Clean up and replant

I had a big clean up in the garden over the last few days off. It was well over due.

The lemonade tree which although laden with fruit, failed to provide me with a decent, ripe lemon yet this season. Every time I checked fruit just beginning to show a little yellowing (you may remember from a previous post that you can't wait for the lemons on a lemonade tree to go yellow as by that time they are rotten) they haven't come away easily indicating they aren't yet ready. However when I come back on my next day off to check, they have split from the rain, or are lying mouldy on the ground under the tree. The mouldy fruit has become a problem, firstly because it's attracting fruit flies and secondly because the mould is a type of virus that then affects other fruit when the spores are dispersed on them, either by wind, water splashing etc.
I haven't been able to easily get to the fallen fruit to clear it away as the tree was so overgrown, it's branches forming a natural cage around the area, and grass and weeds making it difficult also. So in desparation I have given the tree it's first good prune in the now almost 5 years I've been there. Gone now are all the branches that grew haphazardly in all directions, gone are the branches so laden with fruit they were hidden amongst the overly long grass and overgrown weeds. Instead it's a mere shadow of it's former self, more streamlined, free of renegade tendrils that had sprouted from an unknown base graft, complete with needle like spikes along their reaching arms, free too of the swollen gall wasp stings that left new growth misshappen.
Once that terror was tamed I then had access to the ground below, cleaning up all the diseased fruit and disposing of it, removing the grass that slowly chokes the life force of these trees.
 And while on a roll, hacking  down the choko that once again is flourishing creating the beginnings of it's own mini jungle like atmosphere. Once again this year it's overtaken everything, growing along the fencelines, reaching out to snare the branches over unwary trees, crossing my gardens steathily on the ground hidden by weeds, or more obviously using stakes like a superhighway. My little pruning shears, already warmed up from the adrenalin of the assualt on the lemonade tree went into overdrive and in no time had tamed it back to something more orderly and controlled.

The choko reaching out to ensnare an unsuspecting Gooseberry bush.

 With the main culprits now demurely standing by it was time for the final onslaught, the lost gardens beneath, now buried under kikuyu grass, wandering dew and other unidentified weeds. With the help of the hoe, and the gardening rake these too had met their match!

That was Friday gone, Saturday I watched it pour rain all day, frustrated that I couldn't get out into the garden and do more, but inspired by my companion planting book I'd rediscovered.

And then today, with the sun out again, with everything clean and refreshed, I took my seed collection outside and contentedly planted Broad beans accompanied by Spinach and Beetroot in one bed, and Peas bedded with Radish and Turnips in the other. With a final flourish of confidence, stakes were thumped in and lines strung ready for this new growth to begin and take hold.



Useable lemons and chokos from the day's cleanup.

I've made some Lemonade from the lemons already and have plans to cook and freeze the the chokos for later. Anyone with inspiring suggestions for choko recipes? Please share, my husbands bored with them already, and there'll be more to come yet.





Weakness

Ok, I admit it, I have a problem.

It's a complete inability to avoid the temptation of garden "stuff". Today while I was shopping for things work related I came across seeds in a Crazy Clarks store. Who would have thought you could buy seeds there? And pretty cheaply too. Well, I felt a moment of hesitation before I zoomed straight over to see what they had I would like to get. I'd been reading about growing Broad Beans just recently, and although I've had zero success with them to date, I couldn't resist. Then came the Peas, justified because, well the last ones planted were dug up by the chooks and never really amounted to much, plus it's the time for them...oh, and lets not forget the Brussel Sprouts, definately my last chance to make a move on these. Last years Brussel sprouts grew beautifully in their little mesh enclosure, designed to keep the cabbage moths off, it's just that I left them too long waiting for them to get bigger and they kind of "blossomed", you know what I mean, they just opened up like a flower instead of that tight bun like usual. And finally, more mixed blue flowers, just because I've bought at least one pack of blue flower seeds every season, and never yet planted them, doesn't mean to say I have to give up my dream of a sea of blue flowers interspersed amongst my vegies. Bring on the next day off so I can get started!

Last years Brussel Sprouts and Cabbages captive in their netted growing area. 

New Birdie finally gets a home

For my birthday this year in January my parents gave me a Birdie. For all those not familiar with them this is a self assemble (luckily they'd already put it together for me) raised corrugated colourbond garden bed. The one they've given me is the same size as the ones they have been using with really great success, about a metre squared.
At the time I had no idea where I would like to put it in my garden plans so I just put it to one side, and ended up using it like a temporary compost bin until I could decide where it would live more permanently. Since then it has had all sorts of garden debris added, the occasional kitchen scraps, and even an "in the garden" worm farm (although no worms yet). The compost has broken down so quickly and I've overfilled it several times now.

Yesterday, after a fairly rainy week it was down to about two thirds in height again, and with the rest of the garden a little out of control, I decided to use it to plant out my the tumeric and extra ginger plants I'd struck into small pots over the last few months as they were starting to put down roots into the ground below the pots, and if I'm going to get any real harvest from them, I've only got a few months left at best.

My collection of garlic, tumeric and ginger I've managed to strike.

 So I topped the garden up all the way with a mixture of potting mix, composted manure and the leftovers from my abandoned worm garden and planted away.
I also popped in a couple of Pepino's I'd bought recently. Previously I had Pepino's growing in the front yard, but although they got a couple of fruit, they weren't very successful there (much drier area, lots of eucalytus leaves from big eucalypt overhead) and all but one have died back. I have to confess here, these new Pepino's came from a moment of weakness, when I also bought a punnet of coriander, two punnets of beans and a couple of comfrey plants which had now been sitting on the back verandah for two weeks.
In a last desperate act before sundown, I've also added the coriander to the new garden in the corners and a few of the bean plants (not the climbing type). The rest of the beans went into the top garden where the snake bean is now on it's last, but I didn't want to rip out it's climbing frame yet as the choko vine has taken it over. It may be important to note here that the beans may not make it, when I said desparate before I didn't mention the driving incentive came from the fact that my chickens had eaten every bit of leaf off them while sunning themselves on the deck! Not to worry, we'll still give them a go.

And the comfrey, well it's still sitting there waiting for my next day off. I have plans for another banana garden area...

One of the many chokos growing. The vines have taken over everything!

The bean eating culprits, not looking remorseful at all!