Blogging is an important part of how I learn. The process of sharing information in posts helps me reflect deeper, document information I want to refer back to and provide a mechanism for others to provide input into aspects I hadn’t considered.
It’s also important to blog about what you’re passionate about , and what interests you.
The purpose of this post is to reflect on my veggie patch progress. While the topic mightn’t necessarily be of interest — you might find it helpful to observe how someone like me uses blogging for learning and why it is important to encourage students to not only blog for school but allow them to blog about their passions. It might also help those the develop school vegetable gardens with students.
Background
Mid last year we decided to help improve our diet, and the variety of what we eat, we would have a new rule for home cooked meals — each meal had to be different. Isn’t necessarily the easiest of rules but has been achievable by working through recipe books by well known chiefs. For those wondering my favorite is Curtis Stone’s What’s for Dinner.
Fresh herbs are an important part of many of these recipe. Buying weekly fresh herbs isn’t cheap and I was frustrated by the wastage when they weren’t all used. This inspired me to work on my gardening skills at the same time as improving cooking skills.
I don’t necessarily have the greenest thumb. Our climate is temperate – warm summers with low humidity and cool winter with average annual lowest temperature of 5 C (41 F) which helps but our soil is sandy which isn’t the best for growing veggies. It’s been trial and error; and I’ve been experimenting with a range of herbs and vegetables.
Gardening Frustrations
Trial and error is very frustrating.
My local store is always stocked with an extensive range of herb and vegetable seedlings. I regularly purchase seedlings I hadn’t intended to buy (they call me!) that are either hard to grow, don’t suit our soil conditions or it isn’t the right season for planting in our garden.
Apparently it’s a common problem and the best ways to avoid it is to have a list of what you want to buy before going plant shopping.
To solve the problem I’ve developed my own planting guide for Perth based on recommendations by other local home gardeners and Gardenate. Belle’s Vegetable Garden shares great insights into their gardening. Their humor makes me laugh! Silverbeet – Good to grow if you like to eat it. Personally I think it is like eating dirt …
| Plant | Plant in Garden |
| Celery | Nov, Dec |
| Coriander | Sept, Oct, Nov |
| Basil | Oct, Nov, Dec |
| Chilli | Sept, Oct, Nov |
| Chives | Any month except June, July, August |
| Curry Plant | Oct |
| Dill | Sept, Oct |
| Oregano | Any month except June, July, August |
| Parsley | Any month except June, July, August |
| Radish | All months |
| Silver Beet | Any month except June, July, August |
| Spring Onions | Sept, Oct, Nov |
| Thyme | Oct, Nov |
| Tomato (Cherry) | Oct, Nov, Dec |
| Zucchini | Nov, Dec |
| Mulching Garden bed | Add Straw mulch late spring (November) |
I haven’t included lemon tree, lime tree, mint, sage, tarragon in the planting guide as these shouldn’t need regular replanting. Oregano and thyme don’t need regular replanting but have been included because both herbs have suffered from hubby turning off watering system.
My Herb Garden
My herb garden is fairly small but includes all the herbs I need for cooking (except not all herbs are available year long). I occasionally plant some vegetables among my herbs in the hope they may grow.
I also have a separate garden bed with a lemon tree and a lime tree as well as three rectangular small planters with a mixture of herbs and some veggies.
Below is a summary of the different herbs (and some veggies) I grow with links to recipes I enjoy cooking.
Basil
Basil is an annual plant that doesn’t like colder weather. It should be planted once the night time temperature is above 10 C (which could be any time from late August to October in Perth). It’ll continue to grow through until about mid May (unless your husband turns off the watering system and upsets the plants!).
Basil flowers during summer and the flower spikes should be regularly pruned to encourage bushiness.
Basil is easy to grow with a wide variety of basil to choose from. I have three varieties of basil: sweet basil; Greek Basil and purple basil. I confess I haven’t always been the greatest fan of eating basil but it has grown on me. Haven’t been game enough yet to try my purple or Greek basil and they are on my to do list.
My other ‘to do’ is to look at preserving fresh basil as I produce more fresh basil in the growing season than we eat.
Recipes:
- Pesto glazed chicken breast with spaghetti
- Orecchiette with Brown Butter, Broccoli, Pine Nuts, and Basil (I add chicken as well).
Chilli
Chilli are fairly easy to grow. My biggest challenge is finding the right chilli varieties to grow! Chilli’s I grew a few years ago were so hot only my friend could eat them.
Fortunately chilli seedlings now includes a chilli hottest rating to help with selection.
This summer I grew Chilli mild and Chilli Jalapeno. Both produced chilli that were too mild for what I needed. Next planting season I’m going to try some slightly hotter chilli varieties.
Chilli heat vary considerably even when they look the same. A handy tip for working out the chilli heat is to cut the chilli in half, run your finger along the inside of the chilli, then rub it on your bottom lip. If you feel nothing it is very mild. Slight tingle means it is mild and you’ll know if it is hot. Following this technique when using Chilli in a recipe helps ensure you get the desired amount of heat (or mildness).
Recipes:
Chives
Chives are perennial and easy to grow. They die down in winter and return again in spring.
To harvest you should snip close to the ground rather than snipping ends of shoots otherwise stalks become tough.
Recipes:
- Matt Preston’s Potato Salad (this is our favorite potato salad recipe).
Coriander
Coriander grows best during cooler months. My coriander grew well during winter and spring but went to seed as it warmed up.
Pushing boundaries I planted two new advanced Coriander Slowbolt seedlings in summer. Slowbolt is a fast growing but slow bolting variety of coriander (i.e. bolting = goes to seed). Both plants are growing slowly and so far haven’t gone to seed.
Coriander and flat leaf parsley look very similar; it’s a good idea to keep them separate.
Recipes:
Lemon
Lemon is the most common ingredient I use weekly and I can use up to 7 lemons per week which can cost about $7 per week. We had an advanced lemon tree planted last November.
It’s already bearing fruit however I’ve discovered lemons gradually mature and it can take up to 9 months for lemons to change from green to yellow.
Apparently patience is a virtue. Hopefully both my lemon and lime trees will eventually bear fruit.
Recipes:
Mint
Mint is incredibly easy to grow. Once planted it keeps propagating and can take over the garden as it is very invasive. I learnt the hard way years ago that the best option is to plant mint in pots otherwise you end up spending a lot of time pulling it out.
It dies off in winter and comes back in spring.
Recipes:
Oregano
Oregano is a small perennial shrub that grows to 30 cm and produces white flowers in late summer.
My oregano hasn’t fully forgiven me for that time I didn’t realize the sprinkler wasn’t working. Need to do some more trimming to remove damaged leaves.
Recipes:
- Grilled lemon oregano lamb chops with rustic bread salad.
- Matt Preston’s Chicken with oregano, lemon and garlic.
Parsley
I have both curley leaf parsley and flat leaf parsley (Italian parsley). Flat leaf parsley is used more in recipes because it is considered to have a more robust flavor while curley leaf parsley is more associated with decorating.
Parsley is one of the easiest herbs to grow.
My first batch of flat leaf parsley grew well over winter but went to seed early and had to be replaced. Should have lasted 1 to 2 years.
I replaced with a range of different sized seedling batches but planted them when it was hot (they survived!).
Parsley doesn’t like being transplanted and are more temperamental if you plant seedlings during periods of warm weather (oops).
Recipes:
Rosemary
Rosemary is one of the few plants that is Sue proof! Easiest herb to grow. Great for flavoring meat and roast veggies.
Perennial herb that produces spikes of lavender blue flowers from early August to October and should be pruned after flowering to maintain a dense shape.
My rosemary is a bit yellow and probably needs fertilizers. Checking my soil pH is on my to-do list.
Recipes:
Sage
Sage is a tough perennial that has so far survived me (and the hubby factor). There are several different varieties of Sage.
I have the common sage which has velvety, grey-green leaves, grows to 75 cm and produces pink flowers in spring.
Tarragon French
French tarragon is the most popular variety of tarragon because it has the peppery tarragon taste. It needs to be propagated from cuttings as it really ever flowers.
It has thin grey green leaves on a sprawling bush that dies down in winter and returns again in spring.
Recipes:
Thyme
Thyme is a perennial that grows to about 30 cm and produces pretty flowers in summer.
It is the most flavorsome when in flower.
Recipes:
Tomato
I’ve had varying success with tomato plants! Bellie’s veggie garden reports the same issue. They’ve been successful with cherry tomatoes but struggled with larger tomato varieties.
I’ve accepted defeat and next planting season I’m planting cherry tomatoes. Proof it is in the best interest of the tomato plants.
Recipes:
Your tips?
Share your thoughts in the comments below! What else should I consider growing?
Still trying to work out how often I need to fertilize and what to use. What is your advice?
I’ve also had a look at some of the gardening apps. Do you use or recommend any?
And always looking for new recipes to try! Feel free to share links to your favorite recipes.
Sue Waters 
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