What's going on in your garden (2024)?

[Rocklobster]

Yummy! I prefer butternut to other squashes; they seem to have a bit more intense flavour.

I agree. They are very easy to prepare. I usually just cut them up in wedges, skin still on, and then roast them with a bit of butter and brown sugar brushed on top. Couldn’t be easier and any more delicious with almost any type of meal.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Oops! I think I’ll need some Butternut squash recipes. That's about 1/3 of them. More to come. Not sure why but I made four hills for various cucurbit veggies. This one outperformed the other ones by a long shot. Good thing because they last well into the winter. Always handy for a dinner veg if I don't want to stop at the grocery store on my way home from work.

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I've still got several butternut squash from last season (so harvested in my autumn around March). We're starting into spring weather wise here.

I'd love to know your growing tips.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I agree. They are very easy to prepare. I usually just cut them up in wedges, skin still on, and then roast them with a bit of butter and brown sugar brushed on top. Couldn’t be easier and any more delicious with almost any type of meal.

I've a great soup recipe that's brilliant for butternut squash if you like sweet potato and sweetcorn. It's very simple but excellent in taste. In fact it's on my menu this week to use another of our butternut squashes from last autumn

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

Wasn't Butternut Squash a "Challenge" once?
I love Butternut, I found two bags of the stuff already cubed and roasted, needed to make something ...

 

[karadekoolaid]

I just bought 7.5 mts of wire mesh. I'm going to (try to) put it around my kitchen garden tomorrow, because Mr Porky thinks this area is for him to dig holes in and then lie down on it for a kip.
Only 2/12 lettuces left and a huge fat dent in the middle.
I did notice, much to my surprise, that the Ancho chile seeds I tossed on their a week or so ago have sprouted. Whoopee, I may get some Poblano chiles growing in a month or so!

 

[Herbaceous]

I’m hoping to return to growing squashes soon - they did well in my garden for several years, but now I’m having issues with them. The female flowers appear, and then wither away and die so I never get any fruit. It’s not a pollination issue - they wither before the flowers even open. I tried forcing a few opem and hand-pollinating (an interesting thing to attempt when the female flower parts aren’t even fully developed yet) but still no dice.

I’ve not grown squashes for the past few years, and I’m solarizing the soil this year in the hopes that the fungal disease I suspect is growing in there will be killed.

In any case - my tomatoes are ripening!

 

[badjak]

I'm harvesting tomatillo's, yard long beans and several leafy veg at the moment.
Butternut, tomato & egg plant still need some time.
Limes & orange have flowered, so fingers crossed.
Ginger doesn't seem to die back this year. I'm wondering if I should keep them going or if I should harvest anyway

 

[karadekoolaid]

Ginger doesn't seem to die back this year. I'm wondering if I should keep them going or if I should harvest anyway

Ginger is very hardy. I only harvest mine when I've run out. The flowers grow, the leaves turn yellow and die, and then the ginger just carries on.
I've now got jalapeños, bell peppers, Thai chiles, lemongrass, ginger, rocket, basil, lettuce and poblano (or maybe guajillo?) chiles growing in my little kitchen garden, but Mr Porky decided he was going on an archaeological dig yesterday and scraped out half the seedlings. That meant putting a wire fence around the area. Hmmm. Not really what I wanted, but not doing it would mean losing the plants!

 

[Rocklobster]

Hello, Chief? This is Max!

 

[Rocklobster]

A doubler!

 

[karadekoolaid]

Not really what I wanted, but not doing it would mean losing the plants!

Must be going senile, answering my own posts, but I hadn't got the photos before. As you can see, it's a tiny space, maybe 3 mts2, but it's where I've got my herbs, etc.
On the left, there's purple basil, ginger and a Peruvian herb called huacatay. In the middle, my rocket plants ( which still need to grow a bit more ) and, to their left, some bell peppers. A little further back , lemongrass and some chiles . They may be jalapeños, or Thai chiles, or yellow chiles - no idea, because they just grew. In the background there are some rattan palms, which provide a bit of shade,
In this second picture, you might be able to detect a huge empty space which, until yesterday afternoon, was full of seedlings, baby lettuce, etc. Mr Porky sneaked in for an archaeological dig just before I could get the fencing up...

 

[badjak]

My djeruk purut/makrut/kaffir lime is flowering for the first time

 

[Timenspace]

There was some rain and very welcome 4c decrease in temp. Perhaps one of these days I could finish up weeding the flower bed in front of our app building...perhaps...

 

[Lullabelle]

At 6am the rain was hammering down, a dull grey start to the day, the past few hours hot and sunny so I weeded the front garden before the rain returns later.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I had an easy day in the garden today. Clearing up the rubbish left over from pruning the platanillos yesterday, then re-potting some lettuce, Thai chiles and bromeliads. About 1.30pm, I said to myself: "Ok, that's it for today."
5 minutes later, the heavens opened. Great, because it meant I didn't have to water the plants.
Here's the result of cleaning up:

The platanillos are the tall plants at the back. To the right of your picture, Raffia palms. In front, various bromeliads