In the winter garden

Each winter I forget how slow things are to grow.  Seeds take weeks not days to germinate, frost comes and cleans out the weak and everything looks drab. 

But then there are the plants that cannot handle the hot summer heat.  Broccoli, peas and loquats.  Here is what the winter garden is doing:

Bed 1 is currently unproductive.  I should have dug it over by now, and added compost along with a green manure crop and some heavy mulch.   I have some old peas seeds so I might throw them around and see what happens.

Bed 2 is cranking out the brassicas.  The broccoli has been slow to start but now is giving us a few heads every few days.  The cauliflowers are slow going but are starting to heart nicely.  The garden under the mulberry tree has been attended by the chooks so no cabbages this season.

Bed 3 is slowly growing, the garlic and onions are looking good.  And the beetroot seedlings are slowly emerging.  I still have great trouble growing carrots – the germination rates are few and far between.  Pete Cundell makes it look so easy! 

Bed 4.  The peas are taller than me now and have started to flower.  I am waiting with anticipation for fresh peas.  I have sown the seeds several weeks apart so there should be a constant harvest.  This morning I have sown the next lot of seeds so they should be up next week.

Bed 5 has a mustard crop sown in it.  I read in the organic gardening magazine that mustard is good for dealing with nematodes.  I have had some evidence of them in the  last crop tomaoto crop.  The mustard will be dug into the ground as a green manure crop later in the month.  Apparently the gas they release as the plant breaks down kills the nematodes.  There is also last summers lettuce crop going to seed.  Its just started to flower.

And check out the loquat tree!  It is loaded.   We had 8 children climbing in it the other day hunting for ripe fruit.  They must have been getting desperate by the end, as I saw a few greenish ones being eaten.  I had to warn their parents incase they had upset tummies….. 

 

On our menu this week – loquat crumble!