The Fruits (And Veg) Of My Labour

My brussels sprouts are finally sort of starting to look like brussels sprouts! Man they’re slow! Hopefully they’ll get bigger quickly from now so I can eat them before it gets to hot and they go all floppy and open. They’re funny little things.

My first two tiny baby capsicums are starting to grow. That was fast! I only planted them a week ago! Hopefully the plant doesn’t spend all it’s energy making two little baby capsicums because the plant itself is still really little. It’s got some growing to do to make all the capsicums I’m expecting out of it!

My lime tree did it’s usual ‘winter death’ thing but the new growth is looking great! Is there anything I can do other than bring it inside to keep it healthy in winter? I feel like the warmer months are spent regrowing all the leaves that fell off in winter and by the time that’s done it’s winter again. It has only been two winters that it’s done it’s ‘winter death’ but that’s two out of two and I’m sensing a cycle. It gets a good mix of fertiliser including slow release, and I’m generally pretty on top of the aphids when they pay their visit, and it’s in a pretty sheltered spot in a pot with nice soil. I just don’t have the citrus touch!

Summertime Vegies

I made sure I got in a little earlier with my summertime vegie planting this year, learning my lesson from last year after a late tomato planting resulted in small tomatoes. The girls were very useful in helping me plant our new crop. Well, they did the odd chicken poo in the general viscinity which can only be a good thing. Unfortunately, Bunnings didn’t have any “Burnley Sure Crop” tomatoes this year, which are the perfect tomato since we live in Burnley, opposite Melbourne University’s horticulture campus. So I got “Mighty Red” instead. I’ve given them heaps of space (another lesson leant from last year). According to the label, I technically could’ve planted all 8 seedlings (just), but I just planted 4 and gave the other 4 to my neighbours. They supposedly grow up to 1.8m tall and the label said I could plant them 50cm apart which seemed to close to me. We’ll see how they go with the extra space. If my brussel sprouts fail, which I suspect they will, I’ll plant some roma tomatoes there, so we’ll have plenty tomatoes to go around. I can’t wait to make some more tomato pie – it was amazing last year!

I also bought 4 cucumber plants which you can’t see in the photo because they’re camouflaged in the pea straw (which the girls absolutely love! So many good things to peck at in pea straw!)

And in the lovely pot that Adam bought me for my birthday last year I planted a yellow capsicum which promises high yields. It’s already got a couple of flowers on it so hopefully we should get a whole lot of sweat, homegrown capsicums. I eat a lot of capsicum these days. I think I’m making up for lost time, because Dad doesn’t like capsicum so we never really had it at home. Since moving out, I probably buy 3 capsicums a week. I have them in my lunch wraps for work a lot because they don’t make my wrap soggy like tomato does, but they give that nice, refreshing, sweet flavour. Plus they’re pretty cheap. So I really hope I get some delicious homegrown yellow beauties. We shall soon see!