urban vegetable patch

The crop of my wonderful winter vegies is almost done, only a few random brussel sprouts left to harvest, a cauliflower that is still a little undersized and a couple of womboks. This year was the first time I had managed to grow cauliflower, I had tried a few times in the past but they never really flourished, but with the new garden bed that was built at the end of last summer and loads of compost & blood and bone mixed in, plus a regular feed of potash,  I feel that this certainly made a huge difference.

The Brussell sprouts grew wonderfully and while not all of them manged to be tight, it didn’t really matter as they were still delicious and made it into several different dishes. They were full of flavour and while not as large as the store bought ones they were still good. And that brings me to the wombok, Corine started them off as seedlings for me and I nurtured them into really good looking and tasty fat womboks. I did have some issues with millipedes, but they didn’t destroy the crop which was the main thing.

I still have the onions growing that I planted amongst the cauliflower and Brussel sprouts, they will be a little bit longer before they are ready.

Now for Spring!

Its cold, its windy and there has been rain -  its winter!

But despite the chill in the air, it is a great time to grow some of those yummy winter vegies.

So far this winter the crop has included growing some brussel sprouts, cauliflower, onions, peas, beans and wombok. And below are some pics of the winter vegie garden in its early stages.

Garlic has also been planted and is up and growing nicely as well.

I have also done a bit of a renovation on the garden area which had the tomatoes. Its been dug up and several handfuls of bio-mustard sown, so that it can be dug in as green manure at a later date. This will make the patch nice and nutritious for the summer vegies.

Plus strawberrys are in, and this year I have been a bit adventourous and have also planted some white strawberries – Strawberry Fraises Des Bois. It will be interesting to see how these go and more importantly how they taste!

Keep an eye on this blog, because since I took these pictures, the cauliflower has grown into nice heads, the brussel sprouts are sprouting and the wombok is hearting… I will post more pictures soon and update on the winter vegie plot soon…

Dwarf Snow Peas - just up out of the ground...

Wombok

Chilli - but something has helped itself and taken a bite - possums??

Bush Beans

I was recently flicking through a new seed catalogue and I was struck by the number of purple vegetables that are available and many of them are the traditional heirloom varieties which have been saved from extinction by seed savers around the world.

OK, we know about purple cabbage, beans,eggplant and more recently purple carrots, but here are some other varieties of vegetables that come in the colour purple.

• Artichoke – Violetta
• Asparagus – Purple
• Beans – Purple King – Violet Queen Bush
• Peas – Purple podding
• Broccoli – Purple Sprouting
• Cabbage – red Drumhead
• Carrots – Dragon & Purple Three Colour
• Cauliflower – Purple Cape
• Eggplant – Many varieties, black beauty, Early purple and more!
• Tomato – Eva purple ball
• Potato – Sapphire seed

As I said, I was amazed at the number of vegetables available in a purple colour and I have possibly missed a few, so please feel free to let us know of any others.

You could even dedicate a section of your vegetable garden just to purple vegetables. It would certainly make a good conversation piece.