December 2022

The Veggie Patch is slowly coming back to life…

Garlic

The garlic has been harvested, cured and braided.  I’m not so happy with this year’s crop, there were too many single bulbs, but the  rest was a really good size.  Before I braided them, I selected the largest of each variety and have set them aside ready to sow next season.

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Shallots

A little different to the garlic, the shallot crop was plentiful! In fact, maybe a little too plentiful, I will see how it goes, and hopefully will have a good idea before I plant out next seasons’ crop.

As to storing the crop, I’ve opted to braid them.  Not wanting to waste the green tops, I trimmed each bulb as I seperated them.  The greens were piled up, while the bulbs were set aside for braiding.’

The greens were taken to the kitchen where they were sorted into two piles – one for the compost, one for the dehydrator.  The ones for the dehydrator were washed, chopped and then spread out onto trays of the dehydrator.  There weren’t enough trays, so it turned into a two day job.  Once I’d finished the last of the trays, I stopped chopping and lined a container with paper towel, laying the shallot tops in the container, the sealing it with a lid and placing it into the refrigerator until the first batch was done.  I now have a jar full of dehydrated shallot tops in the larder to be used in soups, casseroles, stews etc.

When trimming the tops off the shallots, I made sure that I left at least 20cm attached to the bulb, this was to allow for braiding.  I thought that I would make nice long braids, it took a while to work it out, but I soon got into the hang of it.  When they were done I collected some hooks that I had in the garden shed, they used to be used for hanging baskets, but were now destined to hang the shallot braids from.  They turned out a treat!  However, lesson learned, shorter is better…  The weight in the longer braids meant that they were destined to break – while frustrating, they were easy enough to turn into shorter braids to be re-hung.

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Shallot Greens

The greens were taken to the kitchen where they were sorted into two piles – one for the compost, one for the dehydrator.  The ones for the dehydrator were washed, chopped and then spread out onto trays of the dehydrator.  There weren’t enough trays, so it turned into a two day job.  Once I’d finished the last of the trays, I stopped chopping and lined a container with paper towel, laying the shallot tops in the container, the sealing it with a lid and placing it into the refrigerator until the first batch was done.  I now have a jar full of dehydrated shallot tops in the larder to be used in soups, casseroles, stews etc.

When trimming the tops off the shallots, I made sure that I left at least 20cm attached to the bulb, this was to allow for braiding.  I thought that I would make nice long braids, it took a while to work it out, but I soon got into the hang of it.  When they were done I collected some hooks that I had in the garden shed, they used to be used for hanging baskets, but were now destined to hang the shallot braids from.  They turned out a treat!  However, lesson learned, shorter is better…  The weight in the longer braids meant that they were destined to break – while frustrating, they were easy enough to turn into shorter braids to be re-hung.

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Tomatoes

It took me some time to get my tomatoes planted out, in fact they didn’t get into the ground until December, with the last of them planted just before Christmas.  The weather up until then was less than desirable, so I held off.  I planted most of them quite close together, as I heavily prune them and only grow two or three stems tied up between a couple of bamboo stakes.  My reasoning is, that by removing the majority of leaves, the bulk of the energy goes into fruit production, and also provides for good air circulation around the plants.  I did this last year, rather successfully, learning a few lessons along the way, so am going to continue learning and hoping.  That being said, I did choose to plant the determinate varieties in an area where they can go wild!

September 2022

Broad beans, snow peas, chard/silverbeet, rhubarb, and broccoli are alcoming along nicely.  I have managed to salvage some carrots and the parsnips, while not huge are also providing some tasty options for our meals.  One of the simple sides that I love is mashed carrot and parsnip, seasoned with salt and pepper and brought together with a nice dob of butter.  This is not a puree it is a rough mash.  I have tried it as a puree, but I believe that the texture of the rough mash allows the individual flavours to come through much better.

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The fruit trees are blossoming, and I am eagerly watching for fruit formation.  Earlier this year some of the trees were a little confused and went into full flower in February, so I was a little worried that there would be a lack of flowers now.  Fortunately I was wrong.

Other plants are providing a show of colour, the orange of the calendula is looking fabulous with the blue of the borage, and the towering mizuna ‘red streaks’ has been allowed to go into full flower for the wee winged creatures in the garden.

Of course there is on-going weeding happening to keep everything healthy and happy!

 

May 2022

Plantings

• Broccoli – Purple Sprouting – Early (Bed #4)
• Romanesco Broccoli interspersed with garlic in the little space left in Bed #6
• Cabbage – Sugarloaf, and Broccoli – White Sprouting seedlings into veggie bed #9.  When that was done, I planted a basket full of golden shallots in between the rows.
• Broccoli  – Green Sprouting and Spring Onion – White Lisbon (Bed #10)

Veggie Patch Plan

Weeding & Tidying

The root veg bed (bed #6) is neat and tidy, weeded  and mulched , the carrots are a bit patchy though – I’m having so much trouble with pests enjoying the tender carrot tops.  While I wasn’t sure if I should, I decided to tansplant the swede turnip seedlings, only time will tell if it was the right thing to do.  One thing though, the parsnips are looking fabulous!

With the tomato plants nearing the end of their productivity, it was time to remove the plants and dispose of them, and then bundle the stakes for storage.   Any tomatoes that were still green were removed from the plants and spread out on trays indoors for ripening.  It all takes time, but is rewarding to see everything tidied up and still have tomatoes for a while after the plants were removed.

Finally I found time to do some work on the compost bins, closing off compost bin #2.   Compost bin #3 is now being filled, but  I still have to empty compost bin #4, which is a wire frame that I use to finish off the compost, once that’s done I can move the contents of bin #1 into it for finishing.

 

May 2021

As Autumn drew to a close, work was underway to recover the veggie patch and get a few plantings done.  Beds were prepared, root veg seeds planted along with broad beans and garlic.  Self sown lettuce were moved into a neat little row and rocket and silverbeet seedlings, raised from seed sown in recycled cherry tomato and strawberry punnets, were added.  The garlic was up in no time.  The broad beans finally poked through the mulch, but as for the root veg, they were mown down overnight by snails and/or slugs!  I was left feeling very despondent…  But it wasn’t the end of the world and I just decided to leave the bed to rest through the winter so it will be ready for planting in the spring.

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Raspberries continued to delight me, providing an occasional handful of fresh berries to be used to create little sweet treats in the kitchen.  They are packed with so much flavour, so it is very easy to make a little go a long way.

December 2016

After a couple of mamoth days the Corner Patch can actually be called a Vegie Patch!While we were both exhausted, we are both really pleased with the end result and all being in order, are looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our labour for many years to come. The fun now begins with planting up the beds, nurturing the seeds and seedlings into food for our kitchen and store, family and friends.

Just a recap on how we got to this stage:

• Trees were cut down, cut up and removed.
• Stumps were dug out
• Plans were drawn up
• 31 fruit trees were planted
• A slab was put down for the garden shed
• The garden shed was erected, and everything that belonged in it, relocated accordingly
• Holes were dug for posts
• Posts were purchased and concreted in
• Holes drilled in the posts
• Wires strained accordingly
• An old gate that we found behind the garage was cut down and given a lick of paint before being hung.
• Timber and pegs for the garden beds arrived
• A bit of creative use of old posts, rescued from the pens on our family farm, before it was sold, have been put in place to stop the beautiful Duchess (border collie) from entering.
• Careful measuring, cutting, nailing and screwing of timber into place to box each bed.
• A mountain of soil was moved from one place to another and finally into each of the boxed beds.
• Well rotted manure worked in
• Seeds sown in anticipation
• One inexpensive archway erected to train fruit trees over the entrance

Left to do:

• Plant out the seedlings.
• Plant seeds
• Espaliering of the fruit trees
• Three inexpensive archways to be erected, one more for the fruit trees over the entrance and two for the runner beans to trail up and over.

We have a gate!

(24 November 2016)

The work continues on the corner patch, it is now fenced and has a gate. We’re still waiting for the timber to box the beds, but hopefully it will be ready next week! I have managed to get a few things planted though, including a Boysenberry.

Almost there…

(20 November 2016)

Blueberries and Mulberry planted

(17 November 2016)

Getting ready to espalier…

(15 November 2016)

The posts have finally arrived and Gary is hard at work getting them in place.

Meanwhile I am starting to put some frames up for some vertical gardening.

and

A Shed for Gardening Stuff

(21 October 2016)

Mirabelle Plum

(4 September 2016)

Did I really need another fruit tree given that we had just planted 31!  Of course, I did…  The Mirabelle Plum is used primarily for cooking.  I first tasted this little delight some years agoon our first trip to France –  it is absolutely delicious in desserts and preserves.  In size, they are not much bigger than a cherry, they are a small, very sweet and fragrant, yellow plum that is grown in abundance in  France. A true heritage plum  – first recorded in France in 1675.

31 fruit trees planted

(26 August 2016)

With a break in the weather, it was time to do a stocktake…

(16 July 2016)

I think we have a lot of work ahead of us!

Let the planning begin…

(9 July 2016)

Now that my amazing husband has cleared the way, it is time to start planning the corner patch!  His next job was to draw a plan of the space for this to begin.  Now he just doesn’t go and make a rough sketch.  He set up a table in the garden, initially using a smaller piece of graph paper, once he had all the details, he then set to on a much larger piece of graph paper, drawing a “to scale” plan of the area that is to become “The corner patch”.

 

Clearing the way

(4 July 2016)

Now that m

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