shiukopuppy's Blog

mandarin blossoms
Oct 10, 2007 | 2:50 AM PST
Tags: mandarin , lime , Lemon , snowpeas , Asparagus , kaffir lime , lemongrass , vietnamese mint , coriander , cilantro

Weather has been cool again - so still not quite spring. Still.. there are blossoms and new growth everywhere, but my little lettuces got distressed by the recent cool nights. I've been yearning to garden but have had to do other things.

We're harvesting handfuls of snowpeas every day. I bought a replacement raspberry to plant in between my black and red currants. I planted an asparagus with them but think I should probably move it somewhere else..

I'm still waiting for the tomatoes to start flowering before I move them into the garden. The smell of citrus flowers from the lemon, lime and mandarin is invigorating!

I've never liked winter.. now I'm also doing a makeover of my home in preparation for all of the barbecues, dinners and drinks we'll be hosting during spring, summer, autumn.. there will need to be major garden tidying as well..

I'm growing chillies for Thai, Chinese, Indonesian, and Indian food as I eat them more during the summer.. The lemongrass and kaffir lime are perking up and the thai basil is starting to show. The Vietnamese mint (laksa mint), common mint and coriander (cilantro) are thriving.

First weekend of spring..
Sep 3, 2007 | 4:12 AM PST
Tags: green manure , choi sum , pak choi , kai laan , oats , companion planting , organochlorides , pesticide , Bokashi bucket , almond , snapdragon , coriander , mint , spinach , lettuce

After all of my uploaded images were deleted, I lost faith in garden blogging. But I have done my grieving and am going to try again because I've had lots of fun hanging around on gardenguides. How have you all been? :) I've also been busy preparing for Australian spring lately which left me little time for computer distraction..

During the last month, my boyfriend and I bought a cheap greenhouse and set it up in the backyard. There are shelves for his bonsai trees and cuttings and I have filled my side with seed trays that will grow my companion plants, herbs and vegetable seedlings. I've also sown lots of flowers and sprinkled some flower seeds over the lawn.

We sent our garden soil to a lab to test for organochlorides - if that goes well, we will get a couple of chickens to move in. If there are pesticide residues here, we will have to do without them. We also invested in a Bokashi bucket which uses beneficial bacteria to prepare compost, and prepares meat, citrus, eggshells for composting too, so there is minimal waste. Spring bulbs are flowering and cherries and plum trees are starting to blossom!

LOVING UPDATES on my pre-existing plants:

Almond tree: the buds are swelling, and it looks like the flowers will be pink and white!
The snapdragons look like they will also burst soon..
The nashi pear buds are also swelling but I have had to protect the buds with paper bags because the possums decimated all of the leaf growth last year.
Coriander, mint, spinach, lettuce, peas and flat leaf parsley are thriving. Onions are growing along steadily..
Asian greens - mibuna, pak choi, kai laan, choi sum, mizuna etc. are doing very well.
The green manure (oats) is almost ready to be dug into the soil to prepare for the gray water lawn.
And my garlic is growing! So satisfying.. ^_^

winter food projects
Jul 6, 2007 | 7:29 PM PST
Tags: Pomegranates , almond , pak choi , gai laan , shungiku , raspberry , red currant , black currant , pear , onion , coriander , cilantro , spring onion , olive

It's winter in Australia and very frosty with misty days. I used to do nothing in the winter, just play playstation, watch movies and ignore the garden, growing only herbs and lettuces on the window sill. This year I decided to see what could be done at this time of year.

Herbs wise, I have planted some coriander (cilantro). It's doing very well; in the summer it often went to seed. I also planted lots of onions. Usually I only grew spring onions and shallots (yum!) but recently I tried growing red onions and they were so delicious that I planted out white, brown and red onions again. I bought some flat pickling onion seeds but they need to be sown in warmer weather, alas!

I planted several varieties of winter hardy peas. I was pleasantly surprised as they are now a few inches tall. Winter spinaches are doing well, as well as pak choi, choi sum, gai laan and shungiku. Some winter lettuces are also growing but they are very small.

I also bought some dormant plants - raspberry, red currant and black currant canes. An almond tree, a couple of olive trees and I bought wintry flowers: snapdragons and foxgloves. Today I want to buy another pomegranate tree and a multigrafted pear. It's been busy and I never would have thought that a winter could be this fun.