perennial

All posts tagged perennial

Never say Die

Posted by gardenpathfood on October 11, 2013
Posted in: Spring foods, Summer foods, The plants in my garden. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

IMAG0471Once, many years ago, I bought a plant which said it was a perennial eggplant, and suggested that it would be good in a pot on the verandah.  It did well and eventually I planted it out, but oh no..the frost got it.  The next year it came back bigger and better than ever and grew like the beanstalk, only this time it had prickles three inches long. Obviously they had used a nasty root stock to graft the eggplant to, much as we graft to bush lemon for citrus.  It took over the garden and grew eight feet tall and produced no eggplant, so I got rid of it, best not to tell you how.  Moral of the story- If it says ‘Pot Variety’ then perhaps it is best to leave it there.  Also eggplant frosts.

So then I grew some ordinary seedlings in pots so I could put them on the verandah out of the frost and one of them has done really well, so well in fact that this is its third year of production.  It is co-planted with a bay tree which also looked like it had seen its best days but like the phoenix, they have both risen from the ashes yet again. I am waiting for them to die as I want the pot for a tree that is presently suffering in a too small pot.  Now this poor little eggplant has a dozen or so eggplant on, although not large ones and I can not bring myself to get rid of it yet again.

Since it has been under the shelter, out of the frost these are nice and early and way ahead of the seedlings I have in the garden. Oh well, we can start on some of my favourite eggplant dishes early, since these are actually ready to pick. I know this because they are glossy and black and if I let them go much longer, the shine will go off them. Slightly immature eggplant (as in the seeds aren’t ready for use) are much better tasting than when you let them fullly ripen.

One Tough Capsicum

Posted by gardenpathfood on February 13, 2013
Posted in: Autumn foods, Eating Seasons, Food, Health, Links to other sites, Spring foods, Spring Jobs, Summer foods, The plants in my garden, Winter Foods, Winter Jobs, Work Season. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

‘I had a little capsicum’,  and I still do.

This little capsicum has been in the garden for almost two years and spent most of last winter hibernating beneath a refrigerator box, but even then, it still produced the odd fruit. It has continued to fruit all through summer, just as it did all last summer.  It produces just enough to keep us going and since we eat them on salads and in stir fry and in casseroles, that it not a bad effort for the one little plant.Capsicum

And, it has produced babies with a little help.  I talked about that at http://wp.me/p2tNt0-32

The Gardening Australia website http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1866669.htm suggests that capsicums are indeed perennial, but usually we treat them as an annual. I sometimes wonder how much of what we assume as home gardeners comes from commercial agricultural practices and how much we need to relearn to be really effective home vegetable producers.  The garden is really your best teacher for this so just get in there and give it a go.

The capsicum is also an attractive little plant, so given that it is actually a perennial and that it has lovely glossy green leaves and can have bright green, red, yellow or orange fruit, it is a plant that you could easily use as an ornamental in a spot in which you can protect it  in winter.  That is, if you get frost as we do.They grow easily in a pot and this probably ideal as the plant can moved in and out of shelter in winter for an all year round boost to both your food dishes and your immune system.

Raw capsicum  contains high levels of Vitamin C and also  beta carotene which converts to Vitamin A, a great immune system boost.

Past thyme

Posted by gardenpathfood on June 24, 2012
Posted in: Autumn foods, Autumn jobs, Eating Seasons, Food, Spring foods, Summer foods, The plants in my garden, Winter Foods, Work Season. Tagged: , , , . 3 Comments

Among the perennial herbs I have in the garden is thyme.

This bush was one of the first things I planted and has been there three years, although a month or two ago it was touch and go whether I got rid of it as it appeared to be getting past it’s use by date.

It had become very ‘sticky’ (all stems and no leaf), as it got older and it was increasingly hard to pick a nice bunch for chopping.

So, I took the shears to it very radically and it has bushed back beautifully. Maybe I’ll get another year or two out of it.  It has occurred to me that thyme would be a very attractive small garden bush or pot specimen on a balcony.   It hasn’t been affected by the frost, and it seems to be very drought tolerant, once it is established.

Oranges as sweet as honey

Posted by gardenpathfood on June 20, 2012
Posted in: Autumn foods, Eating Seasons, The plants in my garden, Winter Foods. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

When we left the farm three years ago, I had to say goodbye to my beautiful orchard, which had taken 16 years to develop.

The first things we planted here were orange and mandarin trees and this is the first year we have had anything worth eating from them.

I watched for ages as the fruit developed but it never seemed to ripen and everyone else was saying the same thing…..and then we had the first frost.  Look at them now.

We have had the first fruit off the trees and they are just as wonderful as the ones from my old orchard…as sweet as honey, firm and juicy.

Very few things in the garden will repay your care as much as a citrus tree and oranges are only worth eating in season and preferably fresh from the orchard.

If you don’t grow your own citrus, then try to get it from a local supplier, or take a little day trip to the nearest orchards.

My Garden Philosophy

Posted by gardenpathfood on May 30, 2012
Posted in: Background Information. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

The simple souls Vegie Garden- enjoyment all year round

I‘d like to point out here that I am not a food affiicionado nor am I totally dedicated to a completely self sustainable future- after all, what will the farmers do then?

I derive a huge amount of pleasure and relaxation from my garden though, and the satisfaction, both oral and mental of growing my own vegetable and fruits.

One of the commonest mistakes that aspiring gardeners make, is to plant a garden full of seedlings and then wait for the crops to come in. Unfortunately, when they do, it is usually all at once and you give most of it away or spend a heap of time making pickles. This is not my idea of fun.

The principles I stick to with my garden are simple and we’ll go into them in more detail later but here’s a peek:

  • Make sure that you have as many perennial or retoon type of crops as possible
  • Plant the things you’ll use regularly such as herbs and spring onions as close to the kitchen as you can
  • Look after your soil and it will look after you
  • Allow some things to go to seed then watch carefully for seedlings to come up- imagine your (and your children’s) pleasure and excitement when you find babies in the garden
  • Don’t use automatic sprinklers. You will find that the more accurately you water your garden, the less weeds will grow. So you spend your time holding the hose rather than weeding. I know which I prefer.
  • Have several alternate spaces in your garden so that you can rotate your planting areas.
  • Think very carefully about where you site the garden.  Look at the sun position and also consider how easy it will be to get the hose there.
  •  Remember that most of the time, you will need to pick when you cook dinner. Unless you like rustling around in the dark, make sure your everyday garden is in a spot where the lights reach.

I love to have some of my fruits and vegetables spread throughout the yard with the ornamental plants.