So I went out & started taking photos yesterday afternoon, & half way through the camera battery decided to throw in the towel :p I threw it on the charger & went about doing other things. I kinda ran out of time to make up the post yesterday, but here it is now...
PHOTOS（･∀･)つ...
Salad greens! These are some of the first plants we started growing, they're doing very well & have provided us with plenty of delicious greens for sandwiches, salads, etc :) Some are starting to flower & will eventually go to seed (we plan to collect seed from as many of our plants as possible) There are other clusters of salad scattered around, & they're all doing well too ^_______^
This is one of the random beans my father gave me, & since I planted it it's pretty much gone crazy, it's already climbed half way up the balcony ':) It's gotten bigger than I expected & I'm thinking I may have planted the rosemary a bit close... woops, I'm sure it'll be fine tho :p
Yes, this is our first bamboo plant :D We got this one from bamboogrove, it's an Old Hamii (old ham-i-eye) aka. 'sweet shoot' bamboo, it has construction grade timber & edible shoots (although it will be a couple of years before we can take any). I already love this plant, it's beautiful & seems to add to the atmosphere wherever it goes :p
This little sapling is a baby tree [:D & this happens to be one of the plants I am presently most excited about. This tree is commonly referred to as a drumstick tree (Moringa oleifera), they are lovely little trees that have a variety of uses, predominately in the kitchen because most parts are edible & highly nutritious. I managed to buy some seeds from ebay.com.au if all places, & happily 3 of the 4 seeds I have planted have sprouted! I'm very much looking forward to seeing how these progress <3
Mini greenhouse is mini, this handy little thing belongs to Eli's Father, but he doesn't have the room to set it up in his garden just yet so it's hanging out with us for a while. I certainly have no complaints, I've already put it to use to try to get some quicker germination happening. I've put in seeds that haven't wanted to germinate out in the open & also a few that I hope will sprout more quickly if they're in a greenhouse (just cause I want them asap :P) I think this is a brilliant little thing, & I'm pretty sure you can find them (or something similar) at pretty much any hardware store.
***Disaster struck yesterday when strong winds blew the mini greenhouse over & scattered the soil & seeds! D: So a warning if you get one of these, weigh it down!
I'm calling this 'the new U', it's the newest garden bed we've made up. We made it by layering materials. From memory it's, newspaper, old leaf/bark/grass rakings, compost, cardboard, & pea straw on top. Then we saturated it & now we're leaving it to sit & break down for a week or 3 before planting it out. I'm planning on making another similar bed soon, I'll get photos & make up a step by step post so anyone who's interested in trying it knows where to start ;3 These u shaped beds (similar to keyhole beds) are great cause you can get right in & easily access all your plants without trampling the soil \[:D]/ probably my favourite kind for open areas :)
Trays, boxes & pots of various plants at various stages sitting around doing their thang. Some of these need to be planted out, but many still need to grow some more. I'm trying to compile herbs to make a convenient herb bed at the bottom of the stairs, & I'll post about that when I get around to it. Some of the plants here are thyme, chilies, coriander, capsicum, tomatoes, squash, comfrey, globe artichoke, watermelon, leek, basil, salads, etc etc etc...
A young corn plant & some friends that are sprouting up round it :) This is an indian variety of corn, better used for maize I think, I'm not quite sure why we planted so many of these, but I'm sure they'll be useful ':)
A young pumpkin & a nasturtium, which is a companion to many vegetables & has edible flowers :) Companion planting is a really great technique to employ in your garden for many reasons, I'd encourage everyone to give it a try, & here's a companion plating guide to help out ;)
Comfrey & mint happily growing together, these aren't listed as companions, however they like similar conditions (partial shade + moist ground) so I have them plated near each other. I'm not sure how any other plant could dislike comfrey anyway, it's so helpful :p I bought both of these as small plants from the St Andrews market & they've both really taken off since I planted them [: ) I used a bunch of the mint last night to make mint yoghurt to accompany a tasty Moroccan-style curry we had for dinner.
& this is our mighty potato patch [:o To get this started we loosened the ground, planted a few varieties of potato & covered the lot with straw. As the plants grew we piled straw up around them until they got a bit bigger, now we're just leaving them to do their thing & (hopefully) produce a butt-load of taters. I love the lush, green spud patch, I think they're quite a pretty plant, & when potato season is done (if they ever stop growing ?_?) We'll be left with a really well composted bed, ready to grow the next veg :)
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...& some very pretty potato flowers d(*⌒▽⌒*)b
That's the lot for now :) Hopefully we'll see some produce by the end of summer/early autumn, till then I'm just gonna keep planting...
Ja ne everyone (｀-´)>...
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