hasn't been following for long.  I'll do my normal farm update on Tuesday as well. If you've just joined me, welcome to my vege garden.  I recently wrote about gardening in our sub-tropical climate , so if you're wondering about the huge shade structure, that's for protecting the garden during our hot, humid summers.  At the moment though, the garden is full of brassicas, which grow best here in winter, and are suitably frost-proof.  The garden is about 12 m long by 5 m wide, and surrounded in chicken mesh to keep out the chickens and the bandicoots.  The garden has spilled out around the edg