I couldn't wait to get planting this Spring.
Our vegetable garden uses the layered method, and after a few years of trial and error I think we are onto a pretty good formula. In the second week of September, we layered straw and then well rotted manure over and over, finishing with straw. We can get manure from some local stables, and this is far superior to anything we've bought from a nursery or landscaping supply.
This bed gets the most sun. It is planted with Sage, shallots, globe carrots, purple carrots, chives, catnip, cucumber, tomatoes and stevia.
At one stage it had marigolds, and they thrived until their season had finished. It used to have a lemon grass, but that turned into the biggest triffid and was very challenging to remove. I don't know who writes the seedling labels, but this was well and truly beyond a metre tall!
I planted the catnip so that I could make tea. It makes a delicious soft mint tea, not too harsh at all, but if you have too much it inhibits your bodies ability to absorb iron, so I don't go nuts with it.
Stevia on the left is sold as a white powder in the supermarket with the natural sweeteners. I like to put a sprig in ice tea instead of sugar. I thought it was dead at one stage but it sprang back to life in Spring! Exciting!
On the other side of the garden, the continental parsley is growing very well. It likes being in the shade. I never grow curly parsley, I hate it. Natures pubic hair. Ugh.
There are two types of beans, as well as yellow patty pan squash. The squash is already having issues with powdery mildew, so who knows if it will bear any fruit. That little plant to the far right is a mystery plant that popped up in my mother in law's garden. It's some kind of melon or squash, that's all we know!
This year we made a bean support from our old pool fence. I think it will do a great job, I can't wait to see the beans grow up it.
In the far corner, there is rainbow chard, basil, and a lot of pots. The large blue pots are Mr BCs experiments with cuttings. I'm pretty sure there are a few from the neighbours giant red hibiscus, it is over 2 stories tall and has very bright flowers. The smaller pots are my seedling attempts - I'm trying to grow a few spaghetti melons, and also a few dozen sunflower plants to make a sunflower house for the boys. I hope it works, it looks enchanting. I was inspired by this blog. I think sunflowers like to be planted where they are to grow but I'm pretty sure they would get trampled by the dog and the boys if I did that..
Corn, lettuce and tomatoes - that's what summer is about! There are mainly boston lettuces because that's what we eat the most of. I think in Boston they are called something else!
There is also a grape tomato growing behind the stevia, it has fruited all through winter. We didn't plant it, but we have loved eating the tomatoes when they are ripe! I've noticed that tomatoes have the best fruit when the rest of the plant looks dead.
There are two large tomato towers at either end of the corn and lettuce, we made them from chicken wire and they are each supported by a small section of pool fence. There are about 6 plants in each one, I couldn't tell you what they are - they are all volunteer plants that we moved here from else where in the garden or my mother in laws garden. That pot at the right has a few variety's of strawberries. Every time I think about re potting them they start fruiting.
Soon my plan will come together and the corn will be wide enough and tall enough to cover the hillbilly neighbours. Yay! Wish it was soundproof...
Lemon balm, mint, rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme and marjoram. I cook with these all the time, hence the bonsai appearance of the rosemary. Every year I worry that the marjoram has died, and every year it grows back. Lovely.
What are you growing in your garden?
xx