Autumn Front Garden Clean Up and Preparation for Winter Crops Planting

As the weather is cooling down here in Melbourne, I thought it was a great opportunity to do a bit of clean up and preparation for my various garden beds for winter planting.

My first priority is the small section right in front of my entrance door. This section was previously occupied by Geranium plants, but I decided to utilise this small patch for an additional garden bed for vegetables. So, this is now my Garden Bed 6. I cleaned up the middle part of the section to make way for Brassicas, such as Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage and Cauliflower.

For the border, on the right we have a few Lavender plants that are doing well and have been attracting lots of local solitary bees. They are doing a great job in pollinating my crops. The Geraniums that were planted in the middle of this section had been moved to the back row. The left border has been allocated for the annual Zinnias (the ones with pink flower) and I sprinkled Marigold seeds as well. The front row has a few Chrysanthemum plants that have been doing well after I propagated them from cuttings.

The next section that I cleaned up was the half circle garden bed at the front of the house. This section was originally planned for flowers, but the vegetable plants had ever so slowly crept in. I discovered that this section has the best morning sun exposure and thought it would be an awesome spot for a few veggies. So, this is now my Garden Bed 5. In Spring 2019, I planted Zucchini, Pumpkin, Broccoli and Tomatoes here. I didn't pull them out, I just cleared some of the dead leaves to open the space. Also, a few months ago, I transplanted some of the Strawberry runners here and they have been doing quite well after the transplant.

The plan for this bed is Strawberry plants to remain at the front most, followed by Marigold and Chives (apparently great companion plants for Strawberry). I sprinkled a few Cos Lettuce seeds behind them and followed by the Borage plants at the back.

I haven't pulled out the Zucchini plants yet, as they are still flowering and fruiting at the moment. So, I wanted to extend their growing time as much as I can. So, I sprinkled the Marigold and Lettuce seeds around them.

 

The same goes with the Tomatoes and Pumpkin. Both are still looking like they can still produce, so, I left them be for the time being:

Looking forward to harvesting these tomatoes.

The next section that I really wanted to clean up (because it's so messy) is the section  under the Olive tree. I planted Poppy plants around the tree in Spring 2019 and the seed pods had spread seeds everywhere. So, Poppy seedlings had grown all over the place. I've been waiting for them to get to a manageable size for transplant. The left side of this section now has a few Lavender plants that I propagated from cuttings. 

I haven't harvested the Red Cabbage and Cauliflower yet, but I will be soon. I have also cleared up the front part of this section for a few Japanese Buxus plants that I'm still propagating from cuttings. I'm hoping they will be ready for planting in a few weeks.

The Poppy seedlings transplanted to the right spot:

The left side of this section was previously occupied by row of Calendula plants. I pulled out the old plants, collected the seedlings and moved them to the back row:

And with that done, all the work I planned to do at the front garden was accomplished. I really hope I will see lots of new seedlings popping out soon, especially the Lettuce.

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.