The Neglected Garden

Sometimes life gets really hectic here - six children, homeschooling, other activities, work, animals, weather, illness, apathy... 'Life' just stands between me and my garden. I know I shouldn't let this happen, because I really, really do enjoy being in the garden, growing food, and I find it very grounding... I also love having an abundance of fresh, organic, home-grown produce!

I have only stolen moments here and there to plant some seedlings or pull/rake the largest areas of weeds or push back the sweet potato vines, cut back the Queensland arrowroot, re-route the rambling pumpkin vines, trim the Madagascar bean vines, and remove spent plants which have done their job of feeding us through winter (kale, mustard, broccoli, mizuna and Chinese cabbage) and were left to flower and spread their seeds through the garden beds.

But sure enough, when I need parsley or cherry tomatoes, leafy greens, beans, a paw paw or some rhubarb, a few stalks of celery, bits and pieces of various herbs and other basics - amongst the wild jungle inside my fenced garden and greenhouse, there they are. Food plants are surviving with no tending from us.

I wouldn't call the garden high-production right now, and I will admit that I've lost plants because I didn't harvest from them, water them or otherwise attend to them for weeks... But while I was getting on with life, my garden was getting on with growing food. Seeds sprouted, sown by previous crops when I was too busy to tidy up - rogue spinach and lettuce plants amongst the gooseberries, tomatoes, herbs and weeds, and even in the path, happy to be transplanted during a rainy afternoon.

A bit of mulch, some garden tools, and a free afternoon or two, and we'll see more space and light in the garden beds. I'll poke a few more seeds in the ground and try not to ignore the patch of earth which faithfully feeds us. And I'll express gratitude to the rain and rich soil which allow me to grow a wild and abundant food garden throughout the busy-ness of life.

Preparing for The Wet

We always seem to have a lull in the garden in Spring, which is our dry season (and often hotter than our Summer). But now it has begun to rain, so we're finishing off preparations for planting our warm season crops.

Firstly I prune, weed and cull the last of the winter plants. Some go directly into the beds to be mulched over, a lot go to the chickens and ducks, and a bit goes into my attempt at compost-making.

Next I add manure I've collected, and animal bedding material, as well as some fresh sugar cane mulch on top.


Now everything is ready to sit for awhile and be soaked by the rain. Whenever I have time I poke in plants I've propagated or bought, cuttings, seeds, tubers, sprouting things from the kitchen. I have a basket in the shed where I gather all of these things, so they're handy when I'm pottering in the garden. In Spring and Autumn I order seeds I don't have through saving my own, or the local Seed Savers Network.

And then the real rain comes. And when it's raining every day and night for weeks on end, we reap the rewards of our work - the perennial plants flourish. Asian greens, tropical tubers, and pumpkins abound. Regular European vegetables often can't withstand our wet season, so varieties need to be carefully chosen.


Whilst it's raining we also plant our trees for the year. They get a few weeks of good solid rain and thrive without much care or attention. We try to plant a variety of trees - native food and timber trees, native trees and shrubs for birds and other animals, unusual fruit trees selected for our climate and tradition fruit trees such as oranges, lemons and the like. We also try to plant vines each year - various passionfruit and choko seem to like it here. I've also planted grapes, berries, dragonfruit and other non-tree plants in the wet season.


And next we mow. And mow! But now with more gardens (less lawn) and two cows, we're hoping to mow less and dance in the rain some more...