Sunday, January 13, 2008

Holiday job

I've decided to try my hand at growing veges. A small patch was required. Where to put it? Out of the way. Vege gardens aren't the most aesthetic things. Putting in a few more steps is no big deal. Here it is.



You wouldn't want to suffer from vertigo but the view is fantastic. Hope my carrots and broccoli appreciate it (if they survive the possums.)

On the way up to the skyline vege patch is this resting spot. The cabbage trees are from the 2005 ACT conference. My contribution to the stage decoration. They have grown rather well, unlike our parliamentary representation. But 2008 is another year. And I am ever the optimist.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lindsay

We have been growing vegetables for years. They are located in what would often be flower gardens and we have a small dedicated plot. We grow so many courgettes at this time of the year that we give them away to friends. Likewise rhubarb.

I get so heartily sick of hearing about how poor people cannot afford veges so they must eat KFC at about $30 a meal for a small families when most of them have sectins large enough to provide a substantial amount of their vege requirments. We have the damned things all year round.

The trouble is that it takes effort. But when you want some fresh herbs like dill and rosemary, fresh jersey bean potatoes for tea, and you go out and cut some from the garden you realise how worth the effort it is. They taste great and are cheap.

Brian Smaller

Anonymous said...

Yep, this has been my first year with a vegetable garden: very satisfying. I've put one in because we don't have a close supermarket, so the only way for us to have fresh veges is to grow them.

But lose the damned cabbage trees: once they start dropping fronds, you'll never stop cursing them. It's the most stupid tree there is, with no practical purpose as far as I can see.

Mark Hubbard

Anonymous said...

Mark - Cabbage trees actually do have a use. You can eat the roots, stems and tops. They are starchy and require long cooking but are not bad. They weren't called cabbage trees for nothing you know.

Brian Smaller

Seamonkey Madness said...

Just make sure you take care of those nasty garden pests. My first garden this year turned up a bumper crop of lettuces (can't go wrong with them - mind the snails though!). The tomatoes aren't turning out too bad (the look a bit unruly though), but my cabbages/brocolli/cauliflowers all got taken to bits by those damn white moths and their offspring.

Make sure your pesticde/herbicide inventory is up to date.

Anonymous said...

We don't have too much trouble with pests. We have four or five almost tame hedgehogs living at our place (they eat cat food) and snails are a rarity. For some reason we don't see too many moths either. Probably blown away in the wind.

Brian Smaller

Anonymous said...

Lindsay - All that rampant undergrowth - it might need a severe brazilian. After all, you could be attracting noisy bird life and you wouldn't to be accused of your dawn chorus annoying the neighbours.

Yes, it does take time - rhubarb grows like a weed and the foxgloves looked especially pretty this year in the garden beds...

Unknown said...

Seamonkey - just dust your cabbages etc with flour and the white butterfly's will leave them alone.

homepaddock said...

"But lose the damned cabbage trees:. . . It's the most stupid tree there is, with no practical purpose as far as I can see."

I love cabbage trees (planted where the fronds don't annoy anyone) - like pukekos, they're proof nature has a sense of humour.