Now that Spring has arrived, Paul and I have started working on our plans for a neglected corner of our garden. I already have some potted herbs growing here which are slowly starting to come along. I've chosen herbs which I use frequently and I was happy to see in a magazine article written by Jamie Oliver which I was recently reading, all of the herbs he suggested as 'essentials' were ones I have chosen. Currently I have parsley, mint, chives, thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary, coriander and sage. I also planted some marigolds nearby as these are meant to repel insect pests.
As far as a vegetable garden is concerned, I have long wanted to get one established in our backyard. After seeing a sustainable living exhibition at the Perth Royal Show recently, we have finally been inspired to put our plans into action. On Saturday, we went and bought a corrugated iron raised planter which is now in position and filled with nice rich soil. After I dig some manure into it this afternoon, I'm all set to start planting my vegetables this coming weekend.
Do any of you have a vegetable patch at your place or have any suggestions for some good seedlings to start off with?
I've got a tiny garden Amanda but I always try to make some room for herbs and a few veggies. A friend of mine has one of those corrugated iron planters...they look fantastic and she's got a great crop of all sorts of things growing in hers. You'll have to plant tomatoes to go with your basil :)
ReplyDeleteTomato, basil and bocconcini salad is one of my favourite salads for the warmer weather :)
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky to enter into Spring! I'm happy to see your nice australian flowers!!
ReplyDeleteGood on you Amanda! Your herb garden looks fabulous!! We do have herbs and a vegie garden, the girls love it as they are in charge of looking after it:) We have had lots of success with shallots, tomatoes, sweet corn, snow peas and beans. Our cucumbers, capsicums and carrots didn't grow. You will love being able to eat your own produce:) Good on you lovely. I can't wait to see all of the wonderful dishes you create with your own vegies and herbs:) Hugs ~ Tina xx
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your vegetable garden Amanda - there's nothing better than eating meals cooked from produce you've grown yourself. I don't have my own garden yet but I get most of my veg from my in-laws garden. Eveything tastes so much better than supermarket bought veg.
ReplyDeleteHey Amanda! Thanks for stopping by my blog, I have finally had a chance to drop in and have a proper look at yours :) The little herb garden looks great, good idea to have them in pots too so that you can move them around if need be. THis is the first season we have grown anything succesfully and it fels great! Mint is awesome because it is really hardy and lemon balm and pineapple sage (smells relaly yum!) WE have had great luck with schallots as well and snowpeas and we have dozens of strawberry flowers at the moment. Great time to get into the garden.
ReplyDeleteWow your herb garden looks beautiful! like it acutally looks really attractive! And I never knew that Marigolds keep pests away, we'll have to get osome too.
ReplyDeleteYou have inspired me to blog about our vegie garden (which is not as attractive as yours).
We have all the same herbs as you except for the sage. We also have Shallots, chilli, lettuce, spinach leaves, rubarb, and a bay leaf tree.
We have a compost bin as well which is so good for vegie scraps, do you have one?
I'll look forward to seeing your vegie garden take shape, make sure you blog about it along the way. I love having fresh herbs and lettuce from the garden, its so nice and saves so much money when you don't have to go and buy a bunch of herbs for $3 just to chuck half of it away when it dies.
Hugs to you my dear,
Jxx
It's so nice to have your own herbs to just go out into the garden and cut rather than buying them and not using them all up like has happened to me lots of times. If I was to pick some good seedlings to grow I would say tomatoes, lettuce, beans and cucumber. I've been pretty lucky with all of these. Have fun gardening on the weekend! I can't wait to see your new vegetable garden:) xo
ReplyDeleteNothing beats being able to pop out into your own backyard to get fresh ingredients for your recipes... love it! x
ReplyDeleteWe're going to attempt a vegetable garden in the spring too. Us being on opposite season schedules throws me off every time.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh... are you kidding? Amazing! Seriously. So lovely! xo
ReplyDeleteThat's very exciting Amanda. I am definitely going to email you this week and have been thinking about what vegies would be good for your new patch. Tomatoes, beans, peas are a good start. Your herbs are looing much better than mine xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely little space ... we love fresh herbs also (makes a meal i think) and so nice for Grace to smell and touch all of these nice organic herbs. Have Fun with it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a killer collection of herbs, be sure to use the mint for some summer mojitos cocktails! I'm sure you'll have just as much luck with the veggie patch. Nice work :)
ReplyDeleteI think this must be so exciting Amanda, I would love one of those planters! It will be wonderful over summer, fresh salad leaves toms and I'd love to grow zuchinis mostly to have the flowers to cook with! I have some herbs in pots but no ground space sadly, I think I'll try growing potted toms soon when it gets warmer. Have fun with it I look forward to seeing it!
ReplyDeleteHey Amanda just wanted to let oyu know that I tagged you in a game of 'get to know you' so if you want to have a go just pop over and have alook at what you have to do. Its easy and Id love to get to know a bit more about you :) Have a lovely weekend!
ReplyDeleteGood selection, I planted mine last week, too!! We use the parsley pretty much daily, and if ever my basil would grow... I'd use that every day too! We also have thyme and lemon thyme, mint and peppermint, sage, tomatoes, chives, dill, oregano, rosemary, rocket, baby spinach, a couple of different lettuces -- goodness my list is longer than I thought!! Love love eating from my own garden, only wish I had more space to plant a whole vegie patch! Have a great weekend, my love!!
ReplyDeleteSo jealous. We are now Autumn and it is a tad sucky! Way too much rain! Thanks for hopping over. Look forward to following your adventures. xx
ReplyDeleteYou're certainly off to a good start! You definitely picked a good selection of herbs. Let me know how you go with the coriander, I've never had any luck with it... maybe it's just too hot here.
ReplyDeleteI've always had a lot of joy with mint, parsley, chives, asparagus, tomatoes, eggplant, lettuces, thyme, marjoram and oregano, snow peas, bok choy and pak choy, and capsicum. I've been told asparagus can take up to three years to get going, but it's always popped up in the first season, both times I've planted it, so it must be well suited to the climate here.
Have fun! It's wonderful growing your own food :)
I'm not much a gardner these days but I love the idea of a herb garden. I like the idea of being able to pick fresh herbs from my garden. Good luck with your herb garden:)
ReplyDeleteAmanda we have planted some Marigold seedlings to ward off those little bugs too! I hope it works. The kiddies have enjoyed planting a few herbs and beans these last few weeks. They love seeing the first shoots come up from the soil. Im not at all skilled with these things but we have been enjoying the activity non the less, learnng as we go. good luck with your veg patch. Let us know how you go!
ReplyDeleteI planted a whole bundle of different vegies on Saturday and was so happy when it unexpectedly rained that night so fingers crossed something takes!
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda I'm a Perth girl too and have to say gardening here is a challenge but if I could I would definitely grow my vegies in one of those raised planters. Hint: don't plant mint in the garden, always grow in a pot as it can take over. Tomatoes both normal and cherry are my number one vegie to grow, kids love to pick the little cherries off the vine and eat them. They taste soooo much better than the store ones and plant them with marigolds and basil for pest repelling....love to be organic. I bought Maggie's Kitchen Garden Companion which even though it was designed for kids/schools I find it has so much info on all aspects of vegie gardening including pest control in the organic way.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and good luck in the vegie patch.