Clear Mountain Living: Spring has sprung

Sunday, 8 October 2017

Spring has sprung - more like pole vaulted!

It's been an incredibly dry winter with little rain at Upsidownimal Farm. Spring then lasted about three days and now we're into summer. It's still be very dry but thankfully last week we got some decent rain and everything brown is green again.

My gardens are, well blooming. I'm having to spend at least a few hours every weekend to keep on top of things and if I don't harvest every week, I'll lose things.

Some veges like BokChoy and a few of the lettuces just bolted but I've managed to be really lucky with most things so far. There is plenty of silverbeet, the spinach, pak chop and mizuna were a real success. And the sugar snap peas dwarf beans were devine and plentiful. I've now planted another crop of peas and will drop in a second row soon so that I don't run out (you can never have enough peas in a garden!).

Eggplants galore (and there's about 6 plants - this is only one)

There's lots of mixed salad leaves to harvest from and we are eating fresh salads quite a few times during the week.

I'm hoping to focus pretty heavily this year on three main plants - tomatoes, chilli and basil. I've planted about 40 tomato plants - all of different varieties but mainly heritage ones - and I think we'll have our first harvest in the next week or so. Although I appear to have a bit of competition from possibly a bandicoot so I'll be pulling out the trap in the next few days to convince him to move on. It's a catch and release trap so he'll just be finding a new home - far away from my tomatoes. The chilli and basil has been planted in the bath tubs and I also threw some chilli and basil seeds in the ground a few weeks ago that are starting to pop their wee green heads through the soil.

Chilli and basil in old baths surrounded by bricks

The coffee trees are blooming again and still growing. I'm not sure how big they'll get but they're only two - three years old and a good 4 metres tall. Gonna' need a ladder this year...

Coffee trees flowering

I also recently started bringing home the used coffee grinds from a coffee shop next to my work (thanks to the guys and girls from Tonic). These are really high in nitrogen and grubs hate it so I sprinkle it around the lettuce and, if I ever have another crack at brassicas I'll have it everywhere. I also bring home a big box carrot peelings every Wednesday from a local Vietnamese Deli and that got to the donkeys, a neighbours horse and a friends' two cows (one who was previously called Sirloin - you might remember him, although he's not so miniature now...).

I've got big hopes for these wee beans

The donkeys are still contributing with their contribution to the weed juice container a few years ago. The stuff in that bin is gold!

We've also got ourselves some bee hives, so I'm planting more flowers and flowering herbs like borage amongst the veggies to encourage them. The bees love the water fountain. Everything does seems to be growing better since they arrived.

Wild dogs are a bit of a problem this year again in the area, they seem to surge in numbers every few years and this year they are everywhere. It's not much a problem for us because we no longer have chickens. I really miss not having them but I refuse to feed the local fox and wild dog population. On an upshot, I don't need those ugly fences around my gardens anymore. But I miss the chooker moles...

We'll also be running some more dog fence around another large section of the bottom yard in a few weeks time. This will mean the dogs have more space to run and play. Bella still has to stay inside during the day and be supervised whilst outside - she's little enough to be eagle fodder around here.

I've planted corn too, a couple of varieties including a blue corn (can't wait to see how that comes out). First harvest will be next week.

Seed saving

MOTH is making pesto right now. The basil has been prolific the last two weeks... love it! I'd eat it every day if I could.

There's also been a few introductions and trails that I've always wanted to have a crack at. I bought a pepper vine and, after a bit of a slow start, he's off and running. He will grow along the fence between the top and bottom garden beds. I've also grown my my first pumpkin. It was nice. So, have dropped some more seeds on the far side of the compost to see what we can grow. I'm also planning on trying to grow some loofahs (something different), tamarillos (or tree tomatoes if you're from NZ) and my ultimate challenge - a vanilla plant.

Pepper vine

I think the garden is finally looking like I'd imagined it to be way back when I first started planting it. It was looking quite destitute about six months ago but there's a wee story about that. In March I injured my ankle and had an ankle reconstruction in May. The garden was suffering from my lack of attention and so I found the most amazing woman to come and help me out. Without Tab's help I wouldn't be writing this blog today, it would have all been made into lawn. She's a breathe of fresh air and has done wonders for the garden. We're back to producing food for the house and plenty of extra for friends - all part of why we do it, right? There is nothing more satisfying than taking a bunch of fresh veggies to a friends place and saying that you grew it.

At the end of the day, I love getting covered in dirt - I think I really am an Earth child...