how does my garden grow...

It's about time for a long overdue garden update of what is season two for the Red Delicious venture into gardening and growing ones own veggies.  Well...a month has passed (or there abouts) since I last posted about my garden (just realised that was on Facebook not here!) and it has been a month full of gardening woos for me.  In summary I would say the last month has been the war of the snails.  I'd come home full of anticipation and excitement with my new baby veggie plants and lovingly replant them in my garden, give them a bit of water, a bit of gentle conversation and leave them to grow for the night.  Next day I would check on my little babies horrified to discover that all that was left was what one could only describe as a plant nub!

Now I just want it known that I really tried to warn them, I sprinkled those sharp little egg shells everywhere round the garden, I mean they should have received the message loud and clear that the Red Delicious gardens were back in full spring swing and their presence was not welcome.  But no....I replanted the courgettes three bloody times!!!  That is some flipping expensive snail food I was buying each week with the groceries.  So I'm sorry to tell you I just had to resort to snail bait which I must admit made me a little sad, but then I looked at my baby veggie plant nubs and sprinkled that stuff everywhere with reckless abandon and no guilt!  I would much rather that they just heeded the egg shell warning but I'm afraid that the consequences of their non-compliance was death!!  The garden did indeed become a snail graveyard for a good week but now fear reigns over the snail kingdom in our garden and we have won the war.

So snails in line and the garden now a blanket of egg shells (just in case!) my little veggies are finally starting to grow and I still get so much joy from watching them.  In the back garden I have a rhubarb, two courgettes, two baby belle capsicums (one was ravaged by the snails but has made a miraculous comeback), a cucumber, spring onions and a sea of spinach.  In the pots on the deck the cherry tomato plants have taken off and are doing really well and this year I went for two different types so will be really interesting to see how they compare.  The replanted strawberries that my Mum gave me are doing really well and so far we have had two delicious strawberries from them and lots more growing all the time.  And the self seeded lettuces that I replanted into pots for the deck are producing plentifully and we haven't had to buy lettuce for a few weeks now.  Most of the herbs are ticking along nicely, the basil, oregano and thyme are doing well and I have the ingredients in the cupboard to finally make my first ever pesto.  The rosemary is finally starting to grow a full year after I first planted it but sadly my mint looks sicker every day so I'm thinking I need to buy a new one and start again.  'Mint is easy' they said, 'it will grow like a weed' they said...well apparently not for me...do I give off anti-mint vibes?!

And that my friends is how my garden grows so far in season two of this beginner's venture into gardening.

Take care and till then