The joy of an unexpected harvest

A few months ago Nick and I (well, mostly Nick…) put up a cage (yes, as my regular readers have now guessed - to keep our nemesis possum out) around an old garden bed along the fence next to our driveway. We planted a number of seedlings in the soil, but didn’t have the resources to enrich it very well, so we were sceptical as to how well the plants would do.

Well, a few of them died, but our beans did really well, as did the mung bean plants I’ve mentioned earlier, so we got some harvest from it. Since that harvest, I’ve kinda ignored that garden and focussed on my pots.

However, this morning I was out there, admiring the parsley that has not only survived, but thrived…

…and I actually had a good look at the bean plants I thought were finished with. I was wrong!! Down low, the plants had come back to life, and I managed to gather myself a most lovely and unexpected harvest:

I was so excited by this wonderful surprise. I guess it just goes to show how resourceful plants are. We can learn all about the proper soil composition and nutrients for each type of plant, all about companion planting and crop rotation… but sometimes it’s humbling to be shown such an example of the resilience of plants. They’ve been doing what they do for thousands of years before we started cultivating them, it I guess it’s a good lesson: that we don’t grow plants - they grow themselves. The most we can do is just help them along.

Has anyone else out there had the pleasure of an unexpected harvest? I’m sure I’m not the only one…

Joining the blog roll

Well, I just joined Technorati. Here’s my Technorati Profile.
It tells me I have to write a post with the above link to make it all happen…

Capsicum Crankiness

I came home today only to find that my lovely capsicums - one of which had just started to turn red - had been eaten. Gone! The growing tips of the plants have also been broken off.

I am feeling very cranky about this - partially with myself because I forgot to spray them - but they had been sitting out the front undisturbed for weeks!

So, now, my lovely little capsicum that I had been watching grow for months - it would have been my first home-grown one - is gone

Spraying for freedom… the natural way.

My previous attempt at using a spray to deter our resident possums was reasonably successful. They didn’t eat the sacrificial plants, though there was a pot knocked off a chair, which suggested they were wandering around the plants a bit.

However, we were using a commercial, non-organic spray, which I didn’t like very much at all. So, after all the rain that would have washed away the last spray, I decided on a new approach. My dad, surprisingly, was the one who gave my my latest solution - vinegar. Now, I like this because it’s cheap, not harmful to the environment, and I don’t have to muck around with preparation like I would with a chilli or garlic spray.

So, I loaded the day-glo pink spray bottle up, and went to work. That was a few days ago now, and so far (cross your fingers for me!) there has been nada possum action.

Let’s hope this trend continues!