Autumn 2016

So I pretty much skipped all of summer there...

So far I have two pumpkins that have set, another two that are up in the air. Also struggling to set fruit is the passionfruit vine which has flowers galore but nary a passionfruit to show for it. I think I need to trim it down pretty savagely come winter.

I have several tomatoes setting fruit - whether they actually ripen nicely is another matter - there was a brief fruit fly infestation in the garden and I haven't seen any decent tomatoes since January, although there are some growing on the vine now. The 3rd planting of corn looks good, but whether it manages to pollinate is another matter. The 2nd planting wasn't very thoroughly pollinated and the cobs look like gappy teeth. The 1st planting I lost entirely to mildew and insufficient growth, alas - I think it needed better soil and mulching.

This is part of the learning cycle of gardening for me - working out what goes where and how to make things grow - at least somewhat by trial and error.

What's doing really well? Eggplant. I have three plants producing, and while they're not going great guns, they're doing pretty solidly. Oh, and the basil. The basil is going NUTS. Everywhere, NUTS.

And I finally have a harvest of fruit; my fuyu (sweet) persimmon tree has branches laden with fruit, and has kept them for the last three months as the fruit fly came and went... It's pretty delicious, actually!

The biggest problem right now is that I'm running out of space to plant things. It's actually rather annoying; I've got loads of root vegetables that I'd like to grow through the winter, and the current crop sets are beans and peas (and some brassicas, which will soon need to be planted out). It's going to get crowded...

A look at the garden in March 2017 (compare with September 2016):

I'm seriously thinking about those chickens again, too - to keep the grass in check.