garden2

THE CONTINUING SAGA OF MY GARDEN

(ANY PHOTOS OUTLINED IN BLUE ARE LINKS TO PHOTOS FORMERLY PUBLISHED ON THIS PAGE)

Fruit 2 Fruit 1 Fruit 3

Tomato Jungle 2 On October 24, 1998, the Hafey family moved from a house in Rockdale to Hurstville, a suburb further south of the Sydney CBD (slightly). Consequently, all the garden that I had planted at Rockdale (including in excess of 200 tomato plants!) needed to be transplanted into pots and moved, along with everything else, to the new house. Tomato Jungle 3

In the left photo you can see the commencement of the garden. Here is the shed, some gardening paraphernalia and various plants. To the right of the picture can be seen two large pots. These are the nasturtium plants. I managed to collect quite a lot (a whole brown paper lunch bag full) of seeds, and have started planting more around about the place.

Nasturtiums are a useful insect repellent. If planted around broccoli, cauliflower, the cabbage family, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers and fruit trees, they deter white flies, squash bugs, and are a trap crop for aphids. They also limit woolly aphid damage to apple trees if planted in a circle around them.

Nasturtiums are cultivated mainly for their ornamental qualities, but are sometimes used for their spicy, peppery tasting leaves, seeds and flowers. The leaves are eaten in sandwiches and salads, the flowers are used as a garnish for salads and to flavour vinegar, and the seeds are pickled in vinegar to be used like capers. the once hidden, but now exposed, pavers!

Not long after I started planting out my tomatoes I noticed the soil was rather thin under my gardening stuff. Imagine my surprise when, upon striking the soil with my trusty shovel, I discovered it was indeed thin, only about an inch deep, and under it were some pavers! We Hafeys are yet to decide whether or not it is a good thing for said pavers to remain exposed. I suppose they can be yet another area for Eilis to ride her dinky trike. I could put my pots there...Maybe that's why they were covered up in the first place - someone didn't know what to do with them once they'd been laid!

Even more recently (like Tuesday) I was wanting to unpot some of my marigolds. All was well until I reached a part of the garden near the close line. More pavers! Methinks the property was a whole lot larger in the past than it is today! Sort of limits my direct-to-ground gardening, but I think it adds a certain "something" to the garden. I just don't yet know what that something is!

Here are some of the tomato plants. They were a little shocked at having been first grown in pots, then transplanted into the garden at Rockdale, then repotted for the move to Hurstville, and then once again, planted out into the ground! I was a little concerned at first, but they now seem to be doing alright. Planted amongst the tomatoes are marigolds. Marigolds are very useful planted anywhere in the garden. They deter many insects, as well as slugs. Tomatoes grow and produce better when planted with marigolds; the same rule applies to basil planted with tomatoes.

To the left are planted zucchini, watermelon, cucumber, as well as marigolds. Squash do well to be planted with corn or nasturtiums. Squash also thrive when planted alongside peas, radishes and sunflowers. Later plantings in this bed have seen the addition of corn and radishes.

As with selecting real estate, an important consideration when planting a vegetable garden is position, position, position! Do not restrict yourself (if possible) to the fenceline, rather, locate garden beds in the centre of the yard, in order to obtain optimum sunlight, year round. Of course, if planting shade or cool season crops, such as brassicas or lettuces, the fenceline can prove to be a useful location. My garden beds have been located in the sunniest parts of the yard, with the future ambition of joining them together to form a patchwork of beds with paths between. At present, I am consolidating eight garden beds, which were of a temporary nature. The plan is to have them join (as much as possible) into the one bed, growing as I need the space. Only one of these beds was established prior to our moving here. Tomato Jungle 1

This bed on the right is for the berries, and I don't seriously believe that they will stay contained in this small area! Among the varieties planted here are boysenberries, blackberries and raspberries. Before we moved house, I harvested 3 luscious raspberries! Mmmmm! I think it was a bit of an accident that they were produced, because we haven't seen any since! Hopefully some will grow in late summer or autumn. Apparently these berries are best suited for colder climates, but as they were selling locally, I believe they should do well enough. The berries too suffered from some shock in the move, and I actually thought one of the plants had died, but they are all now producing new growth. It's berry encouraging!

Mesclun salad selection from Brandywine Farms

This is Mesclun, a French word meaning something along the lines of "cut and come again". Among this mix of salad lettuces etc, include Deer Tongue, Oakleaf, "Russian Red" Kale, Rocket, and a variety of other lettuces and leafy greens that I can't think of right at this very moment. Beautiful stuff. Right now they are too little to cut, but I had a huge patch of Mesclun greens at Rockdale, and this kept us going all the way through winter. I don't just serve these in a salad, I also use them in cooking, as any other green leafy vegetable. Pure Health!

Can't quite remember the variety of beans planted here, but I do remember that the method of planting known as the "three sisters" recommends one plants beans with corn and squash. It's an Aztec gardening method. First off, to provide nutrients for the soil, they would dig a couple of holes and put dead fish in them. (Bother! Knew I forgot something! No dead fish!!) A little while after they would then hill up some rows and plant 2-3 kernels of corn, and wait for it to grow a bit. Then they planted some beans in the hills, which would twine their way around the stalks of corn. Around the whole garden are planted squash seeds. These feed from any water that runs off the corn and beans, and keep the ground moist with the shade from their leaves. In turn, the beans and corn shade each other. Beans enrich the soil with nitrogen, which corn takes out of the soil, and corn enriches the soil with lysiene, which the beans extract. When eaten together (as say, in a tortilla), these three combine to provide a pretty nutritious meal. The ancient Aztecs pretty much survived on things like this, adding tomatoes, tomatillos, and chile peppers as well to round it all out.

I will continue to update this page as the garden grows - be sure to check back to see how it's going!

Last updated: 15 December, 1998

HOME