Weeknight Harvest, Beans, Parsley, Broccolini, and Tomato

Another weeknight harvest, we are definitely blessed this year as this garden provided us with ongoing supply of vegetables. This time we harvested green and purple beans, parsley, broccolini and tomatoes.

I can't remember what I cooked them with. I usually prepare and freeze a small amount of mince of meat for weeknight dinner. I would thaw them and reheat them on the stove with the vegetables from the garden.

Purple Beans Harvest

My Purple Beans finally ready to harvest!

They're so chunky and pretty.

As I was picking them I saw the bean vine actually climbed up my neighbour's tree!! Eek!! 

What a rigorous climber. There were actually beans up that tree. I managed to pull down the vine gently and trailed them across the trellis.

The harvest for dinner that night. And some tomatoes too.

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. 

LittleMsGreenies First Four Beds Crop Rotation - Summer 2016

With the extra space at the back garden, I’ve decided to try out the Four Beds Crop Rotation and split up the areas into 5.

Garden Bed 0, as I call it, is dedicated for the permanently planted trees and bushes. It's not part of the crop rotation.

Photo from left to right: Betel, Bay Tree, Sambung Nyawa, Curry Tree.

Garden Beds 1 to 4 are going to be used for crop rotation and I picked the easiest rotation for a newbie, the plant type rotation. Unfortunately, I started planting a bit late in 2016. We moved in to the new place in early November, and I only started planting in mid November. The Melbourne weather at that time was still a bit cold, I heard the winter lasted a bit longer in 2016. I still had to wear my winter coat when working in the garden in the early morning.

So, here is my Summer 2016 4 Beds Crop Rotation.

Garden Bed 1 is for Beans, currently occupied by Dwarf Round Beans, Broad Beans, Snake Beans, Sweet Peas, and Snow Peas.

The first batch of the round beans was harvested a few weeks ago.

Since then I had tied up the vines to the wooden fence to support the plants.

It looks like they are growing better with support.

Garden Bed 2 is for Leaf Veggies and Herbs, currently occupied by lots of different herbs, Chinese vegetables, Cabbage and Broccoli.

 Seedlings Planting

Growing Plants: Spring Onion, Coriander, Bok Choy

We keep harvesting and planting seeds for this bed, I will need to figure out how to seed save to reduce cost of buying seeds.

They’re a lot of fun to grow.

Broccoli and Cabbage are supposed to be winter crops. I’ve been maintaining it and looking after the young plants, caterpillars are very attracted to these, I guess, they must be very yummy. I’ve been spraying them with a mixture of water, chilies, and garlic to get rid of the pests.

Garden Bed 3 is for Fruit Veggies, currently occupied by Tomatoes, Zucchinis, and Pumpkin. The Chili and Capsicum seeds that I planted had not been a success.

From left to right: rows of tomato plants, very small pumpkin seedlings, and giant zucchini plants.

The Tomatoes were a hit and miss, some grew really well, and we’ve got a good harvest.

But there are some that didn’t grow well.

My guess is probably because I was using old seeds that had been kept for too long.

The Pumpkin was planted from seeds and has been a slow grower, although a few weeks ago a few flowers seemed to emerge. So, I don’t know what is currently happening with it. I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

The Zucchini plants are great producers, I've already harvested 6-8 zucchinis in the last 3 months. 

Garden Bed 4 is for the Root Veggies, was occupied by potatoes. I had a few potatoes that had sprouted and I put them in this garden bed. They grew, flowered, and we have harvested them a few weeks ago. I think we should’ve waited a bit longer before harvesting. We could’ve had bigger potatoes.

This bed is currently occupied by lemongrass, ginger, galangal, Chinese Keys (Temu Kunci), garlic and mini round carrots.

So it began my first year journey in Crop Rotation.

The next rotation will happen in September this year, 2017.
I'm hoping by then, all plants will complete harvest with our last harvest being the garlic.