The Organic Home Garden

After a weekend in the country – way down south – I came home this week to pick my weekly feed! Once again the organic veges have caught me un-awares. It is incredible what happens when you have some rain and a little sunshine in winter. The vegetables just go crazy. Here is my proof of that – I picked two cauliflowers this week because they are just springing out of the ground. One is of a normal size the other is one that has just gone cccrazy!

Giant Organic Vegetables

All looks as usual, although the leaves are very long.

Just a normal cauliflower.

In the other bed we have more vege looking ok – oh I forgot about that one I wrapped!

Looks a little large!

Hmmmm quite heavy!

Now that’s some Cauliflower! Obviously the worm fertiliser did the trick!

Here is the mornings harvest – most of which I am giving to a mate since we have plenty in the fridge already!

Fruit Trees Starting to Prepare for Spring

A wander around the garden reveals that many fruit trees are responding to the longer daylight hours and preparing for the spring. The mulberry tree is already looking very busy with flowers and green fruit growing all over it!

Mulberry flowers and fruit in the background. All we need are warm days and the sugars will start bulging those berries!

Peas flowering and reaching for the sky!

Onions swelling and will be ready soon enough!

We are still picking capsicum – this has to be the first time I have picked them – red – through the whole winter!

Here are my “baby” broccoli – and the lettuce in the lawn will be ready soon!

The weather in Perth is just perfect for the organic gardener this week – I cannot believe it is winter. Sunny days with a strong heat in the sun and cool nights (around 5oC). Everything is leaping out of the ground almost.
The ornamental plum has dropped it’s leaves and the Mulberry tree is looking a lot thinner so we are in the next season for sure.

Organic Harvest

Todays pick which I shared with Jess and the neighbour Nick. He loves stir fry so I gave him a stir fry in the bag. Capsicum, eggplant, bok choy, beans.

I am having a huge success with the beans this year. Picked over 2 kilograms of beans so far this week from a garden bed that’s 2m squared. I have half a dozen lettuce in there as well as 12 leeks fighting their way up through the leaves of the beans. My idea is that the beans will dump a tonne of nitrogen into the bed and the leaks will suck it up and grow faster than usual.

The cauliflower is responding to the colder nights – having doubled in size in the last week already. My sister has the hearts forming on hers (but Albany is much colder than here at night!). She is using a dwarf variety this year since they form quicker than the larger ones. I may second plant a few next weekend if I get a chance.

A House becomes a Home

I have just returned from Jessica and Jon’s new home. I say home since now it is no longer just a house being built but now has the signs of a home. They are both a little stunned still – “This is it – we are in the house!”
They think it may take a few weeks to get used to the being in the house!

Jessica has also started planning the landscaping and showed me a plan today. Organic vegetable gardens here, water tank there, fruit trees there and lawn……… that’s my girl! I expect to be there this week painting the last few rooms and then digging the reticulation pipes in and conduit for the controllers. I love working on clean blocks that are sandy and flat!

I drove Jess to the local theatre on the way home since she is doing the dress rehearsal for “Little Shop of Horrors” I think it’s rather appropriate to finish my Blog today with thoughts of a plant eating people – I wonder if the blood can be considered organic blood?

Until next week
May all your veges be as green as mine!

John