Friday, February 28, 2014

The Garden Share Collective - March

  The Garden Share Collective is the brain child of Lizzie from Strayed from the Table. There are a group of bloggers from all over the place who chat about what is going on in their gardens, with hints and tips. Pop over and check out all the others.

My greenhouse is still going great. I've got tomatoes going nicely, one of the tomatoes I planted last May is still giving me tomatoes! I've planted more from seed and already they are shooting up.
The chillies are so amazingly abundant.
And there's more basil on the go - so all in all it's all rather lovely in there!

Under control - clean and tidy.

Teeny tiny basil

This is a 'great white'


The veggie garden, on the other hand, is diabolical!
The tomatoes have all gone brown and blerk! The lettuces have all gone to seed, the beans were always rubbish! But the pumpkins and squash are doing well. They look rubbish, but the plants always die back about now. The actual pumpkins are really big this year! In fact the butternut squash are the biggest I have ever seen! so whoo hoo!






The pumpkin vine has spread over the fence and is now trying to grow up one of the avocado trees!


This however, even though it looks like a big green slug, is my favourite thing ever! It's a luffah! And I have been trying to grow one of these for yonks. The vine has a few on it, but this is the biggest by far. I so hope it's able to dry out and then I can clean it up and make luffahs!! So exciting!


 My morning harvest.


The globe artichokes have gone to flower - well some of them have. This was totally on purpose as I absolutely love the colour they go - stunning.

And the first flowers have appeared on the jerusalem artichokes. If anyone is thinking of growing these, may I suggest you do it in a very large pot? They spread like crazy and once you've got them you will NEVER get rid of them!


And in other areas around the garden ~ the bananas are still going great guns. These aren't ready yet, but in another few weeks we'll take them off the palm to ripen.

There are elderberries all over the place. Usually I just feed them to the chickens! But this year I may try to make something out of some. Also I have a friend who is keen on some.


 Apples! Everywhere! 


And cicadas everywhere too! I know the noise they make drives some people a wee bit mad, but I adore them! They seem incredibly noisy and incredibly tame this year!


So that's it!

My mum is arriving tomorrow, from Scotland, for 3 weeks. I can't wait! It means that the garden will go a bit by the wayside. Probably not much seed planting will be done, or weeding. The grass will be mowed though. So most likely this month will just be as little maintenance I can get away with!!




12 comments:

  1. I love cidadas. Their song is nice, relaxing, almost meditative. I love when I chance upon their empty molted shells. Their translucent or clear wings are so lovely. I hear that they are eaten in most of the locations where they thrive and that the females are more meaty. Their shells are, or at least were, used in traditional Chinese medicine. I do not know much about that, but they are medicine for my natural heartaches.

    So nice to hear that I am not their only fan.

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    1. I find their cast off shells all over the garden. They look completely prehistoric!

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  2. The garden is thriving!! Bananas!! WOW!! Love your cicada photos. Enjoy your time with your mum, not that your need to be told.

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    1. having a blast with mum, thanks! Its just a real shame that neither Lloyd or I are mad on bananas. Our friends benefit though!

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  3. A wonderfully productive garden with so much happening. I'm very envious of your bananas. How long do they take to ripen once they're taken off the palm?

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    1. once they are off, we leave them on the deck. They usually take about a week to ripen after that.

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  4. Anonymous11:23 pm

    Hello! I've just joined in with the Garden Share collective too, I'm in the UK - it's amazing to see a garden with both bananas and apples! I have serious garden-envy. Over here in the UK, we're pretty much stuck with end-of-winter veg like chard, spinach, kale etc. Nice, but...it's not bananas, is it?! Great seeing the loofah growing - never seen one before. I'd have assumed it was a cuc! Happy growing...Lucy

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    1. hello!! Im off to check your blog out now :) and the luffa has been a four year project! I've never had any success before - so I am nurturing this flipping thing like its precious!

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  5. With the Jerusalem artichoke, do you find that the flowers will create more plants or the fact the bulbs in the ground keep coming up? I have just dug out our first bush and thinking about planting more bulbs through my garden to break up some of our problem area soil. Your green house is looking very tidy by the way.

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    1. its definitely the left over bulbs in the ground, I reckon. ( I do actually cut the flowers and have them in a vase as I think they're really pretty, but def the bulbs. I used to have them all down the chicken run as well, this is the only place I've managed to get rid of them! I fed them to the chooks - dug, fed, dug, fed dug, fed!! They really are incredibly intrusive if you don't contain them. And a new plant can grow from just a wee but of bulb!!!

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  6. Anonymous11:57 pm

    Your Mum will be going home to Scotland just about when I arrive from Scotland. The only thing I am allergic to are elderberries, made some wine a few years back and after a couple of glasses I was itching all over, needless to say I had to make sure a few weeks later and yes the itch was back. LOL

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    1. small world! you might cross over in the sky! shame about the allergy :( I get really itchy hands sometimes, and to this day I'e never worked out what causes it. Very annoying!

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Laura x