Spring gardening

 Spring has arrived...

Now is time to prepare the garden for the warmer weather...

I spent the day outside a couple of days ago and placed mulch on the beds.  I used lucerne hay and was lucky enough to get a couple of bales for free off my daughter as it was slightly rain damaged.  It was fine for the garden though...

I have planted two beetroot crops (we love our beetroot). The one on the right is a variegated variety which I never knew existed.  The crop could be interesting when ready as the beetroot should be different colours, ranging from whites, reds and orange...

The Brussel sprouts.  

I have noticed a small aphid infestation on one of these plants and will be dealing with that today...

Cauliflower and Kale...

Hard to see but there are Onions, Leeks and Chives are in this bed. They have been very slow to grow this year, probably because the soil is too cold...

A closer look...

 This crop of broccoli is just about finished...

I have since planted some new seedlings in this plot.

 Freshly planted old fashioned lettuce...

Mixed crop of silverbeet, celery, and hiding in there somewhere are onions and leeks...

 Beds in waiting...

I have purchased some more seedlings, and will wait just a bit longer before planting out.  These include cucumber, zucchini and dwarf beans.

The temperature is set to rise to 30C (86F) on Tuesday, so it wont be long and the last of the frosts will be gone.  The last two nights have been cold and frosty, but the days are filled with beautiful sunshine...

In this plot there are capsicum plants from last year waiting to shoot out fresh leaves, potatoes, spring onions, and a couple of small strawberry plants.  The bed at the back has carrots still growing and in the spaces I have sown some more carrot seeds.  They are just starting to germinate.

The smaller bed has self seeded bok choy growing in it, but this never grows properly here, just goes straight to seed for some reason.  The bigger bed has beetroot, broccoli and spring onions.

My new place of rest while gardening.  Hubby surprised me with another gift :) 

 It should be nice sitting out there watching the veggies grow...

And here is my poor sweet potato. It has barely survived the frosts, but with a bit of sunshine it is shooting back...so fingers crossed that it will be okay :)

 What is hubby up to now?

 He is trying his hand at grafting. He has taken some fresh cuttings from our orange tree and put onto the healthy grapefruit tree...

Now we wait to see if it is successful...

This weekend is supposed to be lovely weather-wise with temperatures of 24C (75.2F) and 25C (77F), so I will be spending my time pottering around outside...

What are you up to this weekend?

xTania