In the words of the great Peter Cundall (Gardening Australia guru - for those who don't know him!).... check out our new veggie garden! Although I can take no credit for its progress so far, because Joseph the gardener does all the hard work. He has built a fence (to keep the wandering goats and chickens out!), dug some manure into the garden beds, and planted some seedlings and seeds. The soil here is amazingly fertile - a dark reddish brown loamy clay - much nicer than our sandy soils at home in Perth!
So far we have got some local tomato seedlings - these seedlings have been in for two weeks - I've taken the photo next to a water bottle so you get an idea of the size! And we planted some squash, zucchini, beans and peas from seed. The seeds popped up within three days - and this little squash seedling is only one week old! He has also planted some capsicums, chillies, local eggplant (which they call garden eggs - they have white skin and grow to about the size of an egg), local corn which is whitish in colour, and okra which is another common local food. We also discovered a couple of paw paw trees which had self-seeded just at the back of the patch - they will produce fruit within six months. He is also going to plant some pineapples - you cut the spiky top off a pineapple and stick it in the ground, and it grows a new one. I'll have to put a photo of a pineapple growing, because I'd never actually seen one before!
So within a few weeks we should have more than enough veggies to keep us healthy, and I'm sure plenty more to share around with our neighbours!
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