With the changing seasons, and heading from autumn straight into winter, my garden has seen an explosion of growth. Living in a region of the world where we have growing seasons right through the year, I expected nothing less from the garden. But I am also so happy with the seedlings that managed to survive the strange weather patterns.
Even though it is supposed to be winter, it sometimes feels more like autumn, even spring! Warm days interspersed with wet winter days, nature surely has to deal with a lot. Even some of my trees that drop their leaves in winter are trying to grow new spring buds, and it is not even the full middle of winter yet! (I really hope they make it through the cold winter but I have my doubts...)
At the bottom of the post, I share an image of the wet and wintery day we have today. If this is not soup weather, I do not know what is.
As I have written so many times in these garden updates, I am always torn in the winter months because the most beautiful, sweet, and luscious salad greens are growing (see the chickweed and rocket below). But the winter is cold and I much prefer stews and soups over cold salads. Such is life.
But after sowing some rocket seeds at the end of summer, 50 or so days ago, I expected them to grow well. They are doing so well. But the wild rocket did not take, I expect that there is not enough sun hitting these flowerpots. But the chickweed took over, even in the pots I am using to grow other plants! But I really appreciate this abundance.
At almost the same time that I planted the rocket seeds, we experienced some of the worst wind storms. As a result, the beautiful cape gooseberries that I tried to grow did not survive in the slightest.
But after about 2 or so months, they are looking even better. But the winds are picking up again, and I wonder if they will survive this time around.
I really hope so, because if you have ever had cape gooseberries, you know just how delicious they are. Even the birds and squirrels think so! It has been a couple of years since I tried growing them, and each year there are surprises waiting for me around the corner. The one year, the squirrels took all of my fruits. The year after that, strange bugs ate the leaves of most of my plants. And now this year, the wind totally destroyed my crop. May the fourth time work out!
Along with the excellent growth of the gooseberries, the salad rocket, and the chickweed, the raised garden bed that I built last week, and decorated with succulents, is in full growing mode! Most of the rocket seedlings, both the salad rocket and the wild rocket seedlings are sticking their heads through the ground! Due to the cold, it took a bit longer than I expected, but they managed to do it. The succulents are also well and growing. Or at least none of them are showing signs of perishing yet...
As I finished building the raised bed, it looked very barren and sad, I transplanted some of the other plants from other parts of my garden. Various Swiss chard plants and garlic chives have been growing in another bed, which never gets enough sun in the winter. So, I pulled them from the ground in the hope that the transplant would work...
And after a week or so, they look like they are growing. The garlic chives (below-left) have been growing quite well, but they also have a massive root ball (almost looking like small onions at this stage). So, I really hope the growth is due to the roots establishing itself.
The Swiss chard (below-right) is also standing upright, only one or two plants did not make it. But this is also too soon to tell, as these plants also have some massive rootballs. I hope that they take as well!
None of the other seeds have sprouted yet. I am crossing my fingers that some of the other seedlings will show their heads soon, otherwise, I will be fearing the worst.
Elsewhere in the garden, non-food related, I also did some work before the rains stopped me. I am not a 100% sure what this plant is called, but I know it is not indigenous. But it really grows well in the area and it is so easy to propagate it. I merely take a piece of new growth, stick it in the ground, and it grows into these beautiful large shrubs!
I took the opportunity to do just this, as I needed to cut some of them back - they are really prolific growers. Below, on the far left, I stuck some in the ground yesterday. The middle photograph is some new ones that established themselves after around 1-2 months of growth. They are still small but they have already established nice root structures - if I lightly pull on them, they do not give much. And on the far right, you can see just how big these shrubs will grow when you leave them to it!
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Alas, nature will grow if you leave her to it! And grow she will. I am at the stage where I merely need to cut back so that te plants will not grow my pathways closed. But the compost surely loves this, as I regularly add new material to it.
I hope that your garden treats you well, and that the winter/summer will be a good time for you. Here, as you can see below, it is overcast, every now and then raining, and cold winds coming through. But winter means stews and soups, which is a win in my books.
For now, happy gardening, and keep well.
All of the writings and musings in this post are my own. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.