Salad greens

A few lettuce type things planted in between the tyres:

Red oak lettuce. It's done well in the past and this is about the 4th time I've planted it.

Mazuna. Claims to be a lettuce substiture. Not very well known to Google, unless I'm missing something?

Tastes OK.

 Actually in the tyres are the Contender bush beans that came up. The gaps have been filled.

Update 2016/11/03:

Mainly chard and spinach. And a cat.

Update 2017/01/10:

Portugal quince

Previous season's posting on quince.

This is the second season, and it's still quite spindly, but looks pretty healthy. An attractive tree.

Update 2016/10/25:

I'm going to have to stake the stem to prevent it from collapsing under the weight of the developing fruit. Maybe tie it to the plum tree it will be replacing?

In theory these will ripen in about March next year.

Update 2016/11/03:

Update 2017/02/10:

Anniversary

It's more than a year since I started this blog.

Is it serving any purpose? Maybe - the ability to update posts means you can consolidate information about a particular item, and photograph the progress of certain things. Considered as a diary or log book it has certainly helped me avoid futile activities and to persist in some that didn't seem to be leading anywhere useful.

Could you achieve the same effect differently? I've kept paper diaries about garden activities, but it's not easy to include a visual record, and it's easy to misplace bits of paper.

The activity of actual gardening and blogging about it are loosely coupled. I do a lot more in the garden than  gets written about, so the result is some sort of filtered reflection of what goes on. The question, then, is what makes it into pictures and words? Which gets back to the purpose...

Not sure there's a sensible answer.

Hybrid Zucchini - Green Tiger

35 days to harvest is the claim....

I grew "normal" courgette/baby marrow last season, and they were really prolific. They tend to sprawl, though, so not that suited to container cultivation.

Update 2016/10/12:

The seeds failed to come up, to the extent I replanted with baby marrow a few weeks later. A few days ago it looks like everything germinated at once, so presumably germination depends on temperature. Now not sure which is which!

Update 2016/10/22:

Update 2016/11/03:

Update 2016/11/29:

Update 2016/12/02:

Assorted patty pan squash

These were very successful last season - most of them were the yellow ones. Fifty days to harvest is the claim.

Update 2016/10/12:

Same story as Zucchini - about a month to germinate, but there they all are.

Update 2016/10/22:

Update 2016/10/29

Update 2016/11/03:

Update 2016/11/29:

Update 2016/12/02:

Veld fire and rain water collection

What happens to PVC fittings if they get too close to a brush fire.

The gutter sort of melted off the fascia board.

And the rain water tank looks sad... it was about half full. The bottom patch is intact, but the top one melted through.

I wonder what half a tank could be used for?

Globe Artichoke

Previous entry on globe artichokes here.

In its second year:

The crown is well established, so this year should see good growth.

I moved the plant in the other tyre to a different location. It took a bit of a knock, but is growing. Much smaller than the one above, but will have much more room to expand..

Update 2016/10/01:

Two extra artichokes in tyres. The spacing between them is probably better.

Update 2016/10/29

An extra two plants added, making six in all, each in their own tyre.

Update 2016/11/30:

First bud from established plant. Still small. so will have to play it by ear when to pick it...

Update 2017/01/23:

Update 2017/05/11:

Angelica

In its second year:

Still haven't really found a use for it, but it's getting big enough to be able to cut a leaf stem or two and crystallize them.

Spring

Light drizzles, and slightly overcast since the start of the month.

The oak tree on the Kingswood field, viewed fromlounge window.

Erythrina Caffra, viewed through bare branches of helicopter tree.