Monday 5 January 2015

The garden share collective....a Summer garden








  
 
 
There has been a huge amount of growth in the garden in the last few months - you can see the difference from my last Garden Share Collective post here.

I ended up moving all of my plantings from the raised garden bed under the Apricot tree to the one above.  The soil just wasn't holding the water and was just so dry.  Since moving them they have flourished here.  There is a bit of shade from the hedge and because the garden bed is low it holds water really well.  At the end of winter I also put down a lot of manure which I'm sure makes a huge difference too.

I now want to extend this garden - I have compost on the other side so the plan is to dig the compost, and lawn clippings up, turn the soil and put down more manure and get this planted up for winter.

My tomatoes have gone crazy and are taking over.  They are stretching themselves over my celery, zucchini and cucumbers - this seems ok at the moment as they provide good shading and protection from the birds and bugs.  Is it okay to trim the tomato plantings back???  Or should I let them go wild???

We have been eating spinach from the garden.  And as it's summer and BBQ season I have been using the lettuce that is growing for our salads.  The tomatoes are now ready to be added to our meals too.

Our fruit trees have been pants this year.  After two years of bumper plum and apricot crops, this season the trees are almost bare.  I was told that with apricot trees it's year on year off so I guess we are due for an "off" season.

With the raised garden bed under the apricot tree now bare I was thinking of putting in more strawberries.   Any other suggestions would be appreciated - it needs to be a crop that can tolerate dry conditions, and a lot of sun.  This spot isn't sheltered well from winds either.

In the last year I have really taken to gardening - vegetables and flowers.  I had no idea how rewarding and relaxing I would find it.


Growing in the garden I have:

Tomatoes
Capsicum - red/orange/yellow
Chillies
Broccoli
Spinach
Zucchini
Cucumber
Lettuce
Spring onions
Strawberries

Jobs to do:

Weeding and soil turning
Netting over crops
Extend the vegetable garden (remove some of the compost and clippings, turn soil and lay down manure).


 
Happy gardening!


TheGardenShareCollective300pix

Joining in with Lizzie from Strayed from the table.

"The Garden Share Collective is a group of bloggers who share their vegetable patches, container gardens and the herbs they grow on their window sills. Creating a monthly community to navigate through any garden troubles and to rival in the success of a good harvest we will nurture any beginner gardener to flourish. Each month we set ourselves a few tasks to complete by the next month, this gives us a little push to getting closer to picking and harvesting. The long-term goal of the Garden Share Collective is to get more and more people gardening and growing clean food organically and sustainably."




 

14 comments:

  1. Hello Elaina - I am a traditional tomato grower - I stake them and prune the axillary shoots out really hard, trying to keep the plant to two or three main stems. If they get to the top of the stakes - some years they do, some they don't - I then follow the Italian tradition and nip the tops out of each stem to force better fruit.

    But I mainly grow grosse lisse and amish paste, which like this, and roma takes it or leaves it. This year the romas are the tallest ever (lots of manure), and I have nipped out the tops. You can get away without pruning them, but then I find the bushes are a bit too bulky, and even get spiders in them. I don't like spiders. Other people grow them fine without this pruning - and you may be a little late for it now.

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    1. Thank you for all the great info - love this Garden Share Collective. xo

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  2. every year I have the best intentions of doing a vege garden, I prepare the soil plant the veges and then that is as far as I get usually!! Sometimes the plants don't mind being neglected and sometimes not lol I really wish I have more motivation for the up keep!!

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    1. I used to be like that, then in the last year something just clicked. Loving it now xo

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  3. Pinch out the tops of the tomato bushes to promote healthy bushes. Try ginger in your dry area, elderberry or pandanus will grow well too. You are producing so well and are enjoying your garden + produce. Happy gardening in 2015 ; D

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    1. Thank you for the suggestions, never thought of trying ginger xo

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  4. You have so much variety. I don't know for sure on the tomatoes, but I think if you let them go wild, you may need to stake them up off the ground. They look very lush so far.

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    1. I think more staking is definitely the way to go. December was busy so I didn't get into the garden much. At the beginning of the month we has loads of rain and then the sun settled in and bam - everything went crazy! xo

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  5. Your garden looks great, I just took a surplus of cucumber into work today. Waiting for my tomatoes to ripen now.

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  6. I have always been told to put comfrey under fruit trees as it is a self mulching system. Maybe you could try some other herbs under your apricot. Now with the tomatoes, I am a person who prunes the bottom foot to produce one single stem and then the rest I let go wild. Where I live I want as much foliage but not touching the ground at the same time as the plants rot. I need the leaves to protect the fruit from the sun and keep cool when we have ridiculous heat. Happy New Year

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    1. Thank you for the info Liz, I need to get in there and prune and do a little more staking I think. xo

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  7. Wow, it is so lovely to see so much growing and flourishing!! You can remove the sideshoots on your tomatoes that come out between the main stem and the "branches" as they will remove some of the leaves and growth and allow the fruit to ripen and develop. Happy growing and eating! xx

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  8. I am glad that you caught the addiction! Your plants look very prolific. I would go along with everyone else and say stake the tomatoes. Comfrey is awesome as it brings up the minerals from deep down and can be used to make fertilizer.

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    1. I can't wait for the February Share Garden Collective - the tomatoes have been pruned and staked now. It has made such a huge difference. My sister n law recommend Comfrey too, so will definitely look into it. xo

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