Wow, it’s August already and only one more month until spring! Yay. Plus it’s The Garden Share Collective month, where a group of global gardening bloggers share their vege patches with all those interested. The trials and tribulations of growing your own. Thanks to the lovely Lizzie from ‘Strayed from the table’ for this great initiative.
So what’s been happening at Frog Pond Farm?
As it happens, I have been busy over the past week, pruning more of those olive trees which is a big job, as our trees are seriously ‘over grown’. The day has to be right weather wise too. Ideally it should be fine, a slight breeze, no rain in sight and some good sharp equipment. I’m a firm believer in sterilising my tools between trees too, so I have a plastic vessel with methylated spirits on hand.
Andrew loaded our 60-litre motorised spray pump into the back of the ATV yesterday, so yours truly was motoring around the vege garden giving everything a good dousing of seaweed fertiliser. The citrus and roses were also given a shower.
At last, I’ve also prepared my summer ‘Garden Plan’. It’s fun working out what goes where and rotating crops where possible. So here goes ..
RB1 – Summer salad garden
The tired brassicas which are currently in this bed will be getting hauled out soon and as an interim planting, I’ll sow a cover crop. I’m thinking buckwheat (loved by beneficial insects), phacelia or lupins. Closer to summer this stuff will get removed and salad seedlings will get planted: – lettuce, cucumber, celery, beetroot, dwarf tomatoes and beans. As beans aren’t too enamoured with the company of tomatoes, I will need to make sure that these two have a bit of breathing room, if you know what I mean!
RB2 – Chillies and peppers
This bed is currently an array of salad stuff, weeds, geranium and the usual plethora of self-seeded stuff. I’m going to sow some chilli and peppers into pots in the next few days and with a bit of luck, get seedlings planted into this bed in October. Do I close plant? Of course I do, which as chillies love a humid environ they will enjoy. I also read that they like growing with majoram and basil, so I shall stuff some of these delicious herbs in this space also!
RB3 – Cucurbits, celery and spinach
This bed is going to be a jumble of things. I love flowers in my vege garden and having them helps to not only encourage beneficial insects, but helps to deter some pests and generally add colour, aroma and cheer, they will be joining the cucumbers, Jack-be-little, celery and no doubt anything else I can poke in this bed. I’m thinking, marigolds, zinnia, alyssum, lavender, nasturtium, lemon bergamot, chamomile, geranium, feverfew.
RB4 – Spuds
Currently home to my Egyptian walking onions and red onions, and yes a host of self-seeded stuff, this bed will end up being my spud haven. They will get poked into the soil sometime in January once the alliums have been removed. And as I do, I always chit my potatoes firstly – this gives them a bit of a head start.
RB5a – Summer salad garden
There are more brassicas in this bed doing their thing. We have so enjoyed eating them over the past few months and juicing the kale. This bed I have earmarked for a couple of tomatoes, zucchinis, herbs, flowers and just about anything else I can stuff in here. I’m considering doing a cover crop in this space too, but I might run out of time as tomatoes need to be planted ideally late October.
RB6
My peas are still growing happily in this garden as is the garlic. Into this bed next up will be more spuds – late crop of course and we can’t forget the trellis which will support some nice heirloom bean varieties.
So that’s the plan!
Garden Delights
- We are still eating brassicas – just! I have an amazing selection of herbs and as can be expected they are going into an array of dishes and salads
- Loving eating garlic and onions from the garage
- Hoping that the bananas hanging indoors will ripen (where is that paper bag?)
- Enjoying beetroot and spring onions and peas which funnily enough don’t make it indoors (I wonder why that is Julie?)
- One of my chooks has started laying again, so we are now getting an egg a day and about time too!
Things to do
- Prune a couple of branches from our lemon tree in the backyard, as citrus borer fly from Nov – Feb I’m opting to do this soon
- Start sowing some veg and flower seeds
- Continue pruning the olives – I’m only about half way
- Weed and don’t stop weeding, including removing some calendula, forget-me-nots and nasturtium which are overcrowding my poor garlic
- Think about pruning those pip fruit in the orchard
- Get cracking preserving my lemons – yum!
So that’s about it! And Colin has started crowing, I wasn’t mistaken after all. In fact, he’s turned into a bit of a casanova! Wink wink
Happy gardening!