Hello, Bloggy friends!
My garden grew. 
Here is December 5th, 2011.
Here is January 1st, 2012.
This week, we have been eating our corn. We couldn’t help all feeling a little surprised that we planted corn, and … well, that it worked.
Some of the other things, (see those lush looking Chinese cabbages?) didn’t work so well. They grew, of course, but (shhh… it was very un-homeschooler-ish of me not to research properly!) it was the wrong time of year for them. Being far too wet and hot, they looked scrumptious on the outside, but were rotting on the inside. Completely unlovely of them. I’ve gone right off Chinese cabbages.
I was mildly concerned about my gardening. Once, I thought I wanted to be a farmer. Then I spent quite a bit of time on a farm. ;)
Would the idea of growing my produce be more appealing than the reality? I have been known to get a lot more excited about the planning of something than the eventuality.
The garden has, despite my inexperience resulting in a few disasters, been a deeply satisfying, somewhat addictive project. Today the Chicklette and I have discussed what to pull up and discard (capsicums are very prone to pests. Currently we are growing them only to feed the bugs!) and what we should plant instead.
We’re thinking a LOT of snow peas: everyone adores to eat them straight from the bush. And sliverbeet. And pumpkin. Have you tried homegrown pumpkin? It is not only enormously flavoursome, but easy to cut.
But of course this time we will check that those things are in season to grow, and not assume that just because the nursery is selling seedlings, it must the right time for them.
Bloggy friends, if you don’t have a veggie garden, you should experiment. There are many things you can grow in pots if you want to start small. It’s fun. Honest! You should try.
Mar 07, 2012 @ 09:03:37
Quite agree Mrss BB. Wish I could gather some shreds of time for my neglected (but still producing) vege patch.
Mar 07, 2012 @ 09:25:08
DOE, you could turn it into a science project for your dc. Or Home Ec. Or grow something foreign (maybe not Chinese cabbages – they’re so deceptive!) and call it SOSE. Or have the dc space out the plants and call it maths…
Thanks for dropping in: it always makes me smile to find a comment from you.
Mar 08, 2012 @ 07:35:48
Yeees, I *could*. There is a little problem with ‘time’. And another called ‘brain space’. Our lives have been fully booked since last October. You know those seasons where normal life is pruned right down to be able to manage the extraordinary? Very much looking forward to a breather
. It is very nice to hear your successes and rest my weary eyes on your green ‘n growing garden – even those deceptive but very green cabbages!!
Mar 08, 2012 @ 07:46:55
Lol! Yes, I know those two precious commodities: time and brain space. (At least, I think I remember what they are..
)
Mar 07, 2012 @ 12:01:34
That looks luscious! We have done the vegie patch in years past but not at present. It is a lovely, homey feeling of achievement, isn’t it.
Hope you are going well at your place.
Mar 08, 2012 @ 07:27:05
Thanks, Ruby. It is a lovely homey feeling of achievement: that’s just the way to describe it!
Mar 08, 2012 @ 08:26:09
If you did square foot gardening, worked out the yield, projected crop/failure rate, grew three new things AND then canned and processed the lot you would have Math, Geometry, economics, marketing (of course you like broccoli) sociology, ecology science. wildlife and habitat studies. botany, science, ag and hort. Classics languages (Latin names) AND phys ed. let us not forget Domestic arts.
we’re gardening in pots till we buy the farm later this year. Im great at the livestock bit and terrible at the greenery bits
Mar 08, 2012 @ 11:47:25
Well, families specialise in diversity so hopefully you have a green thumb among your lot of farmers!
Mar 08, 2012 @ 21:45:07
Angelswings, I may borrow you to write my next submission to the Ed Dept.
A farm sounds very exciting. I’d like to hear what kind of livestock you’re planning!
Mar 27, 2012 @ 22:11:14
We usually have goats horses sheep and chickens. That gives me meat, milk, eggs, and companionship. You can add “nutrient retention and decomposition engineer’ when you turn the poo into fertilizer! its one of those great games that you can play with anything. We have about six months left here before we can get serious about heading back to the farm but im counting down the days. I miss the chickens most
Mar 29, 2012 @ 21:04:09
I can understand you missing the chickens..
But for the eggs, or their other Stirling character traits, I wonder?
Ours are so regularly cuddled, carried around, sung to, and they have all sorts of delightful (!) things prepared for them to eat. But for me, it is peaceful to watch them.
If they ever lay.. that will be a bonus!
Apr 02, 2012 @ 11:41:03
Predominantly because they have such lovely personalities. We did stop naming them toward the end. It was getting sad but I couldn’t kill a mated pair of horned owls. i couldn’t really protect my birds effectively either.
Apr 06, 2012 @ 15:19:02
Ahh. Owls. Beautiful. I understand.
Mar 08, 2012 @ 19:36:32
Mrs BB, I’m very proud of you! and the chicklettes, too, oh and Mr BB who must have done most of the heavy work which there is still lots of even with a no dig garden, I’m sure. We ate our home grown broccoli tonight and it was delicious. What I love about home grown vegies is the flavour and the good it does your, um… digestive system! We unfortunately have a plague of harlequin bugs attacking our 63 tomato plants which has been rather heart breaking. The only remedy to get rid of them that worked was to VACUUM them up, nasty little suckers…or may be we are the nasty little suckers… Anyway we did manage to get a few very nice, splendidly sweet tomatoes. I see you have some in your photo and i’m sure they will do well in your climate.
Don’t let your so called inexperience get to you, even the best of gardeners have their disasters and their enemies in the form of diseases and pests. We are waiting on a giant pumpkin we are growing (we only got one), and we watch to see how big it will get, and we wait….not sure when we should pick it.
Your corn looks magnificent – we didn’t get any from our plants, or none that was worth eating anyway. Go to it, get addicted, you’ll never be sorry about all the hard work. Enjoy your veggies!
Elle xx
Mar 08, 2012 @ 21:52:17
Elle, you vacuumed them up?!? That’s what I call out of the box gardening. Mind, I have been known to do that with ants during our ant plague. Never would have crossed my mind to, ah, vacuum my plants, though. Cool.
So far the mistakes haven’t put us off, though we have had to rethink a few things. My parents have grown pumpkins, and I think you have to wait until the part that attaches to the plant actually withers, and if you pinch of the end of the vines once there is a pumpkin growing, you get a lot more pumpkins. I hope that’s right and makes sense. (I’ll ask tomorrow and edit if I have remembered it wrongly!)
Our corn was our best performing plant. Eating it made me feel quite victorious!
We’ll definitely plant that again.
Thanks for coming to share my joy with me. xx
Mar 08, 2012 @ 21:26:57
Dear Mrs BB & the Knee Hi’s (plus Mr Blue Socks who did the labour)
It looks fantastic and I see you’re doing some companion planting also with the marigolds! Growing corn is incredibly satisfying isn’t it!
Gives me an idea now….I’m sending you up something in the post next week!
Silverbeet is wonderful… harvest it, shred, blanch, bag and freeze! It will last a whole year in the freezer! You will have an excellent supply of “spinach” for cannelloni.
Your description of the Chinese cabbages reminds me of the human condition, yet, God wipes away the rotten core through the saving grace of Jesus.
Snowpeas… delicious straight from the bush, but do not freeze at all well! Then again, mine never make it inside the house.
Bugs… you have natural pest controllers in your backyard…chooks! You just need to teach them NOT to peck the good vegetables! (I can see the Knee-hi’s trying to train some wayward chickens).
Also…the chicken manure will be great for the garden too when it is fallow.
I wish I was there to taste the corn!
bye for now,
Heidi
Mar 08, 2012 @ 21:28:11
oh… done it again… I am not Anonymous! I am Heidi!
H
Mar 08, 2012 @ 22:07:50
Funny you. I always know who it is. Even when there is no propaganda about the youngest child being persecuted.. extra gifted…finer natured…
Post surprises are always a delight. (A wombat to match my echidna!?!
)
Ooooh! Thanks for the freezing silverbeet tip. That will be handy. I did use your cook the tomatoes and bag them and freeze advice for a day when I can come back to straining them and making them sauce. Glad you’re walking this journey ahead of me!
The snowpeas at Ma’s never make it inside either. There is something irresistible about fresh off the bush snowpeas.
The human condition. Yes. Awful to think of the rotting cabbages as a picture of my heart (thank you, Heidi!), but glorious to think how His righteousness covers me.
The chickens. Ahhhh… Chickens. The girls are enjoying them so. The neighbours commented to Mr BB the other day that they were so moved to see one of the little people cuddling a chicken (at some unnatural hour of the morning) and singing “the Lord is my Shepherd” to it. The novelty of them is not wearing off.
I adore seeing them wafting about on the lawn, they are so soothing to watch. What is not soothing, and what gives me grave doubts about the children’s ability to train them to do anything at all let alone eat a particular kind of bug from a specific plant, is the failure of anyone to train them to not leave Chicken Surprises on my back door mat. (Eeewww!) Any great ideas on how to manage that will be treated as valuable indeed.
If you were here to taste the corn, I would be having lots of fun. ♥
Mar 08, 2012 @ 22:09:35
Oh! and I don’t think Alexander the Great is a boy. He doesn’t have one of those things you said under his beak. So… he’s a girl, right?
Mar 09, 2012 @ 01:52:58
so much green… i like
and the corn looks yum
Mar 09, 2012 @ 08:16:07
Thank ye, Sir.
Mar 09, 2012 @ 03:38:32
I have decided to try to keep a few flowers alive this year. If that works (and that is a very big IF), I may try a few veggies next year.
Your garden is lovely, and is making me feel hungry…
Mar 09, 2012 @ 08:20:57
Thanks, Whitney. I hope your flowers work: you will have flowers to share when you go visiting friends if you can keep them healthy till they’re big enough to cut, and your wee folk will love to cut them and tie a ribbon around them and present them to friends/family you visit!
Mar 10, 2012 @ 19:31:24
Your garden is very impressive and I think you might like this website if you are going to go for round two of gardening. (are you going to dig this time?) http://www.gardenate.com. It also comes as an app, very handy for taking notes while you are at the garden.
Mar 10, 2012 @ 20:34:48
Missy! That link is magic, thanks!
Um.. dig? Do I need to dig this time? I am completely clueless about stage two. We’ve just decided that the corn must be pulled up. Because after it’s given us it’s cobs, it’s spent, yes? And you pull it up? But I see that it is still planting time for corn for subtropical climates, and that’s good news, because we would like to have the corn again. And it’s silverbeet planting time!
(Didn’t see snow peas on the it’s-time list, though.. )
Mar 18, 2012 @ 01:01:17
I will plant anything that flowers.
Mar 18, 2012 @ 20:49:36
Burstmode, the world is a richer place for your growing of photographic material!
Apr 03, 2012 @ 08:19:05
Our kitchen garden isn’t as pretty as yours, but it gives us just as much pleasure. We’re still eating tomatoes and basil from ours. Oh, oh, oh, and the very first apples on our tree are ripe. So exciting!
Apr 06, 2012 @ 15:25:34
Jeanne, I KNOW that when you are completely recovered from the flood, and you have time, your garden will be superlative. Because everything you do personifies beauty.
First apples… delight! I can only imagine. (It’s too hot for apples here!) Though we did eat two of our own pineapples yesterday. There is something not only deeply satisfying about eating your own produce, but the flavour is incomparable.