Veggie garden extension reveal

Here is the big reveal of how the veggie garden edges have been extended.

 The end towards the wheelie bins (that is what we call our garbage bins here in Australia!) and tumbling composter had to allow easy access to the path and compost but still match the other side. Along the fence the ginger is doing great - I am not harvesting it all - will leave it to bandicoot as needed. I will be making another batch of pink pickled ginger soon which is awesome.  Then I have my little cassava tree and behind that was supposed to be the choko, but that rotted away.  I will grow choko eventually.....  a few little volunteer cherry tomatoes sprouted in front of the fence so I decided this is where the tomatoes will grow this year....  Bigger tomatoes in the wicking beds and pots. .  Soy beans and black beans were planted against the fence, but with all this rain nothing has come up.  There is a row of silverbeet in front of the tomatoes, along with some warringal greens.  A volunteer winged bean is climbing up the fence.

 I moved some marigolds into the besa bricks along that edge of the next bed, they are supposed to be good for the soil - keeping away nematodes, and of course attracting pollinators.   Once I had weeded that area I lay down some cardboard to hopefully keep more weeds from popping up again.  It doesn't take long with this wet weather for weeds to take root.  This area is nice and sunny, easy to reach and harvest, I popped in some capsicum behind the Barbados cherry with snow peas on the trellis.   I  then planted my new little perennial capsicum seedlings behind the cherry and rocket and lettuce in front.  There is a comfrey in the little corner, that will mine up nutrients and the leaves can be used as fertilizer.

 The weeds were dug into a ditch behind the middle trellis and covered with cardboard to help them compost down.    I don't like making weed tea, it stinks, attracts mosquitoes, and I always seem to get it all over myself trying to strain out the weeds.  I like to lay the weeds on the weed mat on the path and then turn it over every now and then to "bury" them under the weed mat. There have really just been too many weeds lately to do that, and I hate to just throw away all that lovely soil that is still attached to their roots, plus all the goodness contained in the weeds themselves.. what do you do with your weeds?

I have cucumbers right at the back, and in the space between the two trellises I have planted some snow peas on a frame, dill down the middle, and radishes and celery and bunching onions on the one side and bok choy on the other. Just after I planted the seeds we got days and days of pouring rain.  I was sure that the seeds would have got swamped, but they seem to have enjoyed the long drink and are popping up all over the place.  Clearly some of them got washed out of their neat little lines by the rain, but that's OK

  I haven't even tried my new soaker hose as it hasn't stopped raining....

The next bed is the perennial bed, which is doing fine - the asparagus got a fine layer of sugar cane mulch and then some more seaweed and then will just be left alone through the dry season. My little asparagus seedlings were planted into the "new area" behind the wicking beds.  The asparagus fronds tend to flop around all over onto the path, and so I thought of putting the trellis as a sort of side fence to control it.  It seems to be working fine for now.  Further back is the lemongrass which I keep cutting back too and using as mulch.  The peppercorn vine is going crazy, and I think these little areas on the nodes are where the peppercorns will appear

 The coffee bush had a trail of ants going up the stem so it got a good dousing of soapy oily water sprayed all over it. Since then it has a growth spurt with lots of new green leaves, which is a good sign.

 My capsicum bush was doing so well, but now I am not sure if it has wilt or what is going on with it.

   For now there are cut and come again lettuces growing in the wicking beds until the tomatoes are big enough to plant in there

I thought it might be good to draw a quick (untidy) diagram of my little garden so you can put it all into perspective 

The veggie bed is ready for the growing season, I am ready for the growing season, and it still continues to rain......