Spring 2019 Planting Stage 1

With the weather (finally) warming up in Melbourne, I decided to transplant some of the seedlings that look ready.

First are the pumpkins, the below photo was taken 1 week ago. They have grown more true leaves and the roots have grown very long.

They are now at the front garden where they should get ample sunlight during the day.

Second, the cabbages, cauliflower and lettuce seedlings have grown enough number of true leaves, so they were planted at the front garden as well this morning. Also on the photos are lettuce and spinach seedlings.

Photo from 1 week ago. Cabbages (back right), cauliflower (front right), broccoli (back left) and lettuce (front left)

Photo taken yesterday.

The cabbages and cauliflower were planted around the poppies bed where they will get lots of morning sun.

Some of the lettuce seedlings were planted at the front garden as well, since they were doing well on that section last year.

Third, lettuce, spinach and broccoli  seedlings were ready.

The big lettuces were from last winter and new seedlings planted in front of them.

Broccoli also occupy the same spot this spring as last time.

The remaining of lettuce and spinach seedlings were planted in garden bed 3 this year.

Lastly, the tomatoes that I planted in August 2019 were finally ready to meet the outdoor weather.

Garden bed 4 were cleared yesterday to make space for the tomatoes.

New occupants of garden bed 4, with some space left on the right hand side for cucumber, capsicum and beefsteak tomatoes.

All of the seedlings have been covered with with pea straw mulch since the photos were taken.

Garden bed 2 filled with broad beans, long beans, anak beans and all sorts of beans.

Photo taken 2 weeks ago.

Photo from this morning.

With new beans seedlings popping out.

Raspberry bush is back and growing new branches. There are a few flowers already showing and I hope there will be walls of raspberries soon.

Cranberries have grown it's leaves back. 

Seedling Preparation for Spring 2019

As the weather warmed up in Melbourne, I started my batch of seedlings for the 4 beds crop rotation this spring. This year, I didn't prepare too many backup seedlings because I finally figured out the right time to start the seedlings and also to transplant them outside.

The usual suspects are tomatoes and pumpkins.

Tomatoes, seeds planted in the first week of Aug. Photo taken in the second week of September.

These 4 trays are pretty much the only seedlings I prepared this year. They are the vegetables and herbs that we regularly consume, such as pumpkin, capsicum, chili, lettuce, spinach, brocoli,  cabbage, cauliflower, parsley and basil. These were planted in the last week of August and photos were taken in the second week of September.

The pumpkin seeds are the usual early sprouters.

And the lettuce, brocolli, cabbage and cauliflower.

I really hope I will get cauliflower this year, I'm going to plant them at the front garden.

LittleMsGreenies Return with Garden Update 2019

LittleMsGreenies had returned with Spring 2019 garden update after a long break. The garden had grown and changed a bit. I figured out the sun pattern and the best spots for certain plants.

The front garden has new brick edging which I recently installed. 

This year, the half circle section has a pair of tower of nasturtium and snow peas, a few bunches of kale, sprouting brocolli and hopefully cauliflower. Also in this section, I'm hoping the geranium and borage will become a permanent fixture to maintain the bees visitors around the garden.

The bees absolutely love the borage flowers.

We've been harvesting snow peas and kale consistently in the last few weeks.

Also at the front garden, I planted Asahi tulip bulbs which had flowered in the last few weeks.

The Tete-a-tete daffodils had not flowered yet. I hope they will come out.

I planted Californian poppies underneath the olive tree and they have finally flowered this year. This had been a long wait for me as they were planted from seeds around 2 years ago.

Some of the calendula flowers had popped out as well. This empty patch is ready for pumpkin seedlings to be planted in the next few weeks.

 

The Lavender plants had grown significantly and produced lots and lots of flowers. I have been harvesting and drying them for tea and homemade shampoo. The bees are also loving them so much and I can sometimes see 6-8 bees hovering around.

In this section, I planted a few kale and lettuce. They grew slower than their fellow plants in the half circle section (a sunnier spot). 

And finally, the giant jade plants at the front door had grown enormously. They had red flowers which attracted the little nectar sucking birds. The pair of planters had filled up and had the spilling over effect that I hoped for.

Stay tuned for more updates on the fruit trees and the four beds crop rotation.