July 2020

[Susan]

Alright, so I’m going to preface this blog post by saying it is an outright brag - directed completely at Roger.  He and I are obviously quite competitive and I copped it today at the garden visit.  Yep, that’s right, I went home with tears in my eyes about all the wasted broccoli, the beautiful kohl rabbi, the gorgeous cabbages and the pumpkins, just left Willy nilly where they lay with little care from Roger at all.  I whispered quietly to them that they wouldn’t have to fend for themselves if they were in my yard, I’d coddle them, water them, wrap them in a nice protective net to keep them safe.  I’m sure they heard me, and would have come home with me if they could :)

But then I remembered, I can grow plenty of stuff good!  So here you go Roger, check it out. 
I’ll start with my mulberry tree.  As you’ll notice, it is absolutely loaded with berries that are just waiting to mature. 

Next are the strawberries.  This is 1 of 15 pot!

My citrus certainly aren’t lacking, orange, dwarf mandarins and my never disappointing lemon, who despite me removing over 50 fruit and pruning it, STILL looks like this. 

My angel peach has already got 20 fruit that are this size with plenty more small ones developing.  Such a shame Roger, I may just have to thin some fruit, I have that many developing. :)

Next are my blueberries.  Here’s hoping for a bumper crop this year. 

Sophie, this ones for you.  I got home this arvo and checked the egg box and squeee!!!! I think one of my Sussex is laying!!!  I only have one brown layer going at the moment and checked the eggs before the GV, these two were here when I got home.  Notice how small it is? Definitely a first egg!! But which one layed it I don’t know. 

The veggies are going good too.   Tomatoes and cucumbers shown here but have plenty of other stuff too.  This garden harvest was from last weekend 

Lastly, I’ll let you know Roger that I went around to get some photos of my garden and I noticed these after not having been in the garden since last weeken :P So I’m (finally) going to get some broccoli too!!

And who needs flowers when you are growing Sicily purple broccoli! They take FOREVER to grow, I very nearly ripped these out thinking they weren’t going to do anything but my patience *laziness* paid off!!  This is my second one. 

So that’s it from me. I just had to prove I’m a good gardener, and now I don’t even need to cry over broccoli cause mine is nearly here! 

[Susan]

Aww, shucks guys.   Yeah Doug, I was miffed at no beanie - not even an honorable mention in the tomato contest!  Valerie, I do have one very measly cucumber plant going and it is giving me about 1 per week at the moment.  It is certainly not the picture of health; I don't think it has much left in it but I might try a liquid feed on the  weekend and see if I can prop it up.   I have tried to get other seeds going but to no avail.  I'll have to wait until it is a little warmer to get a new plant started I think. 

In terms of what I do - same as you Roger and Sophie.  Poo (chicken and horse), organic fertiliser (rooster booster and rock minerals) and I grow mostly in wicking beds to save on watering but somethings don't do that well in it.  I have also found that coco peat is good to mix into my beds for lightening up the mix.  Exclusion netting for hotter months to prevent fruit fly damage.  This year, if I get round to it, I am wanting to shade my garden over the summer months to see if that helps with production at the hottest time of the year. 

[Sophie]

Haha Valerie, as if we needed an excuse to go to seed shop or look at seed catalogues lol

[Valerie]

You've got cucumbers????!!!! Okay okay I dee where this is going...Straight to the seed shop!

[Roger Clark]

Yeah, I must admit you are still setting the gold standard. Dry your eyes and just remember the Pomegranates!!!

[Christa]

Susan, don't get upset, you are still up there with 1/2 dozen others.  You definitely have a huge harvest compared to my measly lot.  My couple of peaches don't compare.

All that citrus, mulberry and funny purple broccoli and the strawberries - you are the Queen of strawberries and Bananas, You can hold your head up high, well done.

[Sophie]

Roger my only five tips for gardening are : poo, poo, poo, overplant, and poo!
Tips 1,2, 3 & 5: Composted animal manure has seen a huge acceleration in soil humus
Tip 4: My theory is some make it, some don't - hedge your bets and plant loads, in different areas!

[Sophie]

Hilarious, you two crack me up. Susan, your garden is looking lush and productive!! What a haul :) Congrats of the new layer!!!!

[Roger Clark]

Well Susan, A little competition never hurt anyone. (Well so it's been said). It's what pushes us on to bigger and better things. One of the reasons why I like BLF is that we all learn from one another and push on to bigger and better things. My third placing in the tomato tasting comp. will only make me try to grow better entries for the next comp. Congrats to Doug on his win! I believe I was  the only one to enter a shop bought Tomato, and it was an eye opener to see just how bad this tomato rated. Sophie was embarrassed at having to give the VERY low score that she felt it deserved. I know I am only preaching to the converted here, but all of the home grown entries  proved just why we continue to grow our own food, they were all great tasting tomatoes.

(Even my poorly treated, very neglected entry).

I hope that everyone who took some seeds home will add another string or two to their tomato growing bow because this why I wanted to run such a comp. Now we could back this up by asking for those present today plus anyone else interested to write about what they do to produce such good produce. We may learn a thing or two from such a discussion. What do you think?      

[Doug Hanning]

Pity you dont have a nice red beanie to wear in the garden.

All looks good there.

[Andrew Cumberland]

and she said she was gunna!  LOL. 

You are doing extremely well there Susan.

Did I mention that I have voodoo dolls of both you and Roger?