Garden Share Collective – December

Wow, how did it suddenly become December?  Christmas is just around the corner now, but we are holding off the start of the silly season for a little while just yet.  The Christmas tree will stay in it’s box until next weekend.  But that is all beside the point, we’re here to talk gardens so let’s do it.  Welcome to another month of the Garden Share Collective, hosted by Strayed from the Table, where you can check out lots of other posts.

Over the last month big things have happened in the garden.  Harvest wise I have picked all the broad beans….. there were a LOT!  I blanched most of them and put them in the freezer to use later.  I gave lots away to friends and family.  And I have a stash still in the fridge to add to my standard steamed veg mix which goes with anything from fish fingers to zucchini slice.

The snow peas came in a steady stream over the last month (and before).  They’re still in the garden but looking pretty sad now so I think that might be the end of them.

I dug the random potatoes growing in the garden, some from where I planted them last year (and clearly did a poor job pulling them all up) and others from where I had dug in some compost.  It wasn’t a huge harvest, but they sure were yummy!  Boiled, then with butter and chives.

I pulled up half the garlic – I grew two varieties, a red one and a white one.  It seems the red one was ready for harvesting first, the other one is still going strong in the garden.  The bulbs weren’t huge, but they weren’t tiny either and I was pretty pleased with them (considering I had thoroughly ignored them all winter).

Also going strong are my strawberries – and my strawberry munching monsters (dog included).  We get a bowlful every two days or so.  They don’t last long.

There were also some parsley, mint, thyme, rosemary, silverbeet, spring onions, broccoli, kale and a couple of tiny cauliflowers I didn’t even know were hiding under the broccoli.

Planting:

You’ll all be pleased to know that mighty grosse lisse is doing well in the garden and the other seeds I’d given up on have finally germinated, and potted up.  They’ll be ready for the garden this week I think.  I’ve planted lots of cherry varieties into the garden too which are looking fantastic.

Capsicums have been planted out in two spots at two different times, the later ones are doing much better.

Zucchinis and Lebanese cucumbers are in, though I’ve lost a couple of each in the heat and will put a couple of seeds straight in the soil to make up for these.

Finally beans and snap peas have been planted, again with a couple of losses, but not too many.

To Do:

Argh…. lots.

Firstly I need to finish planting out, more tomatoes, capsicums, some pumpkins, corn, basil and eggplants (and anything else that takes my fancy I guess).

Watering, watering, watering (let’s hope there’s some rain in there too).

I actually still have a few of my broccolis in the ground which will come out in the next week or so.  Plus the silverbeet and kale that’s gone to seed needs to be cleaned up.

Mulch!!!!

Oh, and that path that STILL hasn’t been done.

There’s a bit of colour in my garden too at the moment which is making me very happy.  But I’ve written the lemon tree off – no leaves, no new growth, nothing, despite my efforts.

And that’s a wrap I think.  Check back next month!!