This is a quick round up of my June garden. More importantly, it is my garden diary which compels me to record the seasonality of my own produce, as well as enjoying other garden stories from around the globe.
The Harvest.
Firstly, the Asians: limes, lemon grass, chilli, coriander and Kaffir lime leaves. I can see a curry or guacamole coming up soon. Or perhaps some lemon grass tea.
The baby turnips and pepper were baked with some other ( stored ) home produce.
The Veggie Garden
These two beds below were seeded on March 25th and are now ready to pick ( except for the broccoli). Young turnips, tatsoi, lettuce, radish, dill and coriander, silverbeet, and self sown bok choi are now abundant.
These strawberries think it is Spring, due to the unseasonable warm weather we have experienced this May. Will they have a chance to colour? The crazy yellow eggplants refuse to die. Shame that I don’t really like them.
The ‘TO DO’ list.
- plant broad beans in patches that could benefit from a nitrogen fix.
- finish off planting out the garlic ( an endless task)
- make a few more beds of winter lettuce and rocket.
- remind the family to pick the broccoli heads in our absence, ensuring a future supply of side shoots.
- protect the lemon grass from future frost.
In the photo below, Renato farewells the girls, my Dexter cows, Delilah, Derry and Duffy. Renato has been working as a volunteer Wwoofer on our property, on and off for two months. From Milano and a high tech working world, he loves farming and Australia and is always researching interesting approaches to everyday tasks. He has gathered endless quantities of manure from these paddocks, spreading it on all the fruit trees and olives and adding it to the compost. Good gardening depends on good compost and manure. Grazie Mille Renato.
ALMOST ITALIAN 
Your garden beds look so healthy and there’s so much variety. Your strawberries are gorgeous and such a good size but like you, I’m wondering if they will ripen. We are having unusually warm weather but I do wonder how much longer it will last xx
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No, I don’t think they will ripen, but they will survive. They quite like a touch of frost. I am worried about my lemongrass bush as I hate having to buy it,
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Your garden looks wonderful and I love the flavours you’ve harvested, and I now know I have to protect my yet to be planted lemongrass from frost. Valuable information.
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There is definitely plenty happening in your garden at the moment Francesca! I used to watch the strawberries in our patch to see whether they would colour or not!
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Limes, olives, space…I think I have garden envy. Everything looks so healthy (even the hated yellow eggplants), no doubt helped by a great supply of manure and the helpful Renato. I do hope your strawberries ripen. Perhaps wrapping them in garden fleece or putting a cloche over if the weather turns?
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We have 20 acres so plenty of space to play. What is garden fleece?
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It is sometimes called horticultural fleece and is described by the Royal Horticultural Society as: “Horticultural fleece is a thin, unwoven, polypropylene fabric that is used as a floating mulch to protect both early and late crops and other delicate plants from cold weather and frost, as well as insect pests during the normal growing season. It admits light, air and rain but creates a microclimate around the developing plants, allowing them to grow faster than unprotected crops.” Given the climate here, it is something that is readily available in our garden centres. Lucky having 20 acres! I miss open spaces in this overcrowded island.
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Fantastic garden… Every time I see one, I want to start one then I don’t…
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You could start small with a little plot of lettuce. F
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You’re harvesting some great flavours there – did you go with curry or guacamole in the end? My strawberries are at just about the same stage as yours but, given the cool, wet weather we’re having at the moment, yours may well ripen first!
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no, had to head off to bangkok ( sad but true) so handed the lovely stuff to my duaghter. She is in charge of harvesting for 7 weeks.
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My strawberries were fruiting much longer than usual as well this year, but given we’ve already hit minus2 I don’t think we can count on them 🙂
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Crazy seasons we are having. Its good to record these things.
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The colorful garden is delightful to look at. It’s fun to see them change color as the summer wanes and turns into Fall…harvest!
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yes, autumn is the best month but now we are in winter, I love all the soupy veggies like turnips and brocolli and cavolo nero too.
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Beautiful harvests! Are the yellow eggplants different in flavor to the regular variety? I have not seen them. They look great to me 🙂
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Your garden is looking amazing, so much colour in your harvests and you have coriander. I have just tried to grow some here at the farm in hopes it works. You are eating like king – nice 🙂
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