27 February 2019

Starting the vegetable garden

The garden is overgrown with flowers and herbs and the soil is rock hard in places. Hanno has the sprinkler on to make digging easier.

Every day that passes by brings our 2019 vegetable garden closer to reality. There was a time when we'd (mainly Hanno) get stuck in and the set up was fast and efficient.  Now that we're older and slower, we do what we can, usually one big job a day, and that is inching us towards our gardening goals. Yesterday Hanno pulled out weeds and raspberry runners under the big trellis next to the chicken coop. We're going to plant beans and cucumbers there this year. We'll save two healthy raspberry runners for a life in pots. Having the raspberries transfer from the garden to pots takes them into my realm, but more on that when I actually have them in my clutches.  Hanno also weeded a couple of smaller patches, pruned the potted roses and watered the soil to make it easier to dig, which will probably happen in the coming days.





When you're preparing sweet potato slips, don't cut the shoot off the tuber.  You'll have greater success with heel cuttings - as seen above.  Just gently pull the shoot from the tuber in a downward motion. It takes a small amount of the parent plant off at the base of the cutting which gives the shoot a better chance of forming roots.

One of my tasks yesterday was to prepare sweet potato slips. We have purple and orange but will probably only plant the orange because of the space issue. I waited for a very good tasting sweet potato and when I found a beauty a few of weeks ago (from Aldi), I cut the end off and left it in the kitchen in a small bowl, with a tiny bit of water just touching the cut end, in the hope of developing shoots.  These shoots were removed yesterday and placed in clean water to develop roots.  When the roots have grown strong and true, we'll plant them out.  You can save money if you know how to propagate plants and you don't always have to buy what you need at the garden centre.

Above is the enamel baby bath planted with butter lettuce seeds.  We also have Welch onions and long white icicle radishes on these benches. 

I also planted out two grown from seed jalapeƱo chillies and a large container of butter lettuce seeds.  I'll pick them when they're quarter grown instead of allowing them to fully mature.  They taste good as immature lettuces and we don't waste as many because the plants will grow again once cut.  When we grow lettuces to their right size, we waste a lot because it takes us a week to eat one lettuce and the others sit in the garden and often end up as chook food.



We harvested our garlic last September and saved the best for planting this year.  I cleaned them all and stored them in a glass jar in a dark cupboard. Yesterday they saw light again when I brought them out to the back verandah. In the coming days, I'll break the heads into cloves, save the largest ones for planting and take the smaller cloves back into the kitchen to use.  We use Glen Large garlic which is suitable for warmer climates. 

It won't take long before we're in full swing again and spending most mornings planting, tying back and watering.  There'll be morning tea in the shade of the umbrella, conversations about flowers and bees and yet another year of growing herbs, fruit and vegetables will fill our days.  

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35 comments

  1. I love seeing photos of your garden, Rhonda. It looks so lush and green.

    I also sowed basil and mustard green seeds a couple of weeks ago. I'm waiting for spring season. :)

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    1. Thanks Nil. I hope you have a good growing year ahead.

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  2. I'm itching to get started on our veggie garden here. Hopefully in a few we can build our first bed, we will likely make borders from trees we fell from the farm and nestle them into the ground a little. Jane who I know follows you sent me the most beautiful package and in it were some of seeds she has saved from her own garden which should be well suited up here. So I guess my first job it to set up a little area for growing seedlings which is protected, then I can plant them out. I even have loofa in there which should be fun!

    xx

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    1. Emm, I used to grow loofas so there's a lot of info here on the blog about them. Good luck with your new garden.

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  3. You now have me thinking about the set up of our garden in our new home...raised garden beds, easy to manage and maintain. Also the use of old wheelbarrows and different containers to plant into...thank you for your inspiration!

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    1. Hi Chelle, Those metal raised beds heat up too much here. What sort are yours? Containers and the garden should work well because some plants just can stand the harsh climate now.

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  4. They are from Bunnings....we have bought a house up along the Murray river and at the moment it’s insanely hot there...the locals are telling us it’s unusual to be so hot for so long! They will be on the south side of the property but not in the shade...it’s an open area. The land is a clay but not as we are used to in Melbourne. The area is away from the dogs and very handy to the house....

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  5. It's all looking great. We are still buried in snow so anxiously awaiting the moment the ground reappears so we can get started.

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  6. I would love to try your method of propagating sweet potato, not sure how successfully they grow in Tassie but maybe in the warmer months they'd be ok....will have to check. Thanks for the tip Rhonda :)

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  7. Your post has made me itch to get the garden seeds started. I am not sure whether sweet potatoes will grow here but I'll give it a try. I am really interested in the 'no dig' gardening method. If it works it will be a much easier way for me to garden.,

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  8. What a lovely post - we are getting back into vegetable growing properly again this year (UK).My husband has built new raised beds, a herb bed and replanted a raspberry bed. He's also made a cold frame to sit alongside the greenhouse. We also look forward to the coming days when we can sit in the garden and enjoy a cuppa and survey the garden. Our pond has lots of frogspawn in it now so spring is on the way!

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  9. What great looking garlic Rhonda! And thank you for the tip on sweet potato. I have Kent pumpkins growing well here at the moment...just from seeds from a piece I bought at the grocers. Looking forward for our predicted heatwave to pass and then hopefully start next week planting for autumn.

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  10. Hi Rhonda, Your plants always look so healthy and happy. The photos are so full of life force energy. I have been eating homegrown lettuce all winter. I love how you can just pick off the outer leaves. Soon it will be time to plant squash.

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  11. I am only 42, but I have fibromyalgia, which means constant fatigue, chronic pain, random loss of grip, intermittent balance problems and vertigo. It means that I can only really work at any sort of physical task for 15 minutes at a time, tops. So I set my timer and get out in the garden for 15 minutes whenever weather and circumstances allow. The weather here in the UK usually doesn't allow until end of March at the earliest, but we've just had a week of unseasonable sunshine and high temperatures, so me and my timer were in the garden almost every day, sometimes more than once. At times I had to stop it midway through the 15 min, then rest, then restart. It never seemed like I achieved much at the end of a session. But by the end of a week, the desolate mossy, weedy wilderness was once more a garden, all ready for manure to go in in preparation for planting once the last frost has been and gone. Learning how to work with what you have - whether that's youth, strength, old age or health issues, is more than half the battle.

    BTW, I've been reading through your whole blog in my "stuck in a recliner" periods, starting from a loofah post back in 2009, then right down to the present, then going back to the first post and reading the first couple of years. I'm approaching the end of 2007 now, and have bought your books to read once I'm out of blog posts. Reading it has been pure joy, and so much knowledge and experience shared. Just wanted to say thank you.

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    1. Welcome Allegra. Working out a way you can still work in your garden gives you the chance to exercise and breathe fresh air as well as bring your garden back to life. Good on you. I hope you enjoy spring and all those future vegetables you'll grow.

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    2. I have found working in small spurts (10 to 15 minutes) actually gets a good bit done. My 10 minute gardening as I can has resulted in a brick edging put in over the winter. If I had waited for a big block of time, it would have never gotten done. I think Allegra is brilliant for finding what works for her while accepting her physical limitations but not letting them define them. Wish some of my elderly relatives would have done likewise rather than giving up on life when they developed disabilities and could no longer do things how they used to do them. -- Ave

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  12. It has now snowed here everyday for over 3 weeks and I so need to come stay with you. I need green.

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  13. I enjoyed looking at your gardening progress. Soon it will be gardening season here.

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  14. I am pining for Autumn too, Rhonda. It sounds like you are looking forward to a year ahead in the veg patch. My patch is looking pretty sad right not, we were really hoping for some decent rain from the cyclone off the qld coast but that never came to pass so it's still far too dry here to even think about planting anything new. Meg:)

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  15. I love growing sweet potatoes, and I use your method of starting my shoots. In fact, they are currently making roots in preparation for planting them in the soil come May or June. ~Elaine

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  16. this is a lovely time of the year for us in Far North Queensland. The excitement of ordering seeds, and planning our veggie patches. I am so glad that you are still growing vegetables, and just reduced the amount. I also like to sow lettuces and greens rather thickly and then harvest the leaves when they are microgreens.

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  17. You’re garden is looking lovely Rhonda. I’m so pleased that it is the end of summer today, I see March as the beginning of my gardening year. It’s been a bit cooler than usual over the past week so have been busy preparing garden beds for planting, both raised beds & ground level beds. I have garlic saved from last season & will plant it in April. There has been very little rain over summer & we are on tank water but are fortunate to be able to pump from the river into our tanks & our small dam.

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  18. I love reading about your inspiring garden Rhonda, and up here in the North we are probably a month or so behind you with what we can plant, but I am really looking forward to planting once the weather cools down as well.

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  19. Thank you for another great post, Rhonda. We are still in protection mode here in SA, with 38C predicted for tomorrow. I have got some of my winter seedlings started on the back verandah - cauli, cabbage, broccoli, leeks etc They are currently sitting in a water bath to keep cool. We are still harvesting zuchinni, trombacinno, cucumber and a couple of tomatoes. If you have the time, I would love to read a post on growing raspberries in a pot. Do they grow and harvest well?
    Gail

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    1. We're just starting out with the potted raspberries, Gail. I've read they do well as long as you provide good support. Good luck with your garden.

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  20. Happy gardening! I really love the assortment of containers you use for growing things. Great recycling.

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  21. Dear Rhonda, I am just sitting here thinking how wonderful it is that you are blogging again. Really,really wonderful. Thank-you so much for sharing your wisdom, experience, creativity and passion for so many aspects of simple living. I have said this before .. you are truly inspirational. The supportive, innovative and generous "down to earth" community that you have nurtured and grown is amazing and very much appreciated by so many. Cheers

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  22. Hi Rhonda,

    Lovely pics of your progress. I don't have a garden anymore but always wanted to plant sweet potato when we did but shied away from doing so for fear of growing myself a haven for snakes. Do you not have that problem where you are? You are so close to bushland, too.

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    1. We have a lot of snakes around here but they're only interested in the eggs and chickens, never the garden.

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  23. HI Rhonda.

    Looking forward to start a garden. Got here a lot of info again!! Thanks.
    We didn't have a garden for years but maybe this year if we move to an acreage we can start one. Can't wait. Early morning chores outside,weeding and hear the birds and see the mountains!!
    By the way, I love the back splash in your kitchen! Beautiful! !
    Love from a snow country!!
    Wilma

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  24. I just love your blog and have for years! You are such an inspiration to me!

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    1. Thanks Kelley and thank you for your other comments as well. Comments like this keep me going. I love knowing that I've helped and connected with readers in a meaningful way. xx

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  25. I've never tried sweet potatoes and had no idea you start them from slips. Ithink I will give a few a go this year and get the slips started tomorrow. Then I need to figure out what to do with them! LOL! I like seeing everything in progress at your home, Rhonda. Reminds me to get going! Hard to believe that spring may be on it's way here. I woke up to a fairly brisk snow this morning. Mostly melted but really chilly. BTW..the pictures of Gracie and the ducklings were really precious on your Instagram account.

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  26. Love the hint about how to propagate sweet potato. Good to see it in pictures.
    I'm preparing the ground for the big growing season in my little allotment here in Brisbane this week - it is rock hard too. How I wish for a good downpour of rain.
    Thank you for your gardening posts, good to remind me what we should be doing in the veggie garden in SE Qld.

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