First Half of March

Sis came to visit at the start of March.  She knows heaps about gardening and so I picked her brains about all sorts of things.  The corn was really interesting – when it gets to the ‘flower’ stage it has a head of seeds.  At the same time - growing below, off the stalk, is a stem with a tassel growing up from the top.  When the seeds fall from the head they land onto the tassel and there is the start of your corn.  When the tassel goes brown and withered the corn is ready to pick.  The interesting fact that Sis told me is that each one of the threads of the tassel goes down into the stem and is connected to its own little bit that turns into a piece of corn. 

Everything is still growing really well.  The beans are slowing down (just as well because we are getting a little tired of eating them),  The tomatoes are also producing really well.  Next year I will probably not plant as many tomatoes, as they crop so well it is a struggle to keep up to them – even with giving them to neighbors etc. but they are really so tasty compared to those you buy.

I had a bit of a clean up of the top vege patch (the one with the lemon tree) and dug up my potato crop from a self sown potato.  There were a few smaller than a golf ball and some little ones....oh well they were delicious anyway.  One of the tomato plants had finished so out it came too so then there was some room for something new.  I planted some seedling red onions (onions do really well here) and some garlic chives.  They have been a favorite as they jazz up anything you cook. I also planted broccoli seeds - probably too late but they will become green manure if they fail and also some red beet.  Cross fingers as I don’t usually have much success with seeds.  The snow peas have finished producing so it will be a few months before they can go in again.  Next time I’ll put them back where I had them originally in the top bed where they had lots of lovely snow-peas rather than in the next bed they seemed to struggle and only produced half as much as before.  Win some – lose some!!!  But always win a bit of information.

The flower garden is looking good – a few roses in bloom, penstamens looking pretty and the fairies have planted lots of very pretty pansies everywhere....some in the vege garden, paths, under the steps and all really pretty ones as well as that, the lobelia has self sown all around the steps and paths.  I pull out every other self sown invader but not the pansies or lobelias.  The previous owner had planted this curious bulb which has a flower, like a tulip in shape, which comes up out of the ground first and then when the flower dies the leaves come up.  I have taken out every other bulby thing as their messiness annoys me but I like the quirkiness of this cheeky flower.  The bumble bees also love it.

Everything continues to be happy in the shade house (including me). I really love the begonias that appear  in Feb. and still going strong now in March.  I thought I had lost a couple – in fact I thought they were just pots with dirt but up came the begonias as beautiful as ever.

Yesterday was ‘grandson day’ of the week and together we picked two and a half kg of tomatoes.  This was from just two plants and there were still plenty of green ones waiting to ripen. 

My first ever corn - you can see the little threads of the tassel connected to each piece of corn

the chilli plant has started to produce

my whole potato crop was only big enough for one meal for Pop and me

the two tomato plants before we picked two and a half kg.

I'm glad Pop isn't sick of zucchini yet as they are still going strong even though the leaves are covered in mildew - too much night rain

This is the cheeky, quirky bulb that has flowers before it has leaves.  I can't remember it name but it starts with a "C" 

This is my favorite penstimen - the flowers are about waist high - so it is quite vigorous

This is one of the self sown pansies - in a pot with my azalea 'Shiraz'.  The azalea hasn't flowered yet but I love the colour of its' foliage