December Growth

What happened to our garden while we were away for 3 weeks:

Sprawl!!!

Tomatoes went berserk (which is a good thing).  We failed to anticipate the speed at which they would grow, so we didn't stake them properly.  And now they are doing their own thing...  Hopefully the little basil and oregano plants (in there somewhere) will get enough sunshine!

Spinach are growing into giants, beet is almost ready, parsely is rampant, nasturtiums need a bit of a cull...onions, garlic chives and radish doing well; just got to keep an eye on the cucumbers.

Rocket is up, marjoram and rosemary slips are growing well, as is the new cycle of spinach, and the wild flowers are still having no trouble seeding themselves

Coriander to left, squashes starting to creep and crawl... lavender slips coming along finally...

Mung beans are very slow growing things...but the climbing beans are reaching for the sky!  And nothing can stop the nasturtiums, it seems

Coriander, beans and squash shooting up and out!  Rosemary slips taking off, and sage growing steadily and surely

Our second cycle root bed has astounded us the most: beet, radish, coriander and lemongrass are already, well, ready!  The carrots seem to be happy, as well as the second round of chives, parsely and wild flowers.  Interestingly enough NONE of the marigold seed we've sown has come up yet.  Both Starke Ayres and Mayfair varieties have failed us.  Moral of the story: heirloom is best!

"Head gardener" Steph's little patch on the north side is growing too, though it's not in full sun like the rest of the garden so it is growing a little slower...

...but she's already harvested a full stack of bush beans!!

We have a new member in our garden, Mr. Woo a.k.a. Cous-Cous, a little stray that the ladies have been feeding...well, he's hung around and now he's a regular on the garden wall and in between the greens...

All in all the garden is looking wild and lush.  There is also, of course, plenty of wild 'weed' growth, including the ferocious grasses that have sprouted after the rains, to feed the new compost heap...

Two climbing beans in a pot plus some rocket, and parsely with an onion in the middle outside our front door

To the left, four yoghurt pots with a second variety of tomato - kept separate from the variety growing down in the garden to prevent cross-pollination - next to our little spekboom and portulaca plants, also outside our front door

Stay tuned!!