I've gotten a bit disheartened with our veggie patch of late. My cucumber seedlings got scratched out by naughty chicken feet. My zucchini seedlings got eaten by rogue possums. My pumpkin vine shrivelled up and died. Ditto the choke vine. Ditto the corn. My chia plant still fails to produce any seeds. My two lone passionfruit are MIA. My chillies are on strike. Sigh.
Sometimes its easy to get discouraged, when all the hard work fails to pay off. Sometimes you're too tired, too hot, too hungover - there are too many weeds to pull, too many grasshoppers to battle.
But sometimes a veggie patch is still generous enough to offer up some treats, despite the fact you've wilfully neglected it for weeks on end.
The sweet potatoes were a welcome surprise in a corner that I thought I'd harvested months ago. And the lemongrass might be a bitch to pull out but it's so low maintenance it can be forgiven. And the wee butternut pumpkin was the lone survivor of a vine that could't handle the summer heat. But it was so cute it finally motivated me to get back into the patch and sow some more seeds.
Totally get your frustration over the chooks and possums. Can highly recommend bird netting to keep everything out. We are about to pick a massive burpless cucumber, some tomatoes and the corn is surviving. The carrots are manky and stunted and the lettuce has either bolted or wilted. Will post some pics soon. melx
ReplyDeleteThe sweet potatoe looks fantastic. The weather has been so odd this summer I am not surprised you are finding it hard ....so what are you going to cook with the lemon grass?
ReplyDeletewe ended up sticking the lemongrass in the vitamix with some water and blending it up into a paste, straining the clumpy bits out and then freezing it into lemongrass ice cubes to use in stir fries... the sweet potato was soo yummy
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