Garden Update March

I've had a day off today so I've been doing a little bit of pottering, and particularly tidying up the greenhouse. In the high winds, a few of the cross struts snapped as they were a bit thin, and the back door buckled, so this Easter will be about reinforcing it for the winter. I think getting some polycarbonate sheeting might be the way to go as it'll give it a bit of integrity anyway. Of course, being the end of season it's a bit of a mess! The cherry tomatoes keep on coming - next year I'll plant a larger variety in the greenhouse but I was having a contest with someone in town about getting tomatoes by Christmas - I still lost!!

The turmeric has gone okay - I'm not happy with the soil yet and I think I need to look more into how to grow it. It's pretty exciting though as I wouldn't have been able to do it without the greenhouse. I have 4 small plants.

The eggplants have done a lot better in the greenhouse than they ever have outdoors - clearly, the extra heat and longer season works a treat. I've had some lovely big black bonica eggplant which I wrote about in my last #gardenjournal post, but today I was excited to see this white Caspar eggplant hiding in the beds! It's great to experiment for the wow factor but I too often find myself going back to the varieties that work and taste good. For example, this year I experimented with an heirloom zucchini called Romanesco, but next year I think I'll only grow one and stick to the Midnight.

I don't know if you remember me showing you a project a while back where I turned a heap of olive buckets into small wicking pots, but the chillis and bell peppers have done absolutely brilliantly in there. I learn by doing, and this year I've learnt a lot - tomatoes, for example, aren't so much of a fan of the wicking system, but capsicums love it. I'll hoping they'll overwinter in there along with the eggplant - fingers crossed!

As for the rest of the garden, it's a big tangle at the moment but I'm keeping on top of it fairly well. Tomatoes can last up to Easter, but I'm fighting the blackbirds for them at the moment so tend to try to get them a little early and finish off the ripening inside. As usual, I didn't keep on top of the staking in this patch (I never do) so it's a bit mad in there. There's also fennel, peppers, pumpkin, parsley, zucchinis and beans in that mess! Oh dear! It's the kind of photo I didn't REALLY want to show you, but hey, warts and all right?

Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade. –Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Glory of the Garden’ (1911)

I also picked literally bucketloads of hops. Some are drying for tea, and I need to get some vodka for tincturing as well. The hubs loves the hops as it makes him feel a little stoned - it is relaxing, as you'd know from drinking hoppy beer. I've been giving it away for chicken feed - well, donations for chicken feed, and about three or four people are headed over to pick their own bag full as I write this.

I must end with the yakon. Last post I shared only photos but I really want @simplymike to see what she started! I left it in the ground last year and didn't get to try it. I had hoped it would come back and it did - I best harvest some to eat this year! I have no idea when to dig some up, so if you know, please let me know in the comments below!

It's an odd time of year as we harvest because at the same time I'm putting in winter seeds such as kale, other brassicas, leeks, kohl rabi and so on. The soil is still dry and we haven't had much rain but hopefully these babies will be ready to plant out by the time the soil is ready. I can't believe it's also nearly time to plant garlic!