In the Garden: There is Life!

After a week of anxious waiting, yesterday I was thrilled to return home from work to teeny tiny beetroot sprouts!

Today, there were finally signs of life outside in the "real" garden too.

Snowpea!

More beetroot!

Lettuce!

Since taking these photos another snowpea and a bean have poked out too. YAY!

Meanwhile, I have six tomato plants and a chili plant on my kitchen windowsill. 

Behind them, the view to the garden - my little tiny veggie garden!

And the strawberries? Between the three plants are growing more than thirty strawberries! Woohoo!

In the Garden: Seeds Are In!

My mother-in-law came over yesterday to help us dig our garden. We added lots of poo into the soil! Sheep poo and cow poo - yummy yum yum yum! We found three worms; hopefully more will turn up now the soil has all been turned and manured.

My two helpers did an excellent job digging up and weeding, but not such a good job when it came to smiling for the camera:

And here is is all dug! Down one side are bamboo support poles. Soon they will be covered with climbing beans and snow peas. 

Since taking this photo, the top pole, which goes across the top of the three teepees, has also been tied on.

As you can see from the above photos, there is a huge pine tree at the back of the yard. When we were digging up the dirt we found lots of pine roots. At first they were just discarded, but we found a fantastic use for them: ties for the bamboo teepees. I love the rustic look of the pine roots being used to tie the bamboo poles together.

The majority of the garden has been planted now. Only the snow peas need to be sowed, and the celery transplanted. 

Here is the garden, all sown and planted (minus snow peas and celery):

Oh, humble beginnings! Soon this will be a thriving patch of deliciousness!

Already planted, we have:

• climbing beans 
• silverbeet (the colourful variety)
• dwarf beans
• two heirloom varieties of beetroot
• loose leaf lettuce
• spring onions (all SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY seeds accidentally dumped in one area!)
• zucchini (this may not germinate, the soil may be too cold)
• lettuce seedlings
• Asian greens seedlings (the names of which I can't remember, except that one of the four types is red mustard)
• parsley and sage (shown below)

As it is such a small patch, I cheated a little when planting the rows of beans and beetroot. I figured that as beans can be planted 10cm apart, I would do the rows much closer than the recommended 50cm. As I will not have to walk between the rows, the closer group planting ought to be more than fine.

Most importantly, the strawberries are thriving. I am looking forward to the first ripe strawberry so much!

Inside, the tomatoes have blossoms forming and the capsicums and chili plant are doing well. Just today I repotted some basil seedlings, which will also be kept inside. No doubt the next post will have pictures of all the indoor plants.

Grow plants, grow!

The Garden Begins

The table in my loungeroom has been hijacked by a tarp and plants.

Strawberries! I am looking forward to these fruiting so much! There are three varieties in this pot: Tioga (at the front), Strawberry Delight (pink flowers - squee!), and hokowase with the long stems.

Growing up, my family always had a vegetable garden and fruit trees. Without them, we would definitely not have been eating as well as we did, as my Dad (a Vietnam Veteran) struggled with anything more that casual work (as many VV's do).

Since getting married, my husband and I have lived in units, and could never grow anything apart from some herbs in pots. Finally, though, we are in a house! With a yard! A biiiiig yard! We moved in way back in May, and at last I am getting myself into garden-making-gear.

On Sunday my mother-in-law and I hit the shops and bought garden gear. About time too, as we are half way through spring. As you can see above, we have seedlings, seeds, manure, hot pink gardening gloves (a necessity). We aimed for veggies that mature within 8-12 weeks, as my husband and I are most likely moving house at the end of summer. 

I have also been making some origami newspaper planters (here is a smaller version). 

I can't wait for fresh tomatoes, spring onions, lettuce, crispy beans and capsicum! This is going to be a delicious summer. 

I still need to dig the garden, however...

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