WHAT'S GROWING | What I'm GROWING & SOWING in my SMALL BACKYARD VEGETABLE GARDEN VICTORIA AUSTRALIA
Hi and Welcome to Utility Jane.
My name is Tanya, Thanks for stopping by!
It's the 7th of January let's see what's growing in my small backyard vegetable garden here in Central Victoria Australia.
As the sun goes down on day 1 of our 3 day heatwave I've come out to check on the garden and start watering, making sure there is plenty of water out in the saucers for the visiting birds, due to there being so many mozzies out last night I got up early this morning to get a few jobs ticked off before it got too hot, everything had a good soak, I put up the drop cloths to try and stop a lot of radiant heat from the tin fence behind the tubs of capsicums, they are all growing and fruit is on the way. I pegged out some hessian so a few of the later planted things got sun protection, but tonight I am back out to give everything a good soak again ready for day 2 of the heatwave while I refresh the pea straw path and tie up/prune a couple of tomatoes. The pumpkins, cucumbers and most of all the Tromboncino have enjoyed today's heat, that whole bed will cope with the heat as long as they have plenty of water.
There has been a lot of growth from the pumpkins, zucchinis, cucumbers and melons, purple beans, tomatoes are ripening and so many capsicums!
Let's harvest some produce and see how much food can be grown in a small backyard garden.
I am very happy with how the new raised beds are settling into the space, and like all gardeners I keep extending the growing space, well until I get the next 2 beds and glasshouse in place!
At the start of October I invested in 4 large raised steel garden beds for my 55th birthday, to replace an area of lawn that the previous year I had laid cardboard, mulched and started growing in a couple months later, I had mixed feelings about how the extended vegetable garden had gone but thought I would continue with it again this season until I started thinking about raised beds.
There is never a good time to change over to raised beds when they need to go where your cropping winter garden is so I just went for it, ordered my raised beds which were custom made so I had some time to either eat the veg I had been growing or move it.
After a few doubts along the way I am so glad I didn't wait any longer, the first vegetables I've planted in them are thriving, the down side of it was that it has taken a lot of dirt, compost, straw and mushroom compost to fill them, they are just over 3m long and 1.2m wide and .60m high and extremely heavy to move around and position.
But apart from topping up the beds with compost before planting each season until all the organic matter inside them has broken down and compacted I think they will be low maintenance.
In total the 4 beds I purchased will equal the same amount of space I had been planting into and with the addition of a secondhand glasshouse I found on Facebook market place 2 years ago I will be able to extend our growing season for tomatoes, cucumbers and raise lots of seeds.
In addition I have changed what used to be my whole veg garden into a perennial vegetable garden bed that has a new asparagus patch, dwarf apple trees, rhubarb, dwarf lemon tree and an area for herbs.
It isn't a big area but looking to the future I hope to challenge my growing area and just see ow much food I can grow in the small footprint and hopefully I will grow enough for us and some of our neighbours.
With the cost of living crisis everywhere pairing back pantry items so multiple recipes can be cooked with the same basic items is a necessity, along with growing a garden that is any size, big or just a pot with your favourite herbs or leafy greens, after all they can be the most expensive items in the fruit and veg section at the supermarket and usually the things that never get used up and are thrown out.
Cooking from scratch can feel overwhelming but with a few prepped ingredients from my freezer, a pantry and our fridge stocked with simple staples, scratch made meals flow from our kitchen.
I cook with gluten free ingredients and a budget friendly mind set always.
I would really love you to join me cooking budget friendly gluten free meals in my tiny kitchen and appreciate you spending your time with me, please consider subscribing so you don't miss my next upload.
Have a great day and I hope to see you in my next video.
Bye for now...
PS….I post on my community tab in real time, things I am cooking in my kitchen, vegetable garden updates and thrifting finds, often after filming it can take me a couple weeks to edit and voice over my videos so it gives you a sneak peak at what’s coming up.
#vegetablegardening #nodiggardening ##UtilityJane #gardentour #thediggersclub
Hi my name is Tanya and welcome to my small backyard vegetable garden here in central Victoria.
As the sun goes down on day one of our three day heat wave I've come out to assess the damage.
It is 7 30 p.m and it is still 37 degrees celsius and I'm out to put water on things. I came out and
put a bit of water out during the middle of the day and to check on all the pieces of hessian
that I put up to give a little bit of shade to the newer things that I had planted. I've come
out to finish off some jobs I didn't get done last night. I came out early this morning and
got the wool mulch all put out and a very good water over all the things and put up some hessian
for shade. So I'm back out tonight to water again and take the hessian down so that things can cool
down and get a bit of breeze and to get the straw down in the path. I also need to tie up a few of
the tomatoes but let's have a little look around first and see how much things have grown in this
heat. This tromboncino has gone a little crazy. I'm a little concerned that it might take over
the whole arch. The zucchinis are looking wonderful of course, which is far better than I got last
year. And the wool mulch is on here, the volunteer pumpkin. I'm going to have to try and train up the
trellis but I'm very happy with this wool mulch, how it went out. I love the different colors.
All the plants are enjoying that locked in moisture. At lunchtime I came and put a sprinkler
on for the magpie family that we have and they got to have a little refresh. I've put wool mulch
down here around the rockmelons and the basil and it was getting too hot for me to get the straw
down in the path so I really want to take that off tonight. Last night there was so many mozzies
around that I could not even stay out to water let alone be out here getting mulch out. These
basil are enjoying the heat. I can't mulch it unfortunately so until they get a little bigger
and I can put some around the rim they're gonna have to just grow. These tomatoes are still
looking the same as they did three days ago but these cucumbers certainly aren't. I love these
actually because they're very sturdy plants. The other cucumbers, the muncher burpless, look quite
flimsy plants. These sunflowers are absolutely gorgeous and it looks like the birds have been
nibbling on these. There's a few there. What I will do for tomorrow is hang a piece of hessian
there at the back and maybe that might deter them. The purple climbing beans and I'm looking for the
first baby bean because that's always an exciting find. I do love how they grow and twine around each
other. Just get it back on course. Would be lovely to think that the cucumbers will meet it up at the
top of the arch. Just a little bit of sulkiness which is to be expected after such hot day.
And there's another tomato that's been nibbled on. The two drop cloths that are used through winter
for protecting these capsicums and I've just made a basic curtain tab top to hang from the fence.
The hessian was great but these drop cloths are thicker so it will be better insulation over the
tin. This is one of the overwintered capsicums. So many. Very happy about that. Flowers on the
eggplants and the candy cane. All looking very happy with fruit on the way. The mad hatter there
and another overwintered bell pepper. The newest additions to this line. Just getting some water
going while I get on with some other jobs. And he seems very keen, almost as keen as hunter, to get
in under the sprinkler. Looks like he's the one that has been nibbling on the tomatoes. And let's
check the temperature of the beds. They don't seem to differ too much. One thing I did notice that the
bed is hotter if it is a little dry. So like this one it's 27 and dry but the other ones were damp
and 25. So that's what I'm using as my guide to watering. This one does not seem scared at all.
We have these visit us every year but he is not at all worried about me standing here.
He's very keen for some water and I do love having the saucers here. The sprinklers fill
them again and they can come and have a drink or hop under the sprinkler if they are going.
He is very tame but so beautiful. Look at the colors. I could stand there and watch him for
hours but I must get on and get these things done because I am thinking with it being so warm that
the mozzies will be out again tonight. And I just want to get these few jobs ticked off. It's not
very much but at 37 degrees it's quite warm. So I'll get this straw down nice and thick and then
put the sprinkler on over it again. We've got a breeze coming up from the south which is always
welcome and in no time it's done. Very happy. It does help to lock in the moisture in those two
beds either side. And the next job is to get these tied up. I did one round of tying them up but they
have exploded in growth. It is now that they need tying up and pruning otherwise it's going to be
very difficult to get them training up the wire. Some have grown through to the other side and I
can pull some back through but others are just too fixed there so I'm going to leave them and if
the rock melons grow over them that is what just has to happen. I'm hoping that they will just
mingle and happily grow there together. But I will give it a prune, tie it up so that it gets adjusted
to being up there and then I will come back and readjust and probably do a bit more pruning
until it is where I want it to be. Sometimes it's hard when they're like this to start cutting back
and tying so you just gotta start and then untie and move and proceed and then it all sort of
makes sense otherwise it can look like a large jumble. Hopefully between the rock melons and
tomatoes it will all fill in and I know that volunteer pumpkin down the end is going to help.
That is looking not too bad for now.
