urban vegetable patch

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.

It feels like Christmas was just yesterday but in fact Autumn is just around the corner. Spring/Summer season can be a very exciting season for all gardeners. This is the season where you get all the interesting, vibrant and fragrant fruits and veggies. For me, I had a better than expected season. We got bucket loads of tomatoes, corns, early crops of bok choy and rockmelons! As the tomatoes wilts and the melons ripens, its time to plan for my autumn garden.

Autumn need not be boring, in fact I quite look forward to the cooler months. The colder months are a great time for growing your green leafy vegetables. As the day gets shorter, you have more vegetable variety to grow without them bolting easily. This year, I am dividing the plot into 5 one-meter sections.

Section 1: Cabbage patch

I will grow some mini and chinese cabbage.

Section 2 & 3: Peas

What can I say but I am a total pea lover.  For some reasons, peas tend to get really expensive in Melbourne during the cooler months (which always baffles me, by the way). This year I am going to grow enough to feed me to my heart’s content. Oh, and not forgetting to mention that I am also using it to improve soil fertility.

Section 4 & 5: Fast maturing plot

This section is reserved for me to grow fast maturing vegetables such as spinach and bok choy. As one crop matures, they will get lots of digging and flipping into for the preparation of the next crop.

So this is it, my Autumn plan. Now I just have to get off my butt and start sowing seeds and clearing the beds. So what’s your autumn plan? I will love to hear and gather some ideas for next year.