and plenty more 😀

We have had a very productive time in the garden recently, but with all of the business of Christmas and end-of-year things, I did not get to post.

Both the aquaponics and soil garden have been very prolific, so much so, that many of the presents we labelled and wrapped were from the garden, including dill-pickled cucumbers, pickled beetroot, Pino Noir strawberry jam and vanilla strawberry jam, supplemented, where needed, with two crops from earlier in the year which we preserved in vodka—ginger and turmeric.

We have finally pulled the last of the four of the cucumber plants from the aquaponics system. We could not keep up with the caterpillars that seemed to take hold and settle in … munching their way through the crop … leaving tell-tale trails of their munching and of course poo 😦

So we now have room in the aquaponics system so we will try out luck with a cherry tomato or two and some other greens. What we have discovered is that we should have a more permaculture state of mind with the beds, spreading the species and the love 😛 rather than densely planting a single plant type in one spot.

As for the soil garden, the ‘exotic’ crops, including the strange winged-pea plant (that apparently tastes like asparagus) and the mini (Mexican?) cucumbers did not make the cut. They either died straight out, or did not bear fruit … so out they came.

What is thriving, as I type, are three stands of sweet corn, a couple of plots of soy beans, sweet potatoes and a rather vigorous pumpkin vine. Chris has just planted seeds for parsnip, turnip, mustard and rocket, so we will watch in anticipation. Our chillies (of various heats) are happy and thriving. The tomato plants are in tubs so we are hoping for fruit within the next month or so. And we have finger limes (a native Australian species) which I have great hopes for … planted in tubs and being frequently fed with water from the aquaponics system.