It seems a funny time to start writing a garden journal because you would think there’s not a whole lot going on outside at the moment. But, surprisingly, the opposite is true! So here goes my very first Thyme to Garden update!
At the beginning of last month I planted out some seedlings that I hoped would do well during our cold, winter months. We don’t have many frosts, so I figured there should still be quite a few plants that would grow.
It was the beginning of May and I still had tomatoes, capsicums and basil growing. And then on May 12 we got a frost and they all died. It was a very sad day, and it meant that my warm climate experiment was officially over.
So I decided it was probably a good idea to protect the rest of my baby plants because I didn’t want to lose out on all my hard work if they did die in another frost!
I bought a few grow tunnels and put them over the top of my brassicas, beetroot and lettuces to see what sort of difference it would make.
Well I’m pleased to say they are thriving under their covers, compared to my other vegetables out in the open – silverbeet, spinach, kale and radishes.
I think I’ll be investing in some more grow tunnels!
I think the thing I am most sad about this month is that our passionfruit had a second flowering because the weather was still so warm, but it didn’t stay warm long enough for them to ripen, and you can’t ripen them off the vine. Gutted. Oh well, they were good while they lasted!
But, what I am pretty excited about right now is my garlic!
Just about every clove has sprouted and they have survived this horrendous weather we’ve been having! Since this is my first season growing garlic, it will be interesting to see how it goes and then how long my harvest will last.
I have 5 varieties in the garden this year – Fire, Keeper, Pearl, Royale and Creole. I planted them all in May, although some said they could have been planted earlier. I’ll know for next time and will be able to compare harvests!
We’re nearly all out of potatoes already and we’ve only been eating them for 3 months. This means if I do 2 plantings next spring/summer I still need to double the number of seed potatoes I plant each time, at least.
I’ve also nearly used all the garlic I harvested at the beginning of the year too, which is pretty good considering I had only planted it in September. So it grew pretty well in that short time!
We’re working our way through the strawberry jam that I made, but with enough in the freezer for another 3 batches, I don’t think I’ll run out any time soon. I should really get on to that strawberry vinegar soon too.
And I’ve started to use our pumpkins. We don’t generally eat a lot of pumpkin anymore, but I’m finding lots of new ways to use it. We’ve got six in total, which I’m sure is enough to take us through the winter period.
It will be interesting to see what happens over the next month and if I have much to report in my next update.
I’m hoping to have my 2022/23 seeds all purchased and ready to go for August/September. I’m looking at buying seeds from Egmont Seeds, Kings Seeds, Koanga Institute and anyone else along the way with a good range of heritage seeds.
It’s quite exciting that we can plant all year round as it means we don’t need to store quite so much as we would if it was colder and with snow.
I’ll do another update midway through July. Stay tuned!