- Joined
- Dec 23, 2022
- Messages
- 62
- Climate
- Arid, Desert, or Dry
It certainly is enjoyable testing things out and finding what works. I use a lot of salt here as well though i collect my own. Might be worth planting under the shade of a tree and picking up a few different types of the smaller melons that have seeds. If you scrape them out and give them a bit of a wash they grow quickly when direct seeded. Sunflowers are also pretty tough and easy to grow but hard to eat. So far burdock and salsify seem to be growing ok at the moment but its my first time growing them. Silverbeets are growing fast, popcorns doing ok but corn in general is pretty fussy here. Sweet potatoes can take a while to get going but do pretty well.AH that sounds like a lovely upbringing. Where I come from we simply didn't have the space to really grow anything. We had a small pear tree, dad grew rhubarb and sometimes strawberries. I think nowadays they only have some chives growing, though they don't really ever get used. We grew up with the only spices/flavours available to be salt and pepper. It's been difficult to learn about and how to use other flavourings. I'm on a path to learn and experiment with it every opportunity I get. Honestly, I find it pretty fun to experiment. I absolutely love rosemary when I roast stale bread so it lasts longer. Such a delicious taste and fragrance.
I must admit, eating my own produce is very gratifying, so it's definitely something I would love to keep doing. Never have I had crispier, more delicious green beans before. And the family loves it too. Currently I'm a bit lost on what to grow, as it's gotten a little too hot to start new seedlings, and a lot of my young plants sadly died when I went on a holiday. I've tried starting some plants indoors or shaded, but they really do grow very stunted and often die. I can't wait for winter to come, so I can start new lettuces, beans, peas, tomatoes and more.
I find that preparing the same food in different ways also helps making them feel less repetitive. One of my most favourite food items might be potatoes. They're delicious mashed, roasted, fried and in many more ways.
I'm very interested in composting food scraps. But as I'm currently a container gardener, it doesn't feel feasible quite yet. On top of that we regularly have issues with mice and the odd possum. They're absolute scavengers. And whilst I can usually keep them out of the house, the increase in snakes around the house does pose a problem to both us and our pets. Sometimes it feels hard to find a happy middle ground. But alas, for now those are future plans. Perhaps one of those closed composters, if I ever have the money to buy one. I've heard great things about them, so who knows.
What do you use to plan your garden?
I certainly like potatoes as well, probably my favourite food but they are quite hard to grow here at least. "Garden Larder" on youtube has been working towards breeding some varieties that can survive through the Australian summer and i hope more people try to grow their own from true potato seed (TPS) so we can get some better adapted types in the future. There's always solutions to problems, most of what they're trying to sell has very little benefit, you can get pretty creative with what people throw away.
I used to spend a lot of effort and time planning things but often it only serves to delay real action so i don't worry anymore. If there's spare space what ever i have at the time i plant, mixing everything together and the plants seem a lot healthier and happier this way for the most part though there are a few species that don't like competition. I just keep planting as much as possible where ever i can to the point i forget about a lot of things only to find them later and be presently surprised by what succeeded on its own.