The wet season vegetable garden

Well, how about that! 
Despite all this rain and muggy weather the carrots have come up - wow!  they are forming little feathery bits already! 
Now one of  my problems is that I HATE to thin plants out so I am going to wait a while.  I have heard that it is OK just to cut the tops of the excess ones off with a pair of sharp scissors as this disturbs the roots of the remaining plants the least.
Pumpkin vines have been showing up everywhere and this one has muscled its way in. 
 I decided it could stay - part of the permaculture design is to grow up over a trellis in order to make the best use of the available space, and this vine is creeping up over the line of pigeon peas.  I think it must be a jap pumpkin, as that is the more common in this area, and I am sure there were plenty of jap seeds in the compost.


I tried sowing some more amaranth seed, and this does look healthier than the last batch.  Funny that the last lot in the dry season was decimated by bugs - and this is really a season when there are more bugs around.  Maybe being half hidden under the pumpkin vine is a good thing.  There is also some silverbeet coming up, it normally just grows very long and leggy so I have high hopes, this area should be full of nitrogen with the pigeon peas nearby, and there is no reason that silverbeet should not do well. .

I wedged  a piece of woven cane from some old furniture against the fence as I will be digging up some of the stones and creating a new bed for my tomatoes.  I want the soil to be higher than the bottom of the fence so that bandicoots cannot burrow underneath.  I am going to keep a row of stones to have a pathway in front of the tomatoes to make harvesting easier.  I will be placing some wood to stop the stones falling down into the area.   Further down the fence is the comfrey patch where I used the same method. 
 It is hard work digging up those stones, and then they are full of sand so need to be washed out.  I am presently putting them into an old laundry basket in the hopes that the sand will naturally filter to the bottom. One has to be careful in this climate not to have standing water as it will breed mosquitoes.

My ginger is not sending out sprouts yet, but the tumeric has little green spots so will be sure to sprout soon.  I left lots in the ground last year so should be able to start harvesting this year.
The one thing I dont have to do is water!  There is plenty of rain falling from the sky.

Comments

  1. OneMon Oct 18, 11:45:00 AM

    Your pumpkin looks extremely healthy. If it grows any bigger, it may look like a man-eating plant. :) I guess the rain and nitrogen contributed to its size.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Malay-Kadazan girlMon Oct 18, 03:17:00 PM

    Your carrots is popping out nicely. I usually don't bother to thin them out until I cAn get baby carrots from them. Then I pull them and leave some to grow bigger. You have a very neat and organize veggie patch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. StephanieTue Oct 19, 12:11:00 AM

    Hello!
    The pumpkin vine foliage looks really big. Hope you will have some tasty and big jap pumpkins soon ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. africanaussieTue Oct 19, 09:44:00 AM

    One,
    yes I am not entirely sure that I have the room for this one - I keep twining the tendrils up and away from the paths...
    Malay-Kadazan girl,
    What a great idea - I love those tiny vegetables, and carrots with the tops on - yummy. Ooops i dont think permaculture is supposed to be organised and neat!
    Stephanie,
    not sure how long it will be until we see pumpkins, lots of male flowers though.

    ReplyDelete

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