Our second garden craft session was pushed back a week to 20 November since we took a spontaneous trip to Victoria the weekend before (when the session was originally scheduled). I was slightly annoyed with myself because I really wanted to get our tomatoes into the ground, but now everything in the garden is thriving so much I’m not so bothered! I actually got into the garden fairly early and started doing LOTS of weeding. It’s not just the fruits and veggies we love that are thriving; the weeds are going crazy. However we wanted to do some hot composting, so I almost welcomed the weeds (though not the work of getting them into a pile). Scott mowed the thriving lawn.
Christina arrived and we had a look at the garden. She seemed impressed that the Chinese gooseberries Kiri and Apty had already reached the top of the trellis; they’ll grow along the back beam now and any side shoots will be trained out. She gave us some white and scarlet runner beans for the arch over our front walkway. For me the most exciting thing was getting the tomatoes into Big Green! I’m really looking forward to them!!! The varieties we planted are:
- Tomato Siberian
- Tomato Principe Borghese
- Tomato Cherokee Purple
- Tomato Rouge de Marmonde
- Tomato Tigerella
- Tomato whippersnapper
We also put some basil seedlings in. BASIL!!! SUMMER!!! Other things planted during the session were:
- Planted a Zucchini Cocozelle seedling (we pulled out 2 broad bean plants – very brave of me! – and planted it into Big Yellow).
- Planted seedlings of capsicums, cayenne chilis, and jalapenos in the old herb garden.
- Sowed mixed greens into a blank spot where I’d harvested bok choi from the old swings berry patch (note: these started emerging from the soil 24 November!).
- Sowed Idelight Green Beans into the former home of bok choi in Big Blue.
- Sowed climbing beans Blue Late, Kentucky Wonder, and Purple King against the fence (which apples will eventually go).
All every exciting!
It was a HOT day. After Christina left I transplanted some of the rocket in a wine barrel in the Mediterranean Zone to between the mulberry and the fence. I got a bucket with a lid and started some nettle tea. And did lots of random things until it was time to shower and see Christina again at taketina! All in all an exciting day. Here’s a few photos of our darlings.
Scarlet Runner Beans and White Runner Beans
Big Green with Young Tomato and Basil Plants (I need to get the stakes in)
2 Broadbean Plants Pulled Out to Plant Zucchini Cocozelle
Bok Choi Harvested; Idelight Green Beans Sown
'Berry' Patch - the yellow flowers is our mizuna going crazy!
Wow, such great results already!
Our Cherokee Purple tomatoes did great this last year, it was our first time growing them but it won’t be the last. The little cherry tomatoes we grew did well as always too, and they were amazingly sweet. Zucchini, basil, and various peppers also did well. The carrots were little bite-sized things, I’m guessing because they were too closely packed together.