Over the last couple of days I have been digging over the smaller raised garden. The soil had compacted so much it was as hard as the hobs of hell, no wonder the onions and garlic I had planted couldn't grow. Because I had been spending so much time on the other garden and all the seedlings Ive been growing, I just hadn't had the time to get into it.
I didnt want to waste the plants so I decided to carefully dig them up and replant in the new garden, hoping that they would flourish and not curl their toes up...and I also found this lovely big beet but that made its way to the kitchen. Today I finished digging it over and planted purple beans around the edge and some Urenika potatoes (that i had completely forgotten about) in the rest of it...hopefully I will get a good crop of yummy spuds from them.
Last week I removed the soil from an old concrete tub, put some drainage in, added some compost and planted the first of the pumpkin plants. These three are butter pumpkins, I haven't grown them before so I am looking forward to seeing what they turn out like. They seem to have settled in there despite the chooks having a scratch around which sent me running across the lawn waving my arms like a mad woman, they now have a plastic sheet fencing them off.
A trade of blackberry jam for grapefruit put me on a marmalade mission earlier on in the week. I added some oranges and lemons, finely sliced a mix of rind and wallah...nineteen jars of a semi bitter-sweet marmalade.
Months ago I planted the last luffa seeds and was disappointed nothing ever grew from them...until a few weeks ago when up popped four luffa seedlings out of the blue. I waited for them to get a teeny bit bigger before putting them into their own pots and so far they are happily growing in full sun under the veranda...maybe I will get some loofah's this year?
Petunia and Lola...double trouble!
One of the cape gooseberry plants in the new garden. I can't wait to see them covered in those lovely little paper lanterns with the golden orange berry inside, so delicious and apparently make very nice jam though my berries wouldn't make it out of the garden. The coriander I planted has gone nuts so I need to give it a trim and dry some out...I haven't dried many fresh herbs before so it will be interesting but the smell of it is divine and coupled with the cumin I am growing it will be a delicious addition to the pantry.
Here is another pic of the Takahue garlic, it has grown so big that if it wasn't in my garden I wouldn't believe it. The strawberries are growing very happily next to it too. The rhubarb on the right is looking so healthy in its new spot, I can't help but wonder if its the garlic nearby that it likes.
While hunting through my seed box recently I found my last packet of Austrian oil seed pumpkin seeds so yesterday I planted them. They are the hull less pumpkin seeds that you eat but I had no luck with the other seeds I planted last year so fingers crossed this year they will grow for me. There was ten seeds in the packet but even if only one grew I would be completely ecstatic!
