Midwinter

Now it's midwinter here in Sydney, and a fair bit has changed. It never gets very wintry here. The maximum today should be around 18-20°C, overnight minimum around 9-10°C, so there's plenty of warmth for growing things.

Pictured here, the old black recycling bin which contained the kang kong is now a green bin, it's on the left, and it has new plantings of eschallot bulbs. One bulb sprouted almost immediately after planting in May, but all the rest have dawdled almost to the point that I thought they weren't going to ever appear. But just a day or two ago, in late June, little green shoots appeared here and there, and so they're underway.

Front left is a sea of Iceland poppy plants almost ready to bloom. Right now, a single yellow poppy flower has appeared, but I'm hoping for a completely different scene in a week or two from now. When they're up an in full bloom, I have a few notes to add about growing poppies. This whole patch cost me just $5 to grow.

Next to the poppies, near the path, garlic bulbs have sprouted nicely, and next to them some lettuce and curly parsley are nearing the end of their careers.

All the 'winter' crops of Chinese cabbage, baby beetroot, mustard spinach, turnips and spinach have been harvested and enjoyed already. Everything grew like crazy in our warm autumn this year. That bed, in the centre left, is currently prepared and waiting for seed potatoes, which came in by mail-order last week, to sprout shoots prior to planting.

On the rear left, the snow peas on the bamboo trellis are still bearing sporadic crops, which we harvest by the handful. The broad beans have grown and flowered well, but so far no pods have formed. Elsewhere, newly planted carrots, parsnips, broccoli (on the left) and Brussels sprouts (rear right) are all doing really well, although midwinter is the least sunny time of year for my generally quite sunny backyard, and I expect that now the winter solstice has passed, the rate of growth will increase with the improving hours of sunshine.

And so that's a four-post introductory summary of where this garden is at right now. From now on I think I'll be posting about individual plants and other smaller-scale topics, as they come to light.