And on into the vegetable garden
I cut back more of the pigeon pea side shoots allowing all this lovely sunshine onto the vegetables seedlings that survived the rainy onslaught. I wove those shoots in and out of the uprights creating a sort of rustic cucumber trellis. The helconia branches I kept for plant supports have rotted, so that idea has been shelved. Oh well, you live and learn.
I planted some more lettuce seeds, more beets and silverbeet. those are the seeds that came up and drowned. The bok choy, radish, cucumber and gemsquash have done ok. I also transplanted some tomato seedlings into the ground, planting them deeply so that they can form a good network of roots. They are in the framework behind the row of cucumbers.
I was left a couple of Malay apple trees when the gardening group met at my place a couple of weeks ago. I gave one to my neighbour as she has a bigger yard than mine. Then I had an idea to create an espaliered tree against the back fence. I have never done this before, but a fellow gardener on Kitchen gardeners International has done a few on his allotment in England. It is still little, but I planted it next to the passionfruit vine that did so well. They always succumb to woody passionfruit virus after a year or two, and I have already started another passionfruit a little further down the fence. So now I have a few new projects to work on, as our "winter" season begins.
I planted some more lettuce seeds, more beets and silverbeet. those are the seeds that came up and drowned. The bok choy, radish, cucumber and gemsquash have done ok. I also transplanted some tomato seedlings into the ground, planting them deeply so that they can form a good network of roots. They are in the framework behind the row of cucumbers.
It's interesting to me that wherever people plant vegetables, many of the same names keep popping up (of course with a few "ringers" such as Malay apple). My leaf lettuce is growing well.
ReplyDeleteWow leaf lettuce already! I am impressed, it was not that long ago that the Chicago area was covered in snow! I think everyone strives to grow the "regular" vegetables, that we know and love. I keep trying some of the more native type to find ones that I like. I also talk to the old timers here to find out what they like to grow.
ReplyDeleteI've never really known what a winter in your part of the world is really like - so I'll be looking forward to see what harvests you get - probably all the same stuff we in the UK have during our summer!
ReplyDelete