Pea excitement

I came home today to find two tiny peas had formed on Little FB's snow pea plants.

A busy three weeks

Snow peas with broad beans in the background

Brassica bed

Mmmm! more growing space

Some kind of asian greens with garlic in the background

I haven't posted for ages but I've been spending every spare minute in the garden. We've had great weather - perfect for being outside so little FB and I have been making the most of the time, doing our "busy work" as he calls it. This is what my garden journal says I've done:

12/7 : Dug out all the big lillies in front of the shed and moved them to the front garden
note - I broke a spade and little FB's hoe during this process!
Dug in 6 bags of compost into the new space
Planted more rocket and more garlic
13/7: Planted one of my birthday presents - a pear tree from MMSTL outside my bedroom window. It is bare-rooted so I will have to wait until spring to see if it has worked
18/7: Planted my other birthday present - an orange tree - in the front garden with the help of my boys. Sat on the porch and ate the single orange that was on it. A lovely morning.
19/7: Tidied garden and took out all the straggly trees at the back near the chicken coop. Started a new compost bin that had been discaded by my neighbour. Planted some perpetual spinach.
21/7: Planted radish seeds and some marigolds in a bare patch near the lettuce. Added lime to the new empty bed and gave everything a feed- either chook poo tea or seasol.
22/7 My diggers club membership and seeds arrived. Very excited.
23/7 Added gypsum to the new bed to try and beak up the hard-as-rock clay that sits about 20cm below the surface
Dug up the old shrub near the fence
Replanted the mint to new spot near the fence
Replanted the rhubab into pots
Replanted the male kiwi fruit to the opposite fence near the compost
Put all the compost into 1 bin
Planted a row of beets

Phew! No wonder I'm a bit tired.

Frosty morning in July

We woke up this morning to find the garden dusted with frost and the lettuces and silverbeet sporting a white coat of ice. The weather report said that it was 0.2C in Essendon so I wouldn't be surprised if it was similary cold in Coburg. It certainly felt that way on the bike this morning.

I haven't posted for a while - not too much has been happening, just a little bit here and there. Things are growing slowly, especially the onions and leeks which I'm not all that confident about. The broad beans and peas are looking good and I've been eating lots of lettuce, spring onions, rocket and baby spinach. And the slugs are still feasting on the pak choi. Must get round to making those beer traps.

I've also done a bit of sowing - a week ago I scattered more coriander and rocket seeds near the lettuces and some random asian greens in the bare patches near the turnips. I've also put in some garlic when the spring onions have been pulled up - it has already sprouted green tops which look promising.

I'm conducting a bit of an experiment on the bare patch of soil destinined for potatoes. I got a huge bag of broad beans from the lebanese grocer for $1.90 and planted them thickly. Not sure whether it will work though - it's been a couple of weeks and nothing has popped up yet.