Third Wall Garden

 

Today Andy built the third gutter garden and placed it below the first two that he made earlier in the week. This time I planted it with lettuce and one of the newly created native bee homes was placed above it. Interestingly working in this area has made me realise how many bees visit the Virginia Creeper vines, they were humming with life. So hopefully we will have bees nesting here soon.

Brazilian Cherries and Pomegranates

This year is the first that we have had fruit on our Brazilian Cherry Tree and we think they are the loveliest looking fruit we have in the garden. They start off green, then change to yellow, and  then get redder and redder until they are ready to eat. They can be a weed in tropical and subtropical areas but are fine in WA. We are eating them fresh from the tree, only about ten so far this year, but at least it has started fruiting after being planted about 4 years ago.

 We have also picked our first pomegranate and have another one on the tree still. We have never actually eaten either of these two fruits before and probably would never have tried them if we had not grown them. It is amazing how trying to become more sustainable has expanded our knowledge and taste buds!

We are also harvesting pears, chokoes, passionfruit, eggplants, Jerusalem artichokes, beans, lettuce, apples, kale, capsicum and lots of herbs at the moment. We are lucky enough to be able to eat something from the garden every day of the year.

New Raised No Dig Garden - Completed

I think I may have over-planted this garden in my enthusiasm to get it started! We moved the frame that we collected off the verge last week into the garden so that we can use it as a frame for the peas and beans that I planted. Also planted, squash, lettuce, capsicum and coriander. I guess it is one way of finding out which plants will like this spot.

 I also added compost and mulch before planting and then watered them in.I needed to use some of the old mulch from the front and was really pleased to see how many worms there were in it and how much the chips had broken down into soil. That does demonstrate that for it to work well it needs to be deep, which is not the case everywhere in the garden as yet.

Our Garden Today

 This corner of the garden had always struggled to be productive, but after putting in herbs and the pine chip paths  the herbs are flourishing and so are lots of self seeded lettuces.

This is another corner that has struggled so I am hoping that the improvements we are making will assist the artichokes, lemongrass, beetroot and cauliflower that have now been planted.

This is our first, and only, pomegranate on the tree, fingers crossed it is the first of many.

This is some of our harvest today, the choko vine has struggled a little with the wild weather but luckily for us the food hedge protected the capsicum plants.

Now the compost bin has been moved into the new garden I have planted lemon balm and marjoram beside the capers bush.

Our Garden Today

Despite the cyclonic winds that we had last week most of our plants are doing well. We did lose a lot of Passion-fruits and leaves from the vine and the Fig tress look very unhappy. However, the winter veg and strawberries are fine and taste delicious.

Frilly Lettuce

These lettuces are grown from seeds from Green Harvest and they are absolutely delicious. You can order from Green Harvest online, or if near Bayswater  or Claisbrooke, you can buy them from Environment House. As well they are available at their stall on Saturday mornings at  Perth City Farm.

WA Update 15th August 2010

We are growing Snow Peas up the old pool fence and they have just started flowering, cannot wait until we have some to eat.

The Everlasting Daisies are looking blooming marvelous out the front, though they do seem to have enveloped  the Fig Tree!

Pulled all the  Purple Dragon Carrots out today and planted  Cylindra Beetroot and  Darwin and Cos Lettuce, The Perennial Spinach and kale are still flourishing.

The little garden we put beside the front porch is now doing well, the Basil is large and bushy and so is the Purple Sage, in the front you can see more carrots and our first Coriander grown from seed.

Have now cleared out two of the volunteer tomato bushes and planted Borlotti beans and Massey Gem peas which will hopefully grow up the fence. Have also planted some more Thyme and Oregano which will be a ground cover. Watered everything in with a seaweed mixture and added lots of shredded scrap paper and the contents of our new Bokashi bucket to the compost heap.