The garden share collective - April

 

Autumn finally feels like it is here, even though the mornings are cold the days are still very warm.  Most days we are outside in shorts and t-shirts still.

I finally got my winter vegetable patch sorted.  It has been sitting under lawn clippings for the last 6 months - the soil previously was so dry and compacted.

It has been turned over and had manure and compost added to it, left to cook for a week with the added help of rain and then I planted in savoy cabbage, silverbeet and kale.  The plants are looking really strong and healthy so that is exciting.

We have had a weekend of rain with more to come over the next week so the gardens are getting a really good soaking.

My sister n law is going to plant different winter vegetables to mine so when the time comes we can trade.

 

Growing in the garden I have:

Courgettes
Tomatoes
Capsicum
Celery - these have done really well from the start.
Carrots - a little stunted - compacted soil further down perhaps?
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Savoy cabbage
Kale
Silverbeet
Strawberries

Herbs - basil, parsley, flat leaf parsley, coriander and a rosemary hedge.  I have newly planted in rocket.

Expecting to harvest/sow:

Tomatoes
Strawberries - with the still warm weather around we are still getting these delicious berries.
Celery
Cauliflower
Broccoli

To do list:

Monthly weed and soil turning.
Compost and manure into the smaller vegetable patch under the apricot tree - I would like to fill in the current gaps with more courgette plants (expensive to buy here in winter) and spinach which we eat a lot of but have never planted before.

Not a lot to do this month compared to others.  The rain is taking care of the watering which is wonderful.

I'm thinking of putting some kind of netting or covering over the plants to keep the white butterflies etc away - any suggestions?

Tom and I want to make a couple of scarecrows too so that should be fun.

Happy gardening!

Joining in with Lizzie from Strayed from the table.

"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."