Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Thriving on Neglect


Our garden has been a bit neglected of late. The most exciting thing to me that I've done has been to pick, dry and plait our first harvest of garlic. It's currently hanging on our back porch and smells delicious everytime we walk past.



Even with neglect the garden continues to thrive. We've harvested a few zucchini with plenty more growing. Our first little lebanese cucumbers are growing as well, and we have baby tomatoes everywhere. The beans have climbed over the trellis and onto next doors rogue jasmine. No beans yet but lots of little white fluffy bugs. Anyone know what they could be?? They are on everything in the garden and food and flowers alike.


All bar one of our watermelon seedlings gave up and died and I have no idea why. Lots of sun, water and love...but maybe something else was missing??


Speaking of something missing, cutting through the jungle at our new place we found an old vegie garden. Needs lots of work but it's in the perfect spot and has the potential for extension. We've also discovered an established almond tree (full of almonds), 2 apple trees, a nectarine, a lemon and one very sad sick looking lime tree.

There's also an old chicken coop, which is in surprisingly good condition since it's lain abandoned for at least the last 3 years. It just needs a good clean out and some work on the roof and door. We had no idea of the garden's promise as you just could not get in and look due to a massive dog, debris and a serious case of out of control undergrowth.

But this house is starting to feel like a really good fit. It has lovely bones and so does it's garden.

4 comments:

  1. Might be lady beetle larvae, if you're lucky. Do they look like this? http://ipm.ncsu.edu/current_ipm/08PestNews/08News6/hyperas1.jpg. Or (less happily) they could be mealy bugs or wooly aphids. My garden is thriving on neglect too - the lead up to Christmas life just seems to get faster and faster!

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  2. Hi,

    Just had someone else in Belgrave said that their garden both vegetal and ornamenatal was covered in wolly aphid , http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/2865/ ,
    so it's possible the conditions down there this year are just conducive.

    At a guess the watermelon probably carked it cause although it's had plenty of almost everything the temperature has been very much all over the place. All of the melons really like stable warm temperatures much more so than zucchini and tomatoes.

    Kind Regards
    Belinda

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  3. Thanks ladies - from Belinda's pic its definitely wolley aphids and they are everywhere. I'll make sure that I start spraying the plants with Natrasoap tonight.

    Hi Belinda - hasnt the weather been all over the place. Cant make up its mind if its spring, summer or autumn - makes it hard to grow veggies :-)

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  4. Oh my goodness, how awesome... almonds, apple, nectarine, lemon, vege gardens and chook houses! I am SO, so excited for you! Hope the lime tree can be brought back to life with some TLC.

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