Garden Share Collective: Autumn is Here

Another month, another Garden Share Collective post. As always, hosted by Lizzie of Strayed from the Table and linking up with gardening bloggers from around the world.

So my little vegie garden has seen some big changes in the past month. Gone are many of the stars of summer, the tomatoes and potatoes making way for new plantings of peas and broad beans. The zucchini is still going, I can't believe it but this one plant which has given us so much, continues to give almost daily. Rainbow chard is looking revitalised with some milder temperatures and more rain, a few leeks remain growing in the garden and some new plantings of lettuce, silverbeet and beetroot in the front yard are doing nicely. I had planted out kale in the front garden also but every single seedling got eaten. So I'm calling that one a fail and moving right along.

Planting: I've been planting peas and broad beans all over the place recently. A few different varieties of each, hoping for some good crops. We've had amazing weather for growth with overnight rains and warm sunny days, so things are looking good. Also broccoli seedlings finally made it into the ground, they seem to be taking well. And some spring onion seeds which are happily emerging now. In April I'll be planting some more broccoli and spinach seeds, probably some more silverbeet and some cauliflower.

Harvesting: I harvested my potatoes during March! Given that I planted them so late in the season [4th January to be exact], I wasn't sure if they would do anything much. The harvest wasn't as big as it would have been had they been in the ground earlier, but still, 10kg came out of the ground so our cupboard is currently stocked with home-grown potatoes. So delicious and I'm so happy that they grew. Plus they broke up that section of clay down the back of the garden perfectly. Potatoes are such amazing plants in my book. All the tomatoes also came in, not enough to bottle for winter but enough to enjoy some beautiful tomato-based meals. A few green tomatoes were turned into green tomato chutney, which should be almost ready come to think of it. Apart from that, we're currently harvesting: rainbow chard, zucchini, leeks, capsicums, celery, basil, mint, sage, thyme, rosemary, lettuce. 

To Do List: I'm keeping a close eye on that zucchini to see when I can pull it up to make way for new plantings but it's doing such a great job, even though it takes up so much space, there's no way I can pull it up. But maybe in April… I will probably bring in most of the celery soon to make space, and the capsicums are providing very well at the moment but I'm not sure how much longer they'll keep going. So I guess I'm watching and waiting to see what space I have to clear out and replant in. I'd also like to get back into making my own organic fertiliser - weed tea - that I swear by but haven't had the time to do for many months now. A bit of a maintenance month, perhaps.

Well that's where my vegie garden is at right now. How's your patch looking at the moment, are you enjoying the quieter days of autumn of getting stuck into spring plantings? For more gardens, take a look at the Garden Share Collective page, there's plenty from around the world so bound to be something close to home.