Saturday, June 4, 2011

Behind the backyard fence

Most of our June harvest will be from this veggie patch which is outside from our house compound. As it is not been look after that much, the plants must have been very happy with the occasional rain that we are having lately. As I was looking back at my previous post about how the plants were progressing last month, I was quite surprise how much they have grown. Ilhan sweet corn patch has many cobs now and his mammoth sunflower is about 8 feet tall with no sign of bud yet. If the mammoth sunflower bloom we can see it from inside the house.
Sunflowers that have just recently bloom.
Mammoth snow peas at the back and telephone peas in front which are producing pods. We used sunflower stalks to make this trellis for the peas to climb. In between these peas are daikons growing which we had  harvested quite a lot since last month. Hopefully this patch will provide enough vegetables for our kitchen this month. Caterpillars are having a fun time with daikon leaves. Our record so far is finding 12 caterpillars on one daikon plants. I don't mind about caterpillars munching on daikon tops as long as it keep away from the greens.
Potatoes plants were so small and newly sprouted last month. I was surprised that one potato plants have already flower early this month. I inter-planted giant purple mustard with potatoes. Mustard secretes some substance that nematode dislike, function same as marigold. Near the fence, I sowed some bush peas which is about 20cm tall now. These peas are starting to give some pods now although it is so tiny. On my bad planning, I wonder how I am going to balance myself to pick them and avoid stomping on other plants. This is the first time, we are growing bush peas, in the seed packet it is said that it can grow a metre tall. But I did not think that it start to produce when it is less than 20cm tall. At the front, 4 rainbow chards plant. First time growing rainbow chard and I wonder does the leaves suppose to look wrinkle like that.
This patch is growing vegetables that I am trying for the first time. In this patch are Florence fennel, Purple vienna kohlrabi, heirloom mix beetroot, purple dragon carrot and parsnip. We never eaten kohlrabi and beetroot, so it will be fun to have our first taste with our home-grown later if we grow them successfully. Purple dragon and parsnip don't look very good on this patch but we have them growing on other patch.
Self-sowed tomato plants surprisingly bear some fruits now. Bush beans are not prolific anymore, I should plant other vegetables when I find the time.
Hope you have a nice weekend.

16 comments:

Daphne Gould said...

The chard looks just fine. Some chard varieties are more wrinkly than others. It is in the same family as spinach and spinach is the same way. Some are smoother and some are very deeply wrinkled.

Your garden looks lovely.

tina said...

It looks fantastic. So healthy and neat and tidy. Can you come help me tidy up my gardens?:)

cikmanggis said...

bagusnya!!!!cm suka sangat lihat pokok jagung dan pokok bunga matahari tu:)nanti puaslah makan jagung...kebun Cm dah tak banyak tanaman baru hanya pokok sawi saja yang ada.Cuaca sangat panas tak larat nak angkut air dan siram pokok pokok yang jauh dari paip air.Pokok-pokok orkid banyak yang dah mati..sayang...

shaz said...

Everytime I visit, I feel like my own garden is so inadequate :) Everything looks fabulous, and yes, silverbeet looks like that. I'm trying to grow some too, mine are about 2cm tall!! I love beetroot, but never tried kohlrahbi before. I'd like to know what you think of it.

Patricia said...

Your garden is lovely. I have tried Florence fennel and it is supposed to bulb, but mine never do. I think my sandy soil is just inadequate. I love wandering through your garden.

~TastyTravels~ said...

Pretty sunflowers! I like how you reused the stalks for the peas. Some chard are smooth leaved and some are savoyed or crinkled. I hope you like the chard! I love growing them for how pretty they are and how yummy they are. I just have some tonight. I love the new varieties you are growing. I've never grown some of those also.

Rosie Gan said...

Wow, you're a busy gardener. Beautiful fresh vegetables all the time.Tomatoes are difficult to grow pest-free here. I've tried before. Yours look so healthy.
Rosie

Stephanie said...

Your greens are looking really yummy hehe... happy harvesting them later and have a nice weekend yourself also.

One said...

I've finally sown the mammoth sunflower seeds.

I might have one nasturtium plant growing. I'm not 100% sure because the leaves are not round like yours. It is a little elongated/oval.

I can't even consider being kiasu when I am here. Just have to admit defeat.

Sunray Gardens said...

Everything looks great. You keep some great gardens.
Cher

Cat-from-Sydney said...

MKG dear,
You said you didn't look after it much and yet the garden is prolific. Beautiful harvest you'll have there. purrr...meow!

Eliza @ Appalachian Feet said...

Wow, great looking garden! You really seem to have intensive planting methods mastered, too. Your beans make me jealous -- that's the only thing I'm late getting planted. I need to take a few minutes to stick those seeds in the ground!

Sue Garrett said...

Wish we had a bit of rain from time to time!

We planted giant purple mustard one year since which time it has self seeded like a weed

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Daphne~ Thanks for the information, chard and spinach is relatively new to us so we don't know much about how it looks like. Next challenge will be how to prepare them in the kitchen when we harvest them.

Tina~Hehehe...there are many weeds hiding in our veggie patch probably to small to be seen.

Cikmanggis~Lama dah kempunan nak makan jagung sendiri. Syukur alhamdulillah baru dapat merasa sepuasnya tahun ni. Perlahan-lahan menanam nanti dah biasa automatik je. Kacang panjang mungkin tak remeh sangat nak air banyak.

Shaz~ We hope we can grow kohlrabi successfull. How do you prepare silverbeet?

Patricia~ Celery too seems not fond of sandy soil. I can never grow celery well in sandy soil.

Holly~ I saw your rainbow chard and it is really pretty vegetable.

Rosie~Tomatoes not easy to grow here as well. What I know about them in our garden is good air circulation is crucial to avoid disease.

Stephanie~Harvesting is always a happy time, stress releaser. Have a great weekend too.

Kwee Peng~ The first batch of leaves does not look really roundish. You might want to grow them in partial shade for the nasturtium. Not sure whether they will be happy with full sun of Klang Valley. I don't have beautiful butterfly to take so I am enjoying looking at your photos. Hopefully many butterfly will be attracted to the mammoth sunflower.

Cher~ Thank you. Many of them got eaten though.

Cat-from-Sydney~You can see many hole designed on the vegetables by pest ;-).

Eliza~Bush beans they grow pretty past. If you sowed them this weekend, you will start enjoying them in less than 2 months.

Sue~I always thought that UK have so many rain. But I guess it almost summer so you having lesser rain. We just planted giant purple mustard this year and have not let any flower. Interesting to have self-sowed mustard and become weeds in the garden. Must be very healthy for the soil.

shaz said...

Hi again - we cook silverbeet same way as spinach (stir fry with garlic), it's more robust though, so separate stems and leaves, and cook for longer. You can also use it as a filling for pie.

Malar said...

So productive garden! I just love visisting your garden for inspiration! ahhahaha..