House & Home The Vege Garden Thread 2021

{Note from mods - created from thread: The Vege Garden Thread 2020}

My Sweet Basil is going ballistic so finally - after years of simply "letting" the excess die off - I made my first batch of basil pesto. Basil, nuts, fresh garlic, parmesan cheese, olive oil

OMG

So good! Used roasted cashews instead of pine nuts - a financial decision - and might try walnuts next time

 

We planted three snake bean seeds awhile back given that not all seeds sprout / survive. All seeds did sprout and as a result we’re currently picking around the amount shown below (over a kilo) every day. Given our love of Asian food these are perfect although I think we (and the chickens) will be sick of beans by the time the season ends:

 

That's the beauty about eating seasonally - we quaff so much of a set product that we're sick of it by seasons end ... but ... by next season we're hanging out for it.

Something, in this world of all foods instantly, we seem to have forgotten to enjoy

 

Totally agree.

 

Nothing as prodigious as @nordog:



About the third or forth harvest of beans another 200g
Close to a kg of tomatoes and a few mini capsicums - we're also getting another punnet of cherry tomatoes daily as well.

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On a separate note, I'm not into foraging but know that I can't eat mushies from anywhere near deciduous trees (apparently) but these are under my azaleas:



And a few more from under a gordonia (these definitely don't look edible):





Light coloured gills ^^^^


Another different variety


And the underside:

 

... if in doubt - don't eat

 

The first ones if I was that way inclined would tempt me but I'm a wus when it comes to field mushrooms.

 

Apricot harvest, I should learn how to dry them.

 

They look delicious! You can buy vege fruit dehydrators which are electric.

 

Or racks in the fan forced oven turned on low

 

Does anyone here use the no dig garden approach? Any feedback on effectiveness in a normal running house (pets/kids etc)

 

I did a deep garden bed, tilled, composted, planted seeds, when emerged, mulched around seedings.Worked
better than no dig where weeds grew, soil was compacted, seeds struggled.

 

Just finished picking my Imperial mandarines - best ones I've eaten in years. Blood oranges look plentiful & quite heavy, Ellendale mandies have a fair way to go, lemonades seem to be going OK as well.

Ginger is getting close to harvest - first time ever that one plant has put up a flower. Tomatoes & beans have finished and been pulled up.

Pumpkin flowered but didn't set any fruit.

Spuds in abundance (for once).

It's autumn - my oak tree is getting bald.

 

Today is a radish pickling kinda day - fresh harvested from the garden. Also planted out 4 new asparagus crowns and a bunch of snap/snow peas during the week

 

ended up with 3 x 500g jars of hot pickled radish. Smells so yum

 

So ... what are people plotting for their vege gardens, with spring around the corner (I'm an optimist).

In the last few weeks I've planted:
- two plum trees
- a pomegranate
- a kumquat
- a lychee
- a loganberry vine
- around 40 garlic cloves
- 4 asparagus crown
- passionfruit vine
- a zillion lettuce (threw a mixed packet of seeds in the garden)

On the kitchen window shelf I've got 3 mixed herb pots, two table grape vines (busting to go in the garden), a thornless blackberry and going to give sweet potato a go. Waiting for my apple trees to arrive.

This is on top of my lemon, orange, mandarin, grapefruit, strawberries, radishes coming out my ears and nearly every western society herb known to man ... basil, sage, thyme, parsley (English and Italian), lemongrass, coriander (blergh), chives, silverbeet, spinach, rosemary, dill

Planning to put in tomato, cucumber, pumpkin, beetroot and anything else that takes the fancy

 

Oh ... and every spare mm will be packed with bee and butterfly loving flowering plants ... no lawn for me ... no siree