Garden Share Collective: Autumn in Full Swing

Another month has passed, once again it's time to take a look at my little vegie garden as part of the Garden Share Collective, joining in as always with Lizzie of Strayed from the Table. Also congratulations are in order to Lizzie, she's now a mum! Wishing Lizzie and Roy all the best with their beautiful baby girl. 

A plant must be very resilient in these parts.

And on to the garden… You know this is the first time in my years of vegetable gardening that I've really embraced the autumn/winter vegie garden. Normally I get to the end of summer and things tend to shut down for the winter. And last year I planned my autumn/winter garden and then - baby - and nothing at all happened. Well, nothing that I did anyway. So I'm loving spending time out there in the cooler weather and having different crops on the go.

Currently growing happily are broad beans, peas, rainbow chard (still going from summer), celery, lettuce, a couple of beetroots and some other hangers-on from summer that will soon be finished - zucchini, capsicum, leeks, basil. The herb garden is doing well, I've been busy building a rock wall and creating quite a happy little space in that area of the garden. One day there will be photos. Mostly I spend my outdoor time trying to protect the vegies from toddler feet, toddler hands and rogue chickens. Again. Always the chicken issue. Thankfully broad beans bounce back fairly well from being stood on and sat on.

New season growth - broccoli, broad beans and peas, with zucchini and capsicum in the background.

Planting: Hopefully over the coming month I'll get some cauliflower and brussels sprouts planted, and maybe some more broccoli and spinach. I don't think I planted anything during April, the peas and broad beans all went in late March. So it's probably time to get planting again.

Grow little pea, grow!

Harvesting: Quite a lot during April actually. The zucchini is still going, albeit at a slower and slower rate, but it is still giving us beautiful zucchini's every few days or so, particularly after a dose of rain. I cannot bring myself to pull out that plant yet, it is such a good provider. Maybe this month. Also harvesting the last of the leeks from summer, heaps and heaps of rainbow chard, and capsicums too. The little capsicum plants came good after all and gave us a lot of fresh, crisp green capsicums. William's favourite thing to forage for at the moment, as well as the rainbow chard for the bright stalks. Celery is still in plentiful supply and I take what I need for soups mainly, as and when needed. And for distracting William away from capsicums. Plenty of herbs being harvested too - parsley, oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary mostly. The basil is still there, I'm about to bring it all in and dry some for winter, the mint is our favourite 'snack' plant (again, a distraction against more untoward things for a 13 month old) and the chives remain untouched. Must try some of the chives.

Not what you want to see on the broccoli leaves.

To Do List: A few jobs to be done in the garden this coming month. Very first up is to get some dipel out onto the broccoli. I've lost a couple of seedlings completely and removed a few caterpillars, and there are plenty of eggs on the undersides of the leaves. I knew it was coming, I've seen those little white butterflies in the garden so it was only going to be a matter of time. Then some more planting, cauliflower and brussels sprouts. Maybe this will be the month when I pull out the zucchini. The capsicums are also starting to suffer with cooler nights so they will probably go. Then I have to put up some support for the broad beans, and possibly get some sort of frost protection measures in place. And fertilise with my weed tea again (I did this once last month). It seems I have a busy month ahead in the garden. Time to get busy again, I've not done much other than harvest for the past month.

So that's me and my little garden for this month! How is the garden growing in your part of the world? Have you had a look at the Garden Share Collective page recently? There are so many bloggers contributing from all around the world, there's bound to be someone close to you.

Wishing you all a month of happy gardening!