March was not overly kind, we've still experienced cracker 30+ days and drenching rain (5 inches over night in one instance), but the slightly cooler nights has definitely meant a big change in the amount of bugs we've been experiencing. We're now mostly free from caterpillars and finally some capsicums are starting to grow as the fruit fly seems to have disappeared.
Aquaponics System
We have wilt in our tomatoes. Well at least that's what I think it is. First it started with the eggplant that was abundant with flowers - initially we thought it was from Nathan breaking roots as they had started growing through the siphon. But the same symptoms have spread to a new plant within the same family. I am not really sure how to get it out of the aquaponics, or whether it is actually wilt.
Aquaponics grow bed
The luffa has grown well and truly beyond anything I could have imagined, creeping up the nearby trees over 4 metres in the air. We have a good supply of massive fruit and I can't wait to see how they turn out. It is still producing a massive amount of fruit.
Luffa
Garden Bed (formerly new garden)
Things are going OK here, except for the baby bush turkey who likes to come and visit quite regularly and scratch up all the amazing compost I had spread around. The tomatoes aren't that great, but this patch doesn't get a lot of sunshine at the moment.
April Garden Bed
My raspberry in the pot now has fruit! So I am excited to see how they turn out - they are a bit late.
Rasberries! No more poo berries for me
2mx1m raised beds
Zucchini is growing well, but I am battling with the mildew because of the rain. I am hoping they will survive. Our cauliflower is going so well and the beets as well. The cherry tomato has stopped putting on fruit so I've pulled that out and plan on putting some peas in that space.
Powdery mildew taking over
The second garden is still just sweet potato & luffa - will continue to let it go wild. I've never actually seen a sweet potato flower before - apparently it's rare - but humid conditions make it flower, makes total sense.
Sweet Potato flower
NEW 1mx1m raised beds
My friend was cleaning out her garage and offered me her raised beds - I was so excited, Nathan not so much as it meant moving loads of dirt to fill them. Luckily we had enough in the compost bin and the trug to mostly fill the beds and it was only 12 bags of mix (4:1 compost:5in1).
New gardens!
I've planted out a bunch of seeds including mortgage lifter tomato, celery, candystripe beets, swiss chard, carrots, radish, lettuce, dill, kale & red cabbage. I was going to raise these in seed raising trays but I planted them right in their spots - most of them have popped up already - except the candystripe beet and celery.
Red cabbage seeds popping out
Harvesting
Herbs, lettuce, spring onions, fresh ginger and until recently cherry tomatoes. Might be another month until we get a harvest happening again!
What’s up next
Peas & Flowers, I am thinking of growing some sweet peas up the fence in the garden bed.
What I have growing
- Luffa
- Bush Beans
- Beetroot (red, yellow, candystripe)
- Celery
- Carrots
- Radish
- Swiss Chard
- Thai Chilli
- Tomatoes (Mortgage lifter, Italian, basket)
- Lettuce (mignonette, cos, red oak)
- Chinese Cabbage
- Strawberries
- Herbs (Dill, Coriander, Sage, Sweet Basil, Thai Basil, Thyme, Lemon Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, Mint, rosemary, lemon balm, chocolate mint)
- Sweet Potatoes
- Spring Onions, Leek
- Lemon Grass
- Zuchinni
- Purple Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Kale, tuscan, red & curly
- Echinacea
- Capsicum (Small yellow, Californian Wonder, Chocolate, Patio)
- Raspberries, blueberries, cumquat, lemons, pineapple, avocado, pomegranate, fig, coffee beans, lime, rosella
City Veggie Patch
This blog is part of the Garden Share Collective.
The Garden Share Collective is a group of bloggers who share their vegetable patches, container gardens and the herbs they grow on their window sills. Creating a monthly community to navigate through any garden troubles and to rival in the success of a good harvest we will nurture any beginner gardener to flourish. Each month we set ourselves a few tasks to complete by the next month, this gives us a little push to getting closer to picking and harvesting. The long-term goal of the Garden Share Collective is to get more and more people gardening and growing clean food organically and sustainably.
