TaDa! Instant garden! Well, it has taken 8 weeks for plants to grow from seed to this:
- Butter beans and rattlesnake beans are flowering.
- Bok Choy is beginning to flower, not so great as this indicates that it may just bolt to seed, rather than getting lush, green and leafy – Note – better to plant the bok choy in autumn next year, as it is growing too fast now!
- Garlic tops are looking fabulous, though it is hard to tell what is happening below the ground.
- Silverbeet plants are growing well, as are the snow peas.
- Several tomato plants are thriving, though it is interesting to note that the plants that were planted into a hole lined with home-made compost are bigger than the others.
- Carrot seeds were sown directly into the garden 2 weeks ago and are popping up.
- The mandarin tree, which had a heavy prune in August is shooting new greenery and has many flowers beginning to set. I have been feeding it up with compost and worm wee at this time to give the tree enough energy to produce fruit – I think the fruit will take at least 6 months to produce. I am very excited, as I have not had a mature, fruit bearing citrus to care for – though have planted many citrus trees that others are now hopefully enjoying.
- Kafir lime, which was a housewarming gift is also going very well, and leaves are regularly and creatively featuring in the cooking.
- Parsley that was also a beautiful gift, along with a basil plant and coriander is thriving now it is planted in a garden bed. The original basil has been replaced with several new plants grown from seed, and I have just killed my second coriander – oops. Jobs – Scatter coriander seeds all around the garden to improve chances of survival – we eat lots of it!!
Already planning my first meal from the garden – a silverbeet and bean salad with basil- which will be only a couple of weeks away. Yippeee!