I'll confess it, I am a lazy gardener, BUT putting aside the fact that I don't weed that often and when I do they tend to stay on the spot (if they don't make it to the compost heap), I have infact learned a few great things.
Firstly, aphids love Puha AND they'll leave your lettuce alone if there's Puha about.
Secondly, at least in a greenhouse, if there are weeds growing, the water retention is a lot higher. We've been having terrible problems with dry soil. I was feeding them for between 5 and 10 minutes every night with very high pressure computerised watering system... THERE WAS SO MUCH WATER IT LEFT PUDDLES and yet by 11 the next morning there would be cracks in the super dry soil. We've all been a bit busy lately so no concerted effort in the patch but it has proven to be an effective 'mulch'.
BERRIES
After our WWOOFer in August cut back the berries to next to nothing I was gob smacked to see this growth in the berry cage AND spreading outside of the cage too.
BOLTING PARSLEY
Time for the parsley to bolt and spread seeds... why should I plant it when mother nature does it all for me. See lazy... or perhaps it's just that I suck with growing seeds?
CAPSICUM WORRIES
Our sorry looking capsicum clearly needs some TLC. V has lovingly put some manure near its roots, but given these look sad and there are a few families to feed, I thought I'd get a few more plants. Still I'm not going to pull them out just yet, I am certain they are of more use to us yet.
CHOCOLATE MINT
Thank you Liz Buckley for making me try the chocolate mint in your garden. I loved it so much I went and got a plant for myself. Now nestled amongst the roses and thyme, I am looking forward to it spreading its way across the garden and landing in my teapot.
You could of course, take these words exactly as written, but I'm sure some of you will read plenty into it :)
CORN
Another thing you notice when you're a lazy gardener is how fast things grow... just look at this corn, it's only been three weeks and it has quadroupled in size. Looking forward to when you grow ears :)
LUFA
one of the seedlings I planted in my new seedling house was Lufa. I got six plants in the end and have planted these out in my flower garden for now. Surrounded it with coffee grounds, kindly supplied by Melissa at Calendula Cottage and am going to watch them grow into some fabulous wee Xmas presents for next year.
MANURE DELIVERED
Thank you to Steve who has dropped off some wood shavings / manure mix from the horse stable just down the road. Now to chuck it into the tyres and grow our pumpkins.
MONTYS SURPRISE APPLE
I was lucky enough to be a member of the Tree Lovers Club when the Monty's Surprise Apple Tree was discovered and a special grafting project started to save it. I bought a couple of trees, one for me and one for a friend. I got it in the ground a little late frankly and over summer,it pretty much died, despite my constant feeding. However, Monty has given me a second surprise. Take a look at how much re-growth we have this year... more than what it had on it when I first got it.
SEGAL PASSIONFRUIT
Our family name for our Passionfruit is Segal, thanks to the Segal family who got it for us for Christmas last year. We received two, when they were around about 15-20 cm tall. One is now well over my head and incredibly bushy and as you can see by these wonderfully unusual flowers, we are about to get a harvest from them. :)
PEAS ARE PODDING
Ladies, Ladies, the peas are ready. We can start eating them now in the shells OR wait a little while to take 'em out. Stir-fries here we come. Personally I can not stand those hard little peas we get in the freezer bags at the supermarket... BUT THIS IS AMAZING.
POPPIES
After hundreds of poppies sprouted, I killed a whole pile with my lovely seedling house plastic cover and I managed to plant about six in the ground. Here's hoping these will take well and self-seed next year.
ROSES
Every year these beauties come up and every year I am astounded by their beauty. I tried to copy them one year on a cake for my Nana, but as much as I like my work, they are just nothing in comparison to the real thing.
SILVERBEET PATCH
Well, after spreading the compost / mulch my brother in law bought around and throwing in a couple of silverbeet seedlings, I had wondered if it was worth it at all... but look at what's happening out there... OK so there are some horrible weeds too, but the silverbeet is ten times as large (those that took) AND there are a couple of rogue potatoes growing from last years harvest. Lazy yet successful, I am pleased :)
SUNFLOWERS
After a 'false start' with the sunflower seedlings being eaten by slugs /snails, I am happy to report that the second batch we put in (and surrounded with coffee grounds) has grown twenty times as tall and thriving in the spot that we think glysophate was thwarting growth in our beetroot... if you ask me the beetroot looks happier too
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