Caz

This is my 3rd year attempting to grow vegetables in our backyard, at least I think it's three... there may be another season with results so traumatically abysmal that I've blocked it out, who knows. I'm pretty much stuck growing veggies in pots, as we rent and ripping up a new lawn isn't something that would fly, which makes it even MORE challenging.  I refuse to give up and admit defeat though!

Last season,  not really last year as it was 2009 (we can garden pretty much year round in Qld) I did ok with a few things... we had a dozen or so tomatoes, despite the plants looking rather sad & surviving a move; we had lettuce's that we harvested (rip bits off and they grew back several times ;);  there were sugar snap peas that did really well...just not enough OF them!;  and herbs always grow well for me.  But I still wouldn't say we came out ahead financially considering the rather meager harvest.     THIS year I WILL have veggies fresh from my garden come hell or high water!   lol

At the moment I have 3 or so tomato plants (that are pretty sad looking, but they were sad when dh bought them.. I was just being heroic & trying to save them lol) although pitiful looking, one of them has a couple of teeny tomatoes on it lol.  I have about 5 zucchini plants (yep, in pots... we'll see how this experiment goes.  I had to try though, we love zukes!)   They are doing ok, but they keep getting blossom end rot so I've read up and apparently they need some epsom salt 'tea'  to stop that.   Haven't remembered to pick any up yet though.  


Here are my adorable little cucumber plants.  They are at the base of the mesh I used for my peas to climb, and as soon as they reach the bottom of it I'll start training their little tendrils upwards towards it :)   I'm hoping I get more then the 3 cukes I did last year by getting them up off the ground.


Here's one of my 2 capsicum (pepper) plants.. we love red capsicum here, so these were a must.   I got about 10 off last years plants, so I'm confident I can better that this year.  They aren't cheap either, sometimes they are about 6.98kg at the shops!  So this is a smart choice for the grocery budget too.  If you click to enlarge the pic, you'll see a teeny fruit or two forming even, WOOT!


 Here are two of my delightful looking cherry tomatoes, waiting to go into bigger pots.   They look much healthier than my regular 'maters, whose leaves are all stunted  compared to their stems.. and curled up to boot.  That's ok though, my boys LOVE to snack on some cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices  with homemade ranch dressing!  

I have sage, garlic chives, Baaaaasil out the wazoo (we love to make pesto!), a pretty little variegated thyme that I'm not sure I'll ever cook with.. but it's just too pretty.  I also have some spring onions that just will not admit defeat,  so I keep watering them to help them defy the Queensland warmth.     I have room for a few more things to go in, haven't decided what I'll try yet... maybe some anahiem chilis, since I have the seeds already?  

I'd love to hear what you're growing, if you are so inclined! (both to garden and to share lol)  

5 Responses
  1. Wendy Says:

    Hey Farmer Caz! Wishing your entire garden a healthy growing season. May you enjoy all the abundance of your hard work when the harvest season comes around!


  2. Meganne Says:

    I have a giant cherry tomato plant that has spit out around 100 tomatoes so far this year. The plant is clearly very happy, and I am very blessed!

    I have a cucumber plant that's not doing so well.

    Let us now how the zuch's turn out! I'm thinking about trying my hand at them in containers next year.


  3. Caz Says:

    Thanks ladies! one day I want to have one of those epic home gardens that provides most of our seasonal produce... one step at a time getting there!


  4. Your plants look good so far! We rent, too, so I totally understand your challenge! I got our landlord to agree to let us do a small raised bed garden, so next year I'm definately going to do it (it's nearing the end of our growing season here in Maine, USA). This year I planted in a very small patch near our house: cukes (died quickly) cherry tomatoes (they did "ok" but not great), regular tomatoes (again "ok", but then I didn't build up the beds first...), beans (slow, not great yield) and peas (my best plants this year - I only planted 3 plants and got a good handful from them) plus chives (I cut-and-go and they keep growing, gotta love them!) and sage (cut-and-go and doing ok).

    Keep up the gardening, you're doing very well for container gardening!


  5. maria Says:

    I'm so jealous - your plants look great! I'm psyching myself up for a little container herb garden for the winter, and trying to get a head start on planning for next spring. Enjoy the bounty!