End of Summer in the Vegie Patch
The pumpkins under the clothesline taking over – we’ve had to hang everything sideways on the line. Might keep it a bit simpler under there when deciding on the next crop for that space.
We had two very large pumpkin patches from spring last year onwards; one nicely tucked away down the very back of our yard where there is plenty of room to spread, the other patch was under our clothesline (lesson learnt) and completely took over paths, other gardens, the neighbour’s fence, the shed and the lemon trees. I could not wait to get rid of them, patiently waiting for March 12th (and for the Autumn heatwave to be over), the date of the Harcourt Applefest this year. My Harcourt resident friend, who also grows heirloom vegies from seed, had a stall for her heirloom seedlings and invited me along; I made over a hundred bucks on most of those pumpkins that day (still a few left). My whining and moaning about never growing them again turned to “maybe I’ll just grow them down the back next year..”
Pumpkin vines filling the back of our back yard (my space behind the cubby half completed)
They started off as butternut seeds…
This is after the pumpkin vines have been cleaned up, still some growing in the garden, not all over everything else. New broccoli and cauliflower seedlings in the foreground, kale still at it in the bed behind it.
More beetroot, “chioggia” – a candy stripe variety.
Little kale seedlings growing in one of Middle Man’s (my 6yo) pots. He has sown his own seeds in a few pots for his own garden.
Coriander seeds hanging on. I recently sowed some of these seeds in the bed around the new cauliflower and broccoli seedlings.
“Broad ripple yellow currant” cherry tomatoes, about as big as your thumbnail.
I have late tomatoes and capsicums planted; pretty sure they won’t produce much before the frost being planted this late but I wanted to try anyway, as there was a season not long ago where we were still picking our tomatoes in May. I’m hoping the black plastic of the compost bin will help with warmth. More ‘chioggia’ beetroot in this new bed too; very clay soil – I’ve added sand, cow manure, lawn clippings and leaf litter to improve the soil so far. Water still runs off when I water it. so far
My jerusalem artichokes, the only sunflowers I’m interested in growing at the moment.
Jerusalem artichokes. I planted the little knobs about 32 weeks ago. They’ve only really been flowering for a few weeks. Not sure when I’m supposed to pull them up; it’ll happen either when they look like they’re finished or I’m sick of waiting for them… I’ve been very patient! This is my first time growing them to this stage.
Spent jerusalem artichoke sunflower.
I grow golden zucchinis almost every year for their delicious buttery flavour. This is the leaf from one of the plants, the plants can grow to about a metre in diameter.
Golden zucchini leaf.
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