It's a time of transition in the backyard, aka "Veggie World," here at Struan Farm.
Vampires be forewarned: the garlic is going in shortly, along with the shallots. I've harvested most of the Torpedo beets to make way for the garlic, and fertilised the bed with sheep manure, blood & bone, compost, and lime. At the end of the week I will be planting out "Printanor," "Russian Red" and "White Southern Softneck" garlics. I was able to get "Printanor" from Country Trading online (see it's also available at Mitre 10), while the other two I purchased from a seller at Nelson Market during my recent visit.
Once the rest of this bed is cleaned out I'll do the same sort of prep for the shallots. The only other veggies growing away at the moment are a few different varieties of beets, beetroot, broad beans and some remaining Italian parsley, which will start to get slimy and require removal at some stage.
I planted out seedling kale and silverbeet/swiss chard in one of the beds, but those have been attacked either by bunnies, who are reappearing on the scene, or snails/slugs. Either way I'm not inclined to want to do battle with them over winter since it seems that I too, need a wee rest. So the kale and silverbeet may very well be history. My only problem is that I really don't like having to buy veggies from the grocery store any more, there's no comparison with the freshness and convenience of home grown!
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