round up of activity at anita's garden 26 july 2018

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a blog, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to update you on what has been happening at Anita’s Garden.
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Seedlings for summer
Some of you may recall in my earlier blog post that I sowed a variety of heat-loving plants such as tomatoes, capsicums and chillies back in late April and May, to see whether I could get a head start on the summer garden and have large sized plants by Labour Weekend.  I’m pleased to report that I now have quite a few healthy plants!  The capsicum and chilli plants performed best.  In particular, I’m very happy with my Double Up F1 hybrid seedlings from Egmont Seeds.  The orange variety of capsicum Muscato, another F1 hybrid, from Kings Seeds is also looking very healthy and strong.

Capsicum Double Up F1 hybrid from Egmont Seeds

Unfortunately, the tomatoes didn’t fare as well, the exception being the variety Black Krim from Yates.  One of my gardening friends suggested that this is because the variety comes from Crimea where it gets very cold and for this reason, it is more robust than other varieties of tomatoes.

Garlic
I’m very pleased with progress.  My plants look healthy and strong.  I hope to have a good harvest in 2018, after several bad years along with other growers, it seems.

Garlic in the garden

Tamarillo plants
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You may recall me mentioning that I have been using Wally’s Vaporgard spray on liquid frost cloth on my tamarillo plants to help get them through winter.  In the past, I have lost plants to frost, so I wanted to try this product.  I raised quite a few red tamarillo plants from seed (Kings Seeds) and I’m pleased to report that three plants have survived.  Those that made it were in a more sheltered position, next to our banana and lemon tree, than the ones that were in a more exposed location.  I hope that these plants survive the rest of the winter so they can continue to grow at a good pace from spring onwards.  In saying that, I’ve noticed that they grew quite a bit over winter.  When I first planted them, half a plastic milk bottle fitted over them, which I used as a cloche but now they are much taller and have more leaves so they have well outgrown them.

Tamarillo seedling

Peas
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I’m happy to report that my Easy Peasy seeds from Egmont Seeds have been growing very vigorously!  Our wwoofer Berengere sowed them back in April.  I would thoroughly recommend this variety to other gardeners.

Easy Peasy pea seedlings from Egmont Seeds

Pumpkin
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We have been eating our way through the pumpkins that we grew over the summer. Pumpkins store very well, so we don’t eat them until winter when veges from the garden become more scarce.  In particular, we have been enjoying the variety Blue Hubbard from Egmont Seeds (pictured).  My gardening friend Colette Redman put me onto this fantastic variety.  It is large, stores well and tastes very sweet.  Simply divine!

Blue Hubbard pumpkin from Egmont Seeds

Lemongrass plant
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Bunnings had some established lemongrass plants on special for just $5 each so I bought one and planted it in our garden. Just the thing we need to add to our Thai curries!

​Pictures from the garden
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Finally, here are a few photos for you to enjoy from our winter garden.

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Broccoli Marathon F1 from Egmont Seeds

Broccoflower Alverda F1 Hybrid from Egmont Seeds

Lachenalias Namaqualand from Palmers Garden Centre

Daffodil from NZ Bulbs

Harvest from the winter garden