Dwarf Peas

I recently planted the dwarf snow pea, dwarf sugar snap peas and dwarf shelling peas that I was growing in a tray. I've constructed some trellis out of stakes and wire mesh to grow the peas up. You can't see the trellis very well but there are three sections; two of them are straight and one is round. This is the first time I've grown peas in the garden bed and not in tubs so I'm being extra diligent with my snail spotting. I've spread around used coffee ground to try and deter the snails and slugs but it doesn't last long with all the rain we're having.

Fingers Crossed for a Productive Winter

All the seeds I bought back in February have been sown and are all seedlings now. To protect the mini wongbok, baby broccoli and purple sprouting broccoli from snails and slugs I've placed plastic bottle collars around them. Previously I've had great success deterring slugs and snails by spreading coffee grounds around the plants so I did the same this time as well. My local cafe saves big bags of used coffee grounds for me whenever I ask; organic and free pest control! My garlic is going well so far, unlike last years garlic that failed miserably.

I stated a tub of dwarf snow peas 7 weeks ago and there going really well. I also started a tray of dwarf snow peas, dwarf sugar snap peas and dwarf shelling peas. I know your suppose to start peas in the ground but it rained everyday for a week so I just started them in a tray, fingers crossed it won't hurt them too much in the long run.

Winter Veggies

Summer is coming to an end and it felt like I was only just started to figure out what summer veggies to grow. I visited the Diggers Club today and bought up my winter veggie seeds.

Peas - I had such success with my dwarf snow peas last year that I thought I'd have a go with a climbing pea and a sugar snap variety also

• Dwarf Snow Pea 
• Dwarf Sugar Snap Pea
• Purple Podded Dutch Pea

Below Ground Crops - I was hesitant to even try growing below ground crops with the many failures I've had, but I think I've learn from last years mistakes and I'm giving it another go. 

• Turnip De Nancy 
• Watermelon Radish
• Red Marble Onion
• Mammoth Purple Garlic

I'm also super excited to see who my broccoli and cabbage so since I haven't try growing these before and they are always a luxury buy at the supermarket!

• Baby Broccoli 
• Purple Sprouting Broccoli
• Mini Wongbok Cabbage 

Progress Report

Here's a look at how the gardens going at the moment:

The over grown dwarf snow peas are slowly coming to an end; they got badly bashed around in the last storm we had. The potatoes have sprouted through and the wheel barrow has been planted up with edible flowers and herbs.

The hyacinths are long gone, but the tulips are just popping up.

 The red and brown shallots have all sprouted and are looking healthy so far. Unfortunately all my garlic has failed to thrive, gone limp and is now dying. This was such a blow to me because mum said garlic was fool proof!

The collection of mint living in the re-purposed cookware is thriving minus a small scale attack. There's common mint, apple mint, Vietnamese, spearmint and after dinner mint. Also the strawberry plants that I planted in May now have the biggest strawberries I've grown thus far.

Garden Update

The weather's been horrible the last couple of weeks and today it was finally sunny so I decided to take some pictures of whats been happening in the garden. Everything is growing really slowly at the moment because of the lack of light so there's not much to show.

We've already picked 2 snow peas and there's 3 developing at the moment, very exciting! The newest plantings of dwarf snow peas are taking a lot longer than the first two, but they are getting there.

The two veggie beds with clever clover have started sprouting. They will eventually be dug throw to add nutrients to the soil.

The lettuce in the tub is coming along nicely. As you can see Mum helped me plant the rosemary and thyme along the side ally way.

Snow Peas

I've got three tubs of dwarf snow peas growing at the moment; they're all at different stages so I don't harvest them all at once! One of the tubs has started to flower and the other two are still growing. The packet said the peas would only get to 60cm so I made a tipi out of 1m stakes. The little buggers decided they wanted to expand there from limitation and grow bigger than 60cm so I've had to build a make shift cage around them to support them, it doesn't look pretty but its working for now. I've revised my tipi/cage configuration for the newest set of seedlings.