Late summer garden update

Although we are in the peak of summer I am pleased to report that our garden is doing well at the moment.  You may remember that when we returned from our Christmas visit to the relatives the garden had started to produce some goodies.

The garden mid January before the cull

There were, however, some areas that were not doing so well.  In what I feel was not in my normal 'stand back and see how things unravel' approach to life we pulled out the poor performers and planted some that we hoped would do better.  All with an aim to maximise productivity.  

The heirloom tomatoes were, heart wrenchingly, pulled from the front bed, along with a basil plant for harvesting.  This created a good space to plant something new.  

I also pulled the spent snow peas from the back bed, which wound up production just before we went away, and harvested some raddichio that was going to seed.   The garlic was harvested by Mr Fix It.  I am sad to report that it had rotted from over watering during its final stages of development.

Back garden bed and Paradise Patch with late summer crop

We added compost and soil improver to the cleared planting areas and in went a late summer crop of corn, leeks, lettuces, zucchinis, cherry tomatoes and some purple flowering plants to help attract pollinators.

The promising corn crop

It's been four weeks since the new crop went in and the corn has grown like crazy, which is pretty exciting.  We planted it thinking that it might not do very well.  Clearly the test will be whether the corn forms but we are feeling positive from the way it is looking.

The baby eggplant is still providing a lot of fruit and we harvested our first red capsicum this week, with a few more not far away.  We are also getting some strawberries too, which we are enjoying immensely after our recent battle.

What it is all about - from garden to mouth

The zucchinis are also doing well.  We've always been hesitant to plant zucchini since it needs a bit of space, which we are always constrained by.  Since the corn is such a tall thin plant we put one zucchini in the middle of four corns in the back bed.  We also planted three zucchini around the half wine barrel in Paradise Patch.  A couple of baby zucchini are growing so we should have some to eat reasonably soon.  I am also planning to harvest zucchini flowers for salads.

So far the cherry tomatoes are not looking so good.  We may have to accept that this year has not been a good one for us growing tomatoes.

It's great to see the garden changing and to have the courage to try out some new crops.  It is always a challenge to get out there enough but I guess that is the true test of a garden.  To see what flourishes despite, or possibly because of, the limited time that we have to spend out there.

Have you abandoned your garden during these hotter months or are you battling on and trying to get out there? Are you happy with how it is growing?