I mean, if this isn’t the show-stopping content you signed up for, I don’t know what would be. Tales from my veggie garden; not the usual search term we get around here. The thing is, I’ve just finished cutting back my cherry tomatoes (for like the third time!), and all I can smell is tomato leaves. It’s impossible to write about anything else.

 

So, let’s talk about my veggie garden.

 

It started with Kel making some raised garden beds for a nursing home. They were interested in seeing if they could construct something from timber that remained moveable but allowed space for the resident’s wheelchairs to fit under. Simple enough, they put together a prototype, and it was on. Here’s a photo of my cousins Darren getting them settled in their new home.

 

Blue Sky Yards - Raised Garden Beds

Blue Sky Yards - Raised Garden Beds

 

And because they went with a square and “L” shape design, I snagged the prototype. Since lockdown, I’ve been growing spring onions, cos lettuce, some Asian greens and basil on my windowsill. Now, my babies would have a home. Plus I’d have SO much room to expand. Or so I thought.

I went a little crazy and ended up planting the following in that one single raised bed (not a great plan, but we’ll talk about THAT later).

 

In the first plant, there was (don’t laugh);

  • Cos Lettuce
  • Bok Choy
  • Chinese Cabbage
  • Beetroot
  • Dwarf Beans
  • Zucchini
  • Cheery Tomatoes
  • Mixed Seed Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Red (we think) Capsicum
  • Strawberries (they didn’t make it)
  • a Chilli plant; and
  • Spring Onions

 

You can see why I needed more space! By the time they all started to sprout, the cherry tomatoes were on a trestle and making their way towards the side of my house. The zucchini some had mildew thanks to the proximity of my haphazard planting which spread to the beans (killing them off eventually).

Kel saw the congestion and general chaos of my o.t.t. planting and using scraps built me a smaller raised garden bed for my greens and turned a broken water bottle from our camper into a planter for the chill plant and spring onions. We had some room. And as the beans died out, I used soap and bi-carb to kill off the rest of the mildew, we were cooking with gas.

 

I mean, it’s still an overcrowded bundle of chaos, but it’s my overcrowded bundle of chaos.

 

And when everyone said we would always have enough salad and stir-fry greens by planting a garden, they weren’t wrong, even with two adults consuming from the plants, the bok choy when to seed in a plot to overthrow the Chinese cabbage. Chaos; did I mention that?

But now, as I await my first harvest of cherry and heirloom tomatoes, zucchinis and chilli, I’m excited. The kids have helped me with labels for my plants and decorating the sides.

 

However, the kids’ interest in veggies, in general, is slim to none.

 

So, to keep them engaged when they’re here, we added the green planter (found in our shed) and we’ve planted some mixed flowers supposed to encourage bees and butterflies. Its all blue flower varieties and in a garden in the back, they planted Californian Poppies in a range of colours.

But we’ll see. I’ve used this seed mix before and despite it saying it’s suitable for this area and low maintenance, the best we’ve ever got are some small white ground coverage plants that look like clover gone to seed. It does attract butterflies though; I have to give it that.

 

 

And that, my friend, is our veggie garden.

 

I still want (need?) more space because there are herbs I want to add. In the side yard, just behind where these gardens, Kel is going to put some fruit trees in for me. Lemon, lime and mandarin are my first picks. But some kind of berry wouldn’t go astray either. I’m sure the kids would be into that, I remember hanging out under the mulberry tree in our backyard as a kid. Playing games and eating ourselves silly on berries. It’s on the list!

Until then, it’s school holidays, and we have Fairy Gardens to build in the small wooded area in our yard. The kids have named it the Forest. I won’t tell you what they called the garden bed below the clothesline though—got to keep some secrets (plus it’s gross, haha). Thanks for visiting my garden. It’s a diversion from my usual content, I know. But right now I’m just trying to do whatever I want to do, content-wise and follow the joy. It’s my blog, I’m going to enjoy it.

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