Snail

I knew the pests would eventually start to raid my garden and I found the first snail the other day as shown in this dramatic re-enactment.



Transformed

I thought I'd post a few photos showing the progression from the sad lawn to happy veggies.
I couldn't have hoped for it to have gone any better.

19th of March 2010

1st of April 2010

7th of November 2010



Golden Nuggets

The Golden Nugget pumpkins have gone a bit berserk in the last couple of weeks. They all have small flower buds so in a couple of weeks the bees can do their business.

The Three Sisters

Today I planted some Bule Lake climbing bean seeds amongst the corn. This is part of a native american indian companion planting combination known as the three sisters. The sisters are corn, beans and squash. The idea is that the corn provides support for the beans, the squash, in my case butternut pumpkins, shade the soil keeping in moisture and smothering weeds. Even though my butternuts are going to be growing vertically I'll let some tendrils creep amongst the corn. The beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the next crop. They are also a good nutritional combination. I've never tried this before and as a big fan of companion planting it will be interesting to see how it works out. Not much to see at this stage apart from the corn but i'll keep up to date as things progress.



Zucchini

I'd forgotten how fast veggies grow at this time of year. If you look back to the Mid Spring post you'll see how far things have come on in a couple of weeks. The zucchinis have produced their first flowers. Unfortunately they are all female so they haven't been fertilized. This is a bit odd as usually the males open first. There are some males about to open so hopefully I'll have some zucchinis soon.



Cavelo Death

The Cavelo Nero has come to the end of it's life and is dieing a failry undignified death. It has been completely savaged by cabbage moth caterpillers. I was going to pull them out and dump them in the compost, but I've noticed that they are always surrounded but wasps, hoverflies and ladybugs and the rest of the garden remains pretty much unscathed. They can stay there now as sacrificial plants while bringing in those other beneficial insects.



Garlic

I've had some garlic in pots since April and I pulled them up today. These have been grown for a few generations now from a head of purple garlic I bought from a local fresh veg market. I think this season has been the best yet. Maybe I've finally got the soil mix and ph correct. The method used was to fill most of the pot with a combination of potting mix, compost and old sheep poo. The top 80mm or so is just filled with potting mix and a handful of dolomite lime. If you have compost or poo touching the bulbs as they develop there's a good chance that rot will set in.
If I leave the stalks attached to the bulbs and they will keep fresh until I'm ready to plant at the beginning of April next year and behond. This abilty to store for so long makes garlic a must for the back garden veggie patch. I might find a place in the garden next year rather than in pots.