I thought it best to give an update just before we leave for our Christmas holiday, because I have no idea what my garden is going to look like when we get back next year! Luckily, I have Titus to keep an eye on things while we’re away, but it’s mainly going to be harvesting and watering.
Veggies
I have run our of bricks and will need to get some more before we can complete the pathways. But it is really starting to look awesome and I am looking forward to getting a book and sitting down in the garden with my feet up. That will have to wait till autumn though – we are starting to hit mid to high 30’s daily now.
The patty pan is massive, and we have a harvest of about 6 decent-sized ones weekly although they are being stung by something that leaves a small orange to red mark on the flesh. I am glad that I decided take the beetroot out of that bed because I had no idea that one patty pan plant can get so big – it would’ve shadowed everything else! I found this strange powdery residue on the leaves, and turns out it’s powdery mildew which I quickly treated with a milk spray of 40% milk and 60% water. Let’s hope that takes care of that!
I also found a Tiger Moth or Speckled Footman. They’re really pretty, but I’m not sure if they could do harm to the veggies. I am pretty sure that they’re larvae could be quite destructive though, so I will need to do some more research on that.
The cucumber is coming along nicely, and so is the watercress and a beetroot or two.
There are also a few onions surfacing, which is great! According to my calendar, I’ll be able to harvest mustard, parsley and cucumber by the time we get back, and should see a few more flowers as well.
And to my big surprise, I have beautiful corn as well! I didn’t plant any this year, but it seems that the cattle-incident last year didn’t get all the corn and some were left to germinate again. Nice!
Fruit Trees
My baby got a white pear tree as a blessing gift, and I am thrilled to say that it looks like its doing very well! Next summer I look forward to digging into some delicious pears.
Our plums are also plenty and ripening. The peaches on the other hand have been stung to death and are starting to drop. No surprises there, it happens every year. I have tried organic methods, not-so-organic things, home-made things… but the fruit flies in this valley seem to be immune to everything. I shall try again next year.
Greenhouse
I’ve sadly lost a lot of seedlings in the greenhouse, mainly due to over-watering. I turned the water on one night and then forgot to switch it off again. I think I drowned the baby plants ;-(
But the strawberries seem to be quite happy in spite of the flood! I added a bit of Shake and Grow and am keeping a close eye on them.
Roses
I really don’t know what to do with my roses anymore… I have treated them weekly with Rosecare 3, but they are still infested with mean little aphids. I have started to make up curses in my head, damning all aphids everywhere, but that doesn’t help either. Funnily enough, I have 3 rose bushes in close proximity to each other, and only 1 seems to be stricken. I ended up pruning it back and have continued with my weekly spraying. I’ll see what it looks like when I get back and then will have to implement some harsher strategies… like blasting it or something.
That’s it for now – I look forward to telling you about my garden journey again in the new year!
Happy Gardening!
