I'm going to confess that my harvest was somewhat less than bountiful, however a harvest it was, and considering it was the first from my recent efforts of vegetable gardening I was quite proud of it. I had grand visions of my first harvest being an abundance of tasty produce however it was, indeed, something quite different.
See that strawberry in my hand above? Yeah, that's my bountiful harvest. I know, rather less than bountiful but I grew it and that's pretty damned awesome in my estimation! I'd wanted to enjoy a pile of strawberries topping a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream, the most legit flavour ever, but instead washed my single-strawb-harvest and ate it all by itself. It was good! It was an auspicious beginning, the rest will come.
I thought it might be good to offer a little insight into what my garden beds are doing lately, and a few comparison photos. So far everything is going really well and I've not had any pest problems and neither have I lost anything. One of the lettuce plants has been a little slow to get going but I think it was just a little shy. It's coming good now.
This image above was taken the day I planted out the beds on the 31st of August. The plants I put in were all seedlings as I thought that may be a little easier to start off with. I had put the raised garden beds together, added the soil and treated it over the previous couple of weeks and was excited to get the plants in so they could grow.
The vegetables I planted
Aztec tomato, crystal apple cucumber, baby broccoli, burpless cucumber, green mignonette lettuce, perpetual spinach, sweet mixed capsicum, red onion, radish, cauliflower, baby broccoli, baby carrots, celery, dwarf green beans, eggplant (long purple), baby carrots, and strawberries.
Below are the two garden beds taken yesterday, so eighteen days after being planted.
Everything is looking great right? Can you see that shy little lettuce in the top photo? Third row from left, first plant. It'll catch up though, I'm sure. I gave it a little pep talk; spoke about ownership, responsibility and discipline, three things that are very important to me and...Well, I'm pretty confident it'll come good and not let its buddies down.
Here's a few closer shots in which you can see how healthy the plants are looking. I spent a lot of time preparing the soil which was a good quality product to begin with. I used chicken manure and worms plus a top layer of a good mulch. A few days or so after planting I watered in Seasol, a seaweed concentrate, and that effort is paying off.
Clockwise from top left: Strawberry, baby broccoli, perpetual spinach and the green mignonette lettuce. I was careful to plant a lot of things that I could pluck leaves from and leave the main plant in the soil. They are all raised garden bed suitable also.
I'm pretty happy with how things are moving along and I'm excited to see a little growth each day. The garden beds are working really nicely and I'm even recycling the overflow fluids from the water reservoirs which is very rich in nutrients. I'll do a separate post about that sometime soon I think because it's a pretty good story.
I also have some fruit trees and the lemons and oranges are blossoming at the moment; the smell in my yard is incredible. It's blooming with flowers and my herb pots Re coming along nicely I have to say that I'm really pleased with how things are moving along; it's a great start to spring indeed and I think I'll be eating some of my tasty produce soon.
So that's a little update on how my plants are growing in the beds. It's not quite a bountiful harvest just yet but I feel it's well on the way.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
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This is so organised. My garden is a hodgepodge of insects, inch ants, some struggling strawberries, and a incredibly productive duet of Orange and Mandarin trees.
Yeah, I like straight lines I guess. It'll get more messy as they grow I guess, but that's how it's supposed to be.
Hey G-dog
I think your beds are looking wonderful and I'm so glad you are enjoying the process! A strawberry as your first harvest? That's a freaking cool ambassador as your first milestone I reckon. May there be many more.
No unsolicited advice here, you got it all sorted. Enjoy :)
Cheers
Andy
Yay for my strawb!
It felt pretty good eating it, you know, like I made this thing! It wasn't very big though as you can see but it's a bit of an anomaly as the plant really isn't mature enough to be fruiting just yet I think. I'm going to all it a gift of nature, a little strawbcouragement to keep me motivated.
It's all looking good so far, so I have no complaints.
Thanks for your comment and encouragement; otherwise known as andrastouragement. 😆
I know, I'm an idiot..
Fokkit Galen always making me L.O.L.
You're not an idiot at all and if you're going to be nasty to yourself, at least spell it right 😆
Enjoy your plants :)
Thanks for your attitude adjustment. Otherwise known as an attitude andrasitment.
Lol.
I love how your garden is so organized and so clean. Would love to have a garden of my own and consume the foods that I produce. Hope your garden blossoms even more!
Hi mate, thanks for commenting.
Yeah, I like straight lines and it helps to identify what's planted as well. I'm pleased with the progress so far and look forward to sharing the journey a little more as things grow more and the harvesting happens in earnest.
It's very funny to read about your spring affairs, when I have almost all the harvest removed from the beds and from the trees.:)
It's all upside down I guess, the seasons. We're into spring down here and soon, in summer, it'll get incredibly hot. I have a few things to think about as far as some shelter for my garden beds to keep some of the sun off in the very hot days, but I have some time before that'll happen.
you try to protect your plants from the heat, and we hide them in greenhouses so that they do not freeze, so that they have their own microclimate.
Sometimes in the summer, our temperature does not rise above +20 degrees. But this summer was very hot by our standards.
Ah yeah, I can imagine the cold winter isn't so good for growing. We get 47+ here in summer so a little shade is going to be required. I have some large pieces of heavy shade cloth which I'll probably drape over the tops of the garden beds so it should mitigate the direct sunlight somewhat.
This summer, my relative in the south of the country also covered the greenhouse from direct sunlight with a dark cloth to reduce the temperature in the greenhouse.
It makes sense. Sun is required, but not too much and when it's so hot it can be of detriment.
Looks like things are coming along nicely. It's still quite early so I'm sure the lettuce will have a growth spurt eventually and that you'll get more strawberries. That's good that you don't have any pests yet as well.
Yeah, the lone strawberry was a bit of an anomaly I think, although in the three weeks my plants have been in I'm really pleased with the results. Are they perfect? Nope, but nothing ever is. I'm happy with their progress.
Can you get through all that strawberry yourself, mate? Maybe take a few buckets over to the neighbours.
I set up a perimeter around it, watch towers, armed response, dogs, razor wire, mine field. When it came time to eat it...Yeah, took some time, it was huge after all. I got there though.
Yeah, my neighbours might get lucky if I have some excess produce. They have their eye on my oranges and lemons. I have a CWIS on it though, they'll not stand a chance.
Not quite a bountiful harvest yet, but coming along nicely. Very soon you will have your strawberries with ice-cream toppings, and garden greens. 😊
Yay for strawberries and ice cream. (Has to be vanilla though.)
Aye aye to vanilla ice-cream. 😊
It's the best right? ☺️
Yes! 😊👍
Incredible! I find it very cute and tender. Let the harvests continue!
I'm looking forward to some larger harvests in the near future. There's a few other things showing signs of good growth. My radishes for instance and the spinach too. It'll get there.
Thanks for your comment.
wow :) its so preety ❤🌼
amazing vegetables garden🤩
i like it so much thanks for sharing with us😁
Yes, it's coming along nicely and whilst another twenty or so strawberries would have been nice, it'll happen. I can be patient.
your garden is so beautiful to look at, glad your weekend was so productive @galenkp
It's coming along quite well, not perfectly but it's getting bigger daily and that's all I can hope for.
Thanks for your comment.
Greetings you made me remember once that on a construction land on the concrete roof of my house was born a bush of peppers and this always had one for me so I decided to plant other things among these black beans that a very important food in our daily diet, in summary, I was taking care of my garden on the roof and came to visit my house and mocked you'll have to bring a truck for the harvest hehehehe. I was calm and it turned out that this space of 1.5x.15 was 99% effective in 20 plants and I harvested 1/2kg of beans more than enough for a good meal.
Great things can be achieved through small things...Seems the same goes for beans! 😀
Whether you are a handful of strawberries with ice cream, or just a few bites of your single strawberry. It was "your" blood, swear and harvest alright
Yeah, and that's what makes it feel soo good! 😀
And we will have spring only in six months. We are waiting for a cold winter. September is colder than usual this year. It's nice to know that someone has spring now.
My brother and his family live in Finland so they're heading into their long winter also...I'm not sure how I'd go with that personally. Our winter here is quite mild, days of 10 to 20 degrees, usually blue skies with some rain now and then. I'd say the average temperature is about 15. Pretty mild. Our winters are glorious really.
My friend 15 years ago kept saying that he wanted to go to live in Australia. But it turned out that he divorced his wife, now he has a new young girlfriend who does not want to leave Moscow.
I like Finland better. I was there on a trip when there was no pandemia. Now the borders are closed.
There's a few Russians here I think. One of my friends was married to one actually. It didn't last but she got to stay in the country. She seemed nice enough though, rather attractive in fact.
I've been to Finland as really liked it although I didn't do a winter there; I htink for an Aussie lad like me that might be a bit much. All that cold and darkness. I'd go mad!
Those do look nice :) I think the screen keeps the bugs out too?
@bluefinstudios have you ever used something like this? I know your pots did well!
!PIZZA and !ALIVE
Coming along nicely huh? I've been reading bed time stories and singing to them. I think it's working.
Just don't read them my most recent post! A Cool Beans one might be better!
!PIZZA and !ALIVE
Lol, It might give them a fright?
It might send the little babies burrowing back into the soil!
Lol. I don't want that!
Yeah sometimes it can be hard enough to convince them to come out the first time!
Those strawberry plants will be spreading though, you might want to have some pots on hand for the extras. They would smell awesome around doorways.
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A good friend uses those raised beds. SAVES so much on the back!!!
I know a lot of folks who use that hoop and netting. It really keeps pests out. Saves a lot of the tender young plants.
For me, I raise my little seedlings indoors, then move them outside, after acclimating them. So, I pass by the tend stage.
I am not sure of this model, but some of those raised beds also have a water reservoir, for more even watering. Does this one, @galenkp ?
Does it ever cause them to be weaker being raised inside? I've heard that they just aren't as hardy, but I only grow anything outside so don't know.
!PIZZA !ALIVE
I used to grow outside only. Now, by starting my seeds 4 to 6 weeks early, by the time I transplant them outside, they are so far ahead of where it would be if I started them outside, it's ZERO comparison.
I will never go back to the old way. Seed starting indoors in February from here on out for me, always.
I never thought of starting that early. Don't they take a lot of space by spring?
!PIZZA !ALIVE
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The planting tables looks awesome. Nice and ergonomic not to have to lean down and crawl on yours knees, I bet it is also helpful to keep snails and bugs away not to mention weeds!
The Vegepod's have been great so far. I don't have the ability to plan much in the ground as most of my property is already developed so these things give me a chance to grow a few vegetable and have some fun. They make life pretty easy.
It's a bountiful happiness to see them growing - that's the best part.
Well said sir. ✅
Looks wonderful and glad you had the chance to enjoy that single strawberry.
Eating a strawberry I grew made me happy. Now...Need more! 😁
... and more will come
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Your veggies are looking good and I'm sure you'll soon have a good crop!
I like that phrase as I've had quite a few failures with vegetable planting; if it's not the bugs that get to them, it's the monkeys! My herbs are more generous but I've even had failures with deformed carrots and the next batch that looked more promising, got dug up by the monkeys!
At least I have a regular supply of spring onions and herbs as consolation🙈
Hi Lizelle, yes they seem to be going quite nicely.
It's funny to see you write, dug up by the monkeys. I don't mean it's funny per se, just that the scenario seems comical to a lad from Australia. Here it's snails and bugs...There...Yep, monkeys!
We have snails and bugs AND the pesky monkeys who also steal the bird seed which we now scatter on the lawn as they've destroyed way too many bird feeders already:)
But you know what, it's actually us humans who are the pesky ones as we're slowly taking over their territory by building more and more houses!.
They also have fun in the bird bath;)
They also steal the papayas...I can go on and on...but they do make us laugh at their antics at times!
That little one in the top image made me laugh. Looks like a scamp!
You're right about it being our fault as humans have a way disrupting the natural order of things with progress. We'll not learn though; until it's too late. (Might already be).
It is gratifying to bring to your table and consume, part of the harvest, sown by your hands, when I eat some food sown in my garden, I feel a lot of respect and admiration for those who work the sowing for their work and dedication. I have the opportunity to have passion fruit, papaya, mango, banana and guava plants in my garden. I live in an area where there are only two seasons, rain and drought. thanks for sharing. Excellent information.
Mangoes and guava! Yum!
It's great that you can grow them; they will not grow here in my part of Australia although up north in the tropics they do.
Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate it.
Wow. Someone with an ocd (such as myself) will find your garden a paradise. The arrangement and organization is definitely top notch.
Everything looks good so I believe it is just a matter of time before you see that bountiful harvest of yours.
The bountiful harvest is on the way and until then I'll content myself with my single strawberry. 😁
Plants that grow too big.
I took all the photos then feasted on my strawberry in celebration.
Not such a big harvest really, but so had a massive harvest of strawberries and blueberries from the market today...There may have been ice cream too.
Well...Here's me shooting hoops.
I get enough fruit to need to give some away, I'm not sure in respect of actual kilogram weight.
I've done my shooting quote for the week.
List amended. 👍