Spring gardening for 2013

Spring gardening a photo by margoc on Flickr.

Well, I can't recall a springy-er Spring than this one for some time - Perth is actually having a proper Spring! Lots of rain, warm days and nights, with the odd cold snap in between (well, by Perth standards at least). It's been simply lovely in fact!

So, apart from our renovations and the ongoing mess that it creates, we have still managed something of a vegie patch.

Today, Alfie wanted to plant some Beans, so we used 5 big pots (which recently housed our snow peas) to plant some Dwarf Beans and we scattered some in amongst the tomatoes and flowers (i.e. the top side of the photo here). He was quite chuffed I think.

I picked up some cheap Cosmos and Cornflower seedlings last weekend at the local nursery for some colour and insect attracting goodness. The Cosmos is already about to burst into flower.

At the same time, I found some Chocolate Capsicums, a Diggers Club variety which are small and sweet. Can't wait to try them! (Neither can Clancy who is the chocoholic in the family!).

The potted garden is looking fresh after much rain and the recent sunshine too. I've dosed up some of the larger pots like the olives, citrus and ficus with extra compost and some old sheep and cow manure. They also get a dose of worm juice too, as our worms are doing really well after being devastated following the hot Summer at at the start of the year.

And finally, Clancy's lettuce seeds have taken as well - she has a planter full of them (a mix batch) which will serve her well for her salad making adventures.

What a perfect Spring!

Spring plantings and seedlings

We had a very productive day in the garden today - the first in a little while in fact. Firstly, Alfie and I went to the gardening shop to pick up some seedlings, particularly capsicum and basil, the purple kind too. We found some nice looking yellow button squash too while we were there. After our last zucchini effort though, I'm a little sceptical about squash, but willing to give them another go.

Capsicum and purple basil seedlings.

Also got some aged manure and sugar cane mulch and dosed the garden up, including the lovely looking tomatoes that came up from the compost - I just love these sort of visitors :o)

The lemon and lime also got a dose, plus the olive trees, papaya and guava. The lime and lemon got a good prune too - both have a number of flowers as well, so here's hoping for some fruit this year - although may still be a bit young, but we will see.

Simon also made a narrow bed on the outside of our boundary (to the vacant lot behind us) and transplanted some tomatoes and put in some of the purple basil seedlings as companions. He also popped a couple of the yellow button squash in the middle just to see how they go.

Boundary garden bed with tomatoes, basil and yellow button squash.

Now all we need is to monitor for bugs and nasties, and, more importantly, water regularly!

Happy gardening!