Wednesday 26 June 2013

My June Garden


Winter is a Gardener's Delight

We have already passed the shortest day of the year on the mid north coast of New South Wales and now each day gains 1 minute of sunshine each afternoon.  This is a wonderful gardening season with so many vegetables and fruits in season.

Look at these gorgeous cabbages, simply bursting with colour and flavour.



They are growing in a bed with other brassicas - broccoli and cauliflower.




Here are broccoli plants, so easy to grow and when you cut the main head, other smaller stalks will grow, much like broccolini so you get longevity from each plant.  



We will be harvesting broccoli for at least the next 6 weeks, the slimmer buds will last another month after that and are just as delicious.  We also have seedling plants grown from seed to start in another bed to ensure continual broccoli for the next few months.




On the right is one of our cauliflower plants in the same bed.  The lovely white cauliflower heads are yet to appear, these plants have been growing for 6 weeks and we will start harvesting cauliflowers about 4 - 6 weeks from now.





This lemonade tree has been in the ground for 2 years.  It produced 3 lemonades last year and this year has many more.  I have picked one and they will be ripening for the next month, with one or two ready every week.  Then it will be pruned before Spring to encourage strong branches.

This Kumquat tree was purchased last December and it is already bursting with fresh, sweet, edible Kumquats.

What an abundant Kale patch!  Kale is so versatile and so easy to grow. You could plant it in a pot and pick the leaves as needed.





Who said you can't grow tomatoes in winter?
We live halfway between Sydney and Coffs Harbour and grow beautiful red tomatoes all year long in front of a north facing brick wall that gets sun continually all day long.




The lemon tree has a magnificent crop of lemons this year.
Our lovely Cavendish bananas are nearly fully formed and will be perfect for eating in approx 8 weeks' time.


This is our baby bok choi patch.
Note the use of plastic PET bottles to help them get established.  These plastic bottles stay on the fledgling seedlings for 2 weeks to help them grow and protect them from the chickens.

You can pick individual leaves from the pak choi or pluck the entire vegetable for cooking.

Spinach is a staple in our garden.  Grown all year long it is a very useful and easy to grow vegetable.



Celery as well is great in Summer for salads and wonderful in winter for soups and stir fries.
Pick the stems and leaves as needed.  Also wonderful for growing in a pot.



 This is a loquat tree my husband planted and this Winter is the first time I have tasted one!  It is an evergreen tree and the fruit is yellow and sweet.  You eat the skin as well as the flesh which surrounds one or two semi large seeds.  An absolutely delicious delight.

Here are fledgling broad beans.  About 30cm high now, they will crop in another 8 weeks.
We have started off more seeds to ensure this vegetable is available for the next four months.



Here a bee is collecting pollen from the Thai basil plant (also known as holy basil)  
to take back to the hive.  Thai basil grows abundantly in the warmer months and dies back in winter. 
 It is yet to die back but our Winter has so far been quite warm.
  It rejuvenates in Spring and the leaves burst forth from the naked plant stems.  


Sorrel and lettuce grow all year around and are an invaluable addition to any garden.


Sorrel on the left and various lettuces, iceberg, red oak and green coral lettuce grow with spinach and celery.   We plant marigolds to help deter insect pests and place golf balls to deter the white moths from laying their eggs on the leaves.


These are the highlights of our winter June garden and it is so rewarding growing these gorgeous vegetables, watching the fruits grow and ripen on the trees and enjoying the wonder of nature.

20 comments:

  1. Merryn - your garden looks great! Come up and give me a kick up the bum, will you? :)

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    1. Thank you Shirley, I love the green hue of a healthy vegetable backyard. Your garden looks great too!

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  2. Your garden is fantastic - so green. Those brassicas are thriving, my kale and cabbages have been a little slow this year. I also grow tomatoes during winter. You will be eating like a king from your garden - truly inspirational.

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    1. Liz I love kale, preferably the Tuscan variety though the others are so pretty and cabbages are an excellent vegetable offering ... I bet your tomatoes are flavoursome, thank you for your kind words.

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  3. Hi Merryn, I'm visiting from the collective this morning :) Your garden is looking very productive. I'm very impressed with the tomatoes! Do you get frost at all? I manage to keep the tomatoes going until the frost gets them. Great banana too. Cheers, Liz

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    1. We are very lucky that we do not get frost. Located close to the coast and on a sloping north facing block we are fortunate to get sun all year around (unless it is raining!)

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  4. I have cabbage envy!! I too am a fan of the warm wall to grow things against - that and the warmer climes to allow for Winter gardening.

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    1. Where are you Jeanie? Yes that brick wall is a blessing over winter, gorgeous tomatoes and the abundant continental parsley blanket that mulches the ground. We are growing seeds from colder countries this year and they are producing big, tasty tomatoes.

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  5. I am ridiculously jealous of your brassicas patch. How do you keep caterpillars away? And your kale patch is huge!

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  6. We do spray with dipel weekly if it has been raining or fortnightly if sunny. Dipel is bee friendly and deters the moths from laying eggs, but it won't kill them. Golf balls placed in the garden patch also deter moths and if you see a few of them, send a kid outside with a fly swat. They are virtually impossible to hit mid flight but it scares them away and into somebody else's garden. Not that my kids are that scary. Thank you Melissa, we love our greens and brassicas. Some of the kale plants are so pretty :D

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  7. Hi Merryn, visiting here from the GSC page and I am blown away by your magnificent garden. It must bring you such joy to be in such a productive space and I can't get over those bananas! I hope to one day be in a similar positioni in my own garden. All the best, Erin.

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    1. Such kind words thank you Erin. We love gardening, it is such a delight to grow and eat your own produce. How often we pop outside to see how something is growing 'today'. The bananas go to many friends :D

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  8. What a gorgeous garden, full of tasty fruit and veg. Hadn't heard of a lemonade tree until now, it sounds wonderful.

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    1. Thank you Andrea. The lemonade tree is a dwarf one and fully loaded. We had 5 last year and they taste sweet. You eat them like as a fruit, I have not tried juicing them as we have so many lemons anyway :D

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  9. Hi, just popped over from the garden share collective, thanks for the tour around your lovely garden. Your brassicas look so healthy, we have to net ours in the UK or they get munched by caterpillars. I'm going to have to Google lemonade tree, I've never heard of it!

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    1. Thank you Alex, you garden is a delight as well. We spray the brassicas with Yates Dipel to deter the moth laying caterpillars as we have lost beds before to the munching caterpillars so I feel your pain. We also grow marigolds nearby and keep golf balls underneath (moths don't like nesting so much then. Lemonades are a tasty fruit, for fresh eating, but I would swap you mine for an Elderflower tree :D

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  10. Well done Merryn! That's a very impressive garden. I didn't realise that kale was in season now! :D

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  11. Thanks Lorraine! The winter kale is healthier than the summer/autumn kale as there are less pests to deal with. The colour is more vibrant as well. You are very welcome to pick some :D

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  12. Replies
    1. Yes, all greens are delightful to look at and we have been lucky to have a good combination of sun and rain this year. Don't you just love greens ... you definitely feel healthier for eating them as well :D

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