Garden update

Just thought I'd give you an update on what is happening in our veggie garden (now that summer has officially ended).

Zucchini and squash: The zucchini and squash plants have been going good all summer, giving us lots to eat. Well actually there were a couple of plants that didn't really produce anything, so I've pulled them out to make room to start planting winter veggies. The remaining ones are still going strong. We have really enjoyed having lots of yellow zucchini for a change (as you would know these are a lot more expensive than the green ones when you buy them from the supermarket)

Lettuce: Our lettuce surprised us, our first crop we planted in november has lasted us the whole summer. It only started going to seed last week, so we have now pulled them out (most info we read gave the indication that it would start to flower a lot quicker and we would have to have at least 3 subsequent plantings to last the summer). We do have a second crop that is at the nice baby leaf stage, so we will still be able to have salad until it gets too cold.

Spring onions: We only have 0 bunches of spring onions left - we planted 11 bunches and have eaten them all (Peter used the last tonight to make thai green curry paste).

Spinach: After a good first crop before christmas, the second crop we planted (when we got back) is still too small to eat.

Rocket: The first crop went great, but it went to seed towards the start of January. I planted more, but when I planted out the seedlings they all got munched by something. I didn't bother planting anymore, so I guess we'll just have to look forward to having more next summer.

Pak Choy: The first crop I planted before christmas was massive when Peter go back, but by the time I arrived home it had been eaten to pieces by white cabbage butterfly catapillars (tiny little things that can eat lots of holes in the leaves), so there wasn't really anything left for us to eat. So it got pulled out and put in the compost. I then planted a second crop, but it seems like it has taken ages to get growing, not to mention also being attacked by the white cabbage butterfly catapillars (although not as much this time as I'm more vigilant and squishing them, now I know what to do). It looks like the first couple of plants will be big enough to eat in the next week.

Sugar snap peas: The first 3 plants grew well and gave us a nice supply of pods, which the kids enjoyed munching on when we went out to water the plants after dinner. But they surcummed to powdery mildue (actually it's a type of fungus) and so we had to pull the plants out and bin them, so it didn't spread to our other veggie plants. I did plant a replacement crop, which are growing nicely, I just don't know if we'll get any pods on them before they get hit by frost.

Dwarf beans: If you remember the kids planted these in little pots at story time at the library last year and we planted them out into our garden. Well they have given us 2 crops of beans, although with only 2 plants it is barely enough to have with a meal for the 4 of us.

Sage: Has grown wildly and we now have 2 big bushes and 2 smaller bushes. We really only need 1 bush (I'd planted so many as insurance against any losses), as although we like it and it is expensive to buy from the shop if you need some, we don't use that much.

Basil: Grew well, got a bit taken over by the lettuce that it was planted inbetween. We managed to get enough leaves in one go to make a batch of basil pesto, but they haven't recovered enough to do it again.

Coriander: Grew well and I really enjoyed being able to have it to garnish my indian curry with (can't justify buying a bunch from the shop just to use as garnish). It went to seed in January. I planted some more, but it seems to be going very slowly.

Carrots: Only planted them about 3 weeks ago in that metal trunk I picked up. They have sprouted and I assume they are growing well (can't really see when the main action is under the soil).

Leeks: I planted these in the metal trunk at the same time as the carrots. They have sprouted, but I'm unsure how well they will go as I planted them directly in the soil and all the stuff I've been reading lately has talked about transplanting them and making sure they have lots of room when you do this, so they fatten up. So we will see what happens.

Chilli: We have a stack of chillis on the chilli plant, we are just waiting (and waiting and waiting) for them to turn red. In the meantime, we have been using some of the green ones in our cooking. One has started turning red, none of the others have even a hint of red on them.

Gem squash: Only planted them a couple of weeks ago, so don't know if I'll get any squash before we get some frost. We'll just have to wait and see.

Passionfruit: It's the only recognised fruit that I'm growing (as opposed to Zucchini and tomatoes, which are fruit even though we usually think of them as veggies). I bought the plant from the farmers market about a month ago. I'm looking forward to it fruiting next summer.

Cherry tomatoes: After our first plant dying due to watering neglect while we were away at christmas, the second plant I bought from the garden centre (including hanging basket and complete with fruit just waiting to ripen) has done very well. We are eating tomatoes at least once a week for dinner. Although next year I plan on having 2 plants as we could easily eat more if we had more.

Chives: I know I planted these late - only started in January, but they are growing really slow. I doubt they will get big enough to use before it gets too cold for them.

Sweet potato/kumera: I planted a tubar of the orange flesh variety that I'd just bought at the supermarket and had started to sprout. It's just planted in plastic rubbish bin (specifically bought for the purpose) and the first leaves poked through the soil on Friday.

Now I think that is all the various fruit and vegies we have grown this summer. I didn't realise there was so many until I sat down and wrote this. We are going to ask the landlord, this week, if we can turn a useless piece of grass between the driveway and the house into another garden bed, so we can grow more!