shiukopuppy's Blog
shiukopuppy's posts about: snowpeas
Oct 17, 2007 | 2:21 AM PST
Tags: peas , snowpeas , poppies , toad flax , calendula , Sweet Peas , raspberry , garden beds , pyrethrum , wormwood , rue , feverfew , rosemary , chickens
The blossoms have dropped on the apple, pear and cherry trees. The pomegranate hasn't fruited yet. I've continued to harvest peas and today we realized that we were harvesting three distinct types of peas. I was happy that all three of the varieties that I planted are cropping - the telephone peas, greenfeast peas and the no-name snowpeas.
Today I planted some more flowers - poppies and sweet peas. I felt inspired as I was planting out seedlings I had raised from seed - calendula, toad flax, poppies, native bluebells and sweet peas. I hope that they survive long enough to flower so that I can take photos.
I've been reading how to manage my chickens naturally, and tore off some wormwood branches to keep in their coop along with fresh leaves of rue, feverfew and some rosemary stems. I also scattered pyrethrum and wormwood leaves in their dust baths. Smells lovely and they ran around and investigated the shredded herbs.
I bought a new raspberry to replace my dead raspberry plant. I still need to prepare the lettuce beds for the seedlings I'm raising, and want to make my garden more ornamental for viewing as well as for eating. I think I'll be moving into an apartment next year, so this will be my last summer with a garden - how sad!!
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.
Oct 5, 2007 | 3:43 AM PST
Tags: snowpeas , Strawberries , watercress , toadflax , bamboo screen , mulch
We've been harvesting snowpeas here and there. I've been eating a few but also blanching and freezing some for future use. My 'ordinary' peas haven't started cropping yet.
The main task of the day was mulching the native garden (they are all very young plants). I potted some strawberry runners that I recently bought on ebay (kunowase variety). Potted some watercress that I got from the nursery and re-potted some toadflax seedlings that I had grown. I also planted some tree seeds for bonsai - Giant Redwood, Banyan tree, Japanese Cedar and Australian trees - Cider Gum, Native Apricot, and some Tea Trees.
We started to put up a bamboo screen for some privacy. When we bought the bamboo screens from the nursery, I picked up some copper snail repellent and a shade loving plant - name forgotten - which I'll take a photo of tomorrow!
Oct 1, 2007 | 3:28 AM PST
Tags: cottage garden , snapdragon , viola , peas , snowpeas
Well, today I did lots of work in the garden that didn't seem to amount to much! I started by casting some lawn seed on a tiny patch of earth that I had prepared. The lawn will only be a few square feet as we have had drought here for many years. The soil was full of worms, so hopefully the lawn will survive. I mixed in soil wetting granules and organic lawn feed pellets. Then I covered the seed with straw, which my partner and I have noticed that the council does when they sow lawns.
After that, I checked on my peas & snowpeas and pinched out the extra shoots. There are lots of little pea pods and flowers which was exciting. But there was a much more pressing task - a clover outbreak in the front yard. The clover in the front yard had grown halfway through the onions bed and had started growing those prickly little burrs on them (I think they are called bindi?) My partner and I tore them out for a while. This bed used to be a circular flowerbed. I had planted snapdragons earlier in the year but we must have torn some of them out. I moved some violas from another bed to fill in the spaces.
I have to say - I HATE English cottage gardens... but I'm renting a 1920s cottage, and as the last year has gone by, I've been finding that English style edgings and borders do suit this place, and I've been buying little flowers and lavenders etc and letting that style influence me. It's terrible, isn't it! ;)
