Phunnie!

 Suyin was inspired by my comments regarding beetroot the other day.

Signs of Spring

Spring, it would seem, is upon us. The fig tree is about to explode into greenery and the very first fig for the season has appeared.

The first tiny figlet

The just-planted fruit trees are getting ready for some growth. I hope they'll be happy in their new homes with plenty of space to expand.

New leaf on the Dwarf Pink Lady

New flower (?) on the Dwarf Pink Lady

The potatoes, planted two weeks ago, have also emerged in their usual hairy green manner.

Yay for Spring

Gemüse-und Apfelbäumen

Today was another busy day in the Front Yard Farm, although with some trees planted and not a lot of vegetable action going on yet, it's looking embarrassingly ornamental at the moment. To address this sad deficiency, I went through my seed collection and picked out what's going in for spring. I won't spoil the surprise by revealing everything, but thus far I've planted:

Purple Podded Dutch Peas
These are a favourite, with pretty purple flowers followed by dark purple pods with normal-looking green peas inside (see title picture at the top right of the page).

Golden Podded Peas
I haven't grown these before but apparently you can eat them pod and all like snow peas when they're small. I usually grow peas over Winter, so hopefully these will mature before being fried by the Summer sun.

Frost Beans
I got these in a mixed bag of beans last year and they were so pretty I just have to grow them again.

Mixed Heirloom Radishes
I'll remember to pick these before they turn into scary monsters this time.

Golden Beetroot
I admit it, I used to hate beetroot. Even now there is a limit to how much I can eat before something inside me says "ENOUGH BEETROOT!". These little guys though, I could eat like lollies. They're sweet and golden and don't run, so you don't end up with your entire dish turning a deep purple. 

The peas and beans were planted beneath the trellis along the front of the house. The beetroot and radishes I've planted to act like a border alongside part of the path. Speaking of the path, it's now finished (YAY!) and I'm very pleased with the result. Not bad for a stack of old bricks and some bark. Oh, and a ton of back-breaking labour too.

And today we planted the apple trees!

Dwarf Pink Lady and Granny Smith apples planted!

You can also see I've been mulching. The shop was out of my usual sugar cane mulch last weekend, so I got pea straw instead. It's full of goodies that help feed the soil as it breaks down but it is a bit more stringy to deal with. My usual technique is to mulch everything, then clear away the spots where I want to plant things. Its easier doing this with the more finely chopped sugar cane so this will remain my default option in future.

Comment of the Day
Passer-by: "You know I had it in my mind that this garden was the work of a Chinese gardener."

Apparently it's "oriental looking".

So, we got a lot done, and after all that activity I needed a nap. Tomorrow I'll be planting some seeds in punnets.

Planting and Barking

The plants have been letting me know that Spring's almost upon us. The fig tree is about to explode into greenness and the dwarf Washington Navel Orange was starting to show signs of new growth. That meant but one thing: I had to get the trees planted tout suite!

So last weekend we got stuck in, and while Suyin was engaged in the therapeutic task of picking rocks out of the garden bed, I was digging holes for the citrus trees.

Here are some holes, and here are some trees. You can guess what comes next.

You may also have noticed in the above photo that the path is looking more path-like and less like a ditch. We decided to try some finely chopped pine bark as a fill but I was too chicken to buy more than one bag in case it looked bad. It didn't, so I've since bought some more to finish it off. Now, back to the citrus..

Final preparation before planting the lemon tree. Nice path, yes?

Still being paranoid about drainage after the untimely demise of the resident lychee tree from fungal root rot, I tested the holes by filling them with water and seeing how long it took for them to drain. The nursery we bought the trees from has a handy page on planting citrus where they suggest you should plant your tree elsewhere if it takes more than 30 minutes for the water to drain away. Mine took more like 5 minutes, so I was pretty comfortable with that.

Lime, lemon and orange trees ready for a good watering in.

After that it was pretty straightforward to plant the trees and water them in. With grafted trees you're always supposed to plant them with the graft above the ground, and in this case it was no problem as there was about 15cm to play with. Now it's just a matter of making sure they have enough water to get established (but not too much!) and looking out for any signs of distress or pestilence.