'Darling Downs' Veggie Patch

New Year's Day...

2010-01-01T13:39:00.002+11:00

Well, I really have been neglecting this poor gardening blog over the past 4 months and ought to have my but kicked for it... LOL!!!!

This morning I harvested a big batch of cucumbers, black and green zucchini, golden nugget zucchini and green squash...

I have loads more green zucchinis on their way.....
The first of my pumpkins have started to grow fruit....

And the purple beans that I thought were on their last legs have found a new lease on life after our recent inch of rain and have new shoots and flowers everywhere...

I can definitely report that this December has been much more productive than last year as most of my garden had died off from the heat by this time last year.... The extra mulch really must be working a treat to retain moisture....

Take Care..... Jodie... :)

General Update....

2009-09-18T12:10:00.005+10:00

This post is a general garden update..... First we have some black Zucchini seeds sprouting this week....

Some new potatoes popping out of the soil in holes where I harvested my first crop for the season.... I'm just using spuds that I bought from the supermarket for cooking that shot in my pantry. I've been told that you should only used certified seed potatoes as they can be prone to disease but the ones that I've harvested thus far have been delicious and disease free so I'll keep doing it this way for a while...
My onions are coming along well and in a couple of weeks they should be ready for harvest...

The snow peas are still producing prolifically..... We get about 12 a night from 3 plants which is just plenty for our little family...

The dwarf beans are really finding their feet this week and I should hopefully see some flowers on them in the next week or two...

This year is my first attempt at growing celery and so far so good... These little plants are really coming along well....

My pineapple sage that I thought was dead after a very big frost about a month ago has found its second wind and has new shoots this week, yippee!!!!! This plant smells amazing and I can't wait to harvest my first leaves for a yummy Summer punch...

After raiding and propagating my sister's massive supply of common mint I now have it growing in my herb garden too....

I've also had a go at propagating some oregano. Making sure I had some roots attached I transplanted a couple of little runners into pots and after a couple of weeks have new shoots on each plant, so that was a success...

A new little garden beds has been built to house my purple climbing beans. I'm so excited about these ones and can't wait to cook my first harvest and watch them change colour...

My new raspberry bush has started to shoot.....

So has my new red delicious apple tree.....

and my new golden delicious/granny smith apple tree....

And my ornamental grape....

And my new pomegranate....

And my new cherry tree as well....

Phew... That was one hell of a post and if you made it this far well done!!!!!

Take Care :)

Heating Up....

2009-09-17T17:24:00.004+10:00

My compost is usually an old drum but over the weekend DH decided it was time for an upgrade...

So after a little bit of hammering and a small amount of tying later I now have a new compost ideally located to the side of my yard under a cedar tree...
On the veggie garden front LOTS and LOTS of seeds have gone in over the past couple weeks including some yummy looking purple beans which are supposed to turn green when cooked.... I'm currently harvesting a lovely big bowl full of lettuce (yes, that's the stuff I got real cheap mentioned in my last post), English spinach (also the cheap stuff) and snow peas every night.....
My rocket has shot to seed with all of the hot weather we've been having over the past week with the highest temp I've recorded so far being 36, that sure is hot for the start of September... I'm going to try saving some of the rocket seeds to plant in a couple of weeks....

My beetroot are growing rapidly and should be ready for harvest within the week.... I can't wait to roast them up, DELICIOUS!!! I've only half a dozen to harvest but have planted more in another bed which should hopefully be ready within the month...

My dwarf beans are coming along well but the climbing cucumber hasn't really liked being planted in raised beds... I'll persevere with the cucumber for now but am seriously thinking about transplanting them to somewhere else in my yard...
Take Care :)

New Plants.....

2009-08-16T15:52:00.009+10:00

O.K... After some disappointing losses last week due to the frost I armed myself with some new seedlings, picked myself up off the floor and decided to give it another go..... In the spot where the climbing beans were originally planted I've now planted long green burpless cucumber......I've put an empty 2 litre juice bottle cut in half over the top of each of the plants to help protect them from frost while they are still young....

My local hardware store was all out of climbing beans (I'll plant some seeds this week) so instead I bought some dwarf french beans and have planted them in amongst some cauliflower as suggested here..... I've also put containers over the beans to protect against frost....

While I was at the hardware store I was lucky enough to score a punnet of sick viking spinach,cauliflower, and mixed green lettuce, all for 50cents each..... Gotta love a bargain!!!!The plants don't look too bad... Fingers crossed that with a little TLC they'll come good and produce more than I paid for them... :)

With the days now warming up my snow peas

and peas are now in flower......

It's just starting to come over cloudy... Here's hoping the heavens open tonight and we get a drop of rain....

Take Care :)

Frost...

2009-08-09T12:37:00.000+10:00

Yesterday morning I woke to a blanket of white out my bedroom window...

So those lovely beans and tomatoes I planted that really don't like it too chilly are now freezing their buts off.....

They were all a lovely shade of white aswell and now a day later are an aweful shade of black... :(

Oh well, I'll hold my head high, learn from this lesson (hopefully, lol!!!) and start from scratch... At least now with my online diary I might be able to prevent this from happening next year...

After talking with a few wiser old gardeners yesterday, the last frost around these parts is usually the 10th of September....

Planting.....

2009-08-06T17:28:00.001+10:00

Today I planted brandy-wine and heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, coloured chard, beetroot and chilli in some little pots....

I transplanted some beans and am going to try and grow them up this old single bed frame...
I was lucky enough to harvest some rocket for my lunch and let me tell you now, it was DELICIOUS!!!!
In another tin the same as above, I planted spring onions and mixed lettuce....