Saturday, 29 October 2016

White Genoa fig tree

This White Genoa fig has been sitting in a bag for a season, but finally got planted a couple of weeks back:


At the end of the grape trellis. It's been pretty dry, so not looking too happy.

Update 2017/01/11:

Been getting water, and looks a lot happier. Signs of growth.


Update 2017/02/20:

Transplanted to a pot a few weeks ago:

:

Update 2017/03/26:



They're getting bigger. Will they ripen this season?

Grape trellis and strawberries.

Post from last season.

Second season. Last season they got munched down by cows and looked in a bad way. Seem to have recovered, but not yet at the stage they were when when purchased. It'll take a year or two to catch up.




Surrounded by strawberries, which are doing nicely - started from runners last season.

Update 2016/12/01:


Hanepoot.


Autumn Royal. Antigone in the background.

Update 2017/01/11:


Friday, 28 October 2016

Watsonia


Doing OK in a tyre...

Leeks

Tried a few times in the past, both from seed and transplanted seedlings, with no success. The seeds grew into hair like tiny plants then died. The seedlings, packed into a 12 cell polystyrene tray, were transplanted after rudimentary separation in the expectation that I'd hill them when big enough. They didn't take long to die, either.

A few days ago, I spotted a tray of leek seedlings and couldn't resist them. This time I did the obvious, and Googled "transplanting leek seedlings". This resulted in Youtube videos and good articles on what needs to be done, i.e.:


Soak the contents of a cell in water to rinse out the potting medium, and then carefully separate out the roots. In my case, each cell contained between three and seven seedlings, averaging maybe five.

The next step:


Dib a series of holes, between 10 and 15cm apart, about 15cm deep. I started with a rake handle, but struggled, so ended up using my 1.8m crowbar.. My soil tends to stick to the sides of the dibber, so rocking it backwards and forwards and rotating it helps produce an open hole.


Drop the separated seedlings into each hole, or in the case of those with good root systems, push them in so they bottom out. There'll be a couple of cm of leaf sticking out the top.

Finally, carefully fill each hole with water using the watering can. As the water gets absorbed, the roots at the bottom get covered with some soil from the sides of the hole. If they don't, repeat.

Leave the holes as is - the idea is that as the leeks grow, their stems will fill the hole, which gradually gets covered over with soil.

I got 76 leek seedlings, a bit tedious to plant, but here's hoping.

Update 2016/11/29:


A bit of shrinkage but most doing OK. Looks like it's going to be a crop for the long haul...

Update 2017/01/10:


Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Parsnips

Planted two seasons ago, and haven't done much. Haven;t died,either.



Raspberries

What can I say?


After struggling for years trying to grow them, they're coming up all over the place.

Update 2016/11/03:


Update 2016/11/16:


Update 2016/12/01:


Come up all by itself in exactly the right place....

Ixia and rhe Ixias

One of our cats and her namesake:





Posing isn't her strong suit.


Update 2017/05/16:


Hales Best sweet melon


\
Never been successful with this sort of thing before, but after good results with squash in a tyre last season I'm giving them a go.

Planted 9 seeds, let's see if they come up in 10 to 15 days.

Update 2016/10/29


Update 2016/11/03:


Update 2016/11/29:


Update 2016/12/02: