Garden Share Collective: Spring Has Sprung

Once again linking up with Lizzie of Strayed from the Table and a bunch of other bloggers for the monthly peek into my vegie garden happenings. Spring is definitely here and the garden is coming to life with new growth. Seeds planted in the last 4-5 weeks are starting to shoot and take hold, flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing and motivation is, well, mixed. We've just taken the decision to move, so this is likely to be my last GSC post for this garden, and leaving this garden behind certainly brings some sadness to me. However, we're going back to an old garden that we left behind 18 months ago, so all is not lost, and I'm looking forward to reinvesting in that lovely, albeit much smaller, vegetable garden. 

Anyway! Enough about that, more about the garden. The flowering trees are starting to do their thing, the lucerne trees and our peach tree are in full bloom. The apples are still a wee way off, and we planted an apricot this month as well, which may or may not do much this year. The fig is just about at bud burst as well. My little potted rosemary is also flowering like mad, the most I've ever seen it do. I'm a little bit glad I never planted it out in the ground now, as it means I can take it with me. I've been lugging it around in the pot for years now, I think I'll plant it in a permanent place once we move this time. I've been waiting for the right spot, but enough with waiting now. Poor thing needs some room to grow.

Peach tree.

Lucerne tree.

Rosemary.

The vegie garden itself is going well. Potatoes are coming up from leftover bits in the ground from the last crop, so I've left them to grow. Broad beans seeds I put out in late July are all coming up, as are most of the peas. I was a bit concerned about the peas, as we had quite a lot of rain during August and I thought the seeds might rot. And I'd say a few of them have, but those that have survived are looking pretty good. Also coming up are spring onions that I planted out [read: scattered seeds randomly] in July. I didn't think they were going to do anything but it seems they were just waiting until the conditions suited them a bit better. A couple of spinaches are also on the way, not many of those seeds germinated but a few have made it.

Potatoes and broad beans.

Spring onions.

Planted in August - seeds of carrot, beetroot, leeks, silverbeet and more spinach. A row of seed potatoes has also gone in; as luck would have it, I discovered a stash of last seasons potatoes that I'd unknowingly left for myself, 17 to be exact. The exact number that I planted out last year. How about that for unplanned planning. Also some strawberry seedlings that have been waiting way too long to go into the ground. In order to get these plantings in, I had some big jobs in clearing out the beds, getting rid of weeds, adding compost and digging it all over. And I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Such a wonderful way to spend some time, digging in the garden. As I'm sure most of my readers well know!

Rows of new plantings and helper dogs.

Harvesting during August - just silverbeet which has been growing like weeds [I pick all the big leaves, it rains, the sun shines, and there is even more to be picked again], and some sage and parsley as our cooking calls for it. The broccoli has all gone to flower and is competing with weeds for domination at the back of the garden. 

Plans for September - sadly, not too much more for this garden. Finish off tidying it up, we need to put down some more gravel for the pathways to leave it in a good state for [hopefully] someone to move in and take it over. By late September we should be back in our old garden, and thinking about what needs to be done with that. I have to say I'm looking forward to seeing it and working in it again. So it's not all sad. The hardest part for me is leaving the potatoes. I am quite attached to them. Go figure.

Thanks for stopping by my garden this month! If you haven't already, do check out the Garden Share Collective page and see what other garden lovers have been up to.