Looking Back at June and the Garden Progress.
June, our first month of winter and it has finally been feeling like winter has arrived. We've had some chilly days and plenty of rain, but still an occasional day where it's been too warm to light the fire. There's so much fresh green growth in the garden!
These carrots need a bit more thinning. Luckily it's right next to a chicken run and they're eager to help dispose of the thinned ones.
The first of the vacated runs has been planted up. The peas are growing nicely along one fence and I've put some more seeds in along the other fence. The potatoes are coming up, I've transplanted a load of lettuces and there are some coriander seeds in.
I know there are lots of weeds coming up around the beds, through the straw paths, but that's okay because it's food for the rabbits and when our food plants are harvested, the chickens will go back in and enjoy what's left, while they fertilise and prepare it for a later season of planting. They can also peck through the fence at anything which grows alongside it.
In the other run I have some coriander seedlings popping up, probably from some seeds I'd thrown in the last time the run was free. So they seem to have stayed dormant, survived a round of summer and chickens only to come up now. Plants never cease to amaze me!
I had a potato start sprouting in the fridge, so I cut it in half and planted it in the corner of the second run, but it they have yet to emerge. Now I'm just trying to decide what else to plant in there. Maybe some more of those lettuces. Nature has already made stone decisions for me with the coriander and numerous nettles emerging. I should have enough to harvest them while young and tender this year.
The orange tree is a bit sparse this year. It was a tough summer and the previous year it had a big scale burden, which is now under control. The chickens also stripped the leaves within reach, so the bottom of it is looking a bit rough. It should recover and put out new growth in spring and it's big enough for it not to be a problem. It's a balance where I have to expect some damage, in return for the chickens doing a great job fertilising and keeping weeds and pests under control.
The separating and transplanting of the onion seedlings is still ongoing. New seedlings seem to be popping up all the time, just when I think I've thinned the original sown patch out.
There is plenty of weeding needed on the front, if I want to get the soursobs to a more manageable level.
The calendula plants are doing well and flowering. The rosemary had exploded with flowers and even the lavender has a couple of stunted flower heads. I'm not sure if this is the time of year for them, though.
Someone recently started a buy nothing group for our area and I was able to pick up some more landscaping rocks to finish terracing on the front. It's still a work in progress, as I haven't had enough time to complete it.
The rains have really spurred lots of growth this month.
Nasturtiums self seed so easily
The pepinos are able to put some of that rain into fruits now. One for us, inside and one for the birds outside the fence.
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Excellent looking garden. Not much goes to waste with chickens. I had a raspberry patch in my orchard where my chickens have a very large area to roam. They kept the raspberry patch clean of weeds except for some catnip. They ate a few berries but i still got a nice harvest.
I am just getting the last of my warm weather crops in, in that our summer is just beginning; the opposite of your area. I am behind on weeding but now that most of the planting is done I can focus on that.
everything looks great. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you.
I'd love to grow raspberries. They struggle here, though and I think my chickens would eat the whole plant if I had it in the run! They don't always get much green foods, particular in summer, so they go crazy for it.
Everything's growing so we'll, now, that I'm weeding as I plant in some places. I want to get on top of finishing all the plantings. Hope you get yours finished soon. It often takes longer than you expect, doesn't it?
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Yes it does take a lot longer than expected. I have cut my garden in half over the last few years and it still takes a lot of time.
When greens are not available for chickens I grow trays of wheat or barley grass and let them have the tray to enjoy. I also save lawn clippings, drying them, and storing them in garbage can...giving out a little every couple days.
The weather's definitely been great for plants
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It's so green!!!
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I've never seen soursobs written down before. It looks wrong, but I don't know why.
Pepino sees the fence. Pepino don't care.
It took me a while to remember whether it is two words or one. I wrote a whole article on them before it sank in!
None of my plants respect boundaries! 😆
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Wow! That's wínter, you say? Lol, I would do anything for such a 'winter'.
Seriously, it's looking great!
So jealous that you have pepinos... My plant is still small, and it will take at least two more months before the fruit will appear. It's one of my favorites, but you can't buy it in stores here. if you want to eat them, you have to grow them yourself. So I'm waiting impatiently :0)
When we first arrived in South Australia it was winter and I couldn't believe how green it was and how many flowers there were. Come summer, everything turned brown. Summer is actual the hardest season to grow in. I still marvel at being able to grow things year round.
We can't buy pepinos at the shop here, either. I'm guessing it's because they don't ripen off the plant, then they're too soft to transport. Ours probably won't ripen until spring now. They'll grow in winter, but rarely never ripen.
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It's funny to find out your winter is much like my summer 😂
Love reading about your homestead in a different season and climate. Hard to get my head around planting stuff to grow in winter... (New England USA here....)
I'm from old England originally. ;D So it took me a while to get used to the season differences and the fact that we can grow in winter.
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You look very organized and have a lot of work with that many gardens. You remind me of myself, except the town won't allow chickens where I live.
I'm really not organised! But I do have quite a lot of garden. I'm very grateful that we can keep poultry here. Each council area has different regulations and ours is pretty easy going with regards chickens.
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Your garden looks very good.
It is nice when different plants grow.
Lavender and rosemary smell very good.
Thank you for your interesting article.
I'd like to have more lavender growing. I'm not very good at growing from cuttings, but I'll have to give it a go.
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