Patience ~ More than once in my life I’ve been told I’m impatient and if I’m honest, sometimes it’s true and I’m very impatient, all depending on what the situation is though of course. If I’m waiting for family to get ready to go out and they’re dragging their feet then yep I can get impatient. If I’m waiting on Australia Post for a delivery for the business then absolutely yes I can be very impatient. But when it comes to gardening, this is one area of my life where I’m quite happy to be patient and thank goodness I am.

Remember a few weeks back I was talking about the fancy heirloom purple sprouting broccoli that after 4 months still hadn’t produced any heads? Well last weekend I made the executive decision to pull all five broccoli plants out of the beds as they were taking up all the room and I was going to miss getting my spring veggies in the ground if I didn’t act soon. This was not an easy decision as 5 months is along time to wait for veggies and have no results and I was very disappointed that I didn’t get to try my beautiful purple broccoli.

So after deliberating and having a bite of lunch I decided to do one last check of each plant just to make sure there were in fact no heads forming as I’d hate to rip out a plant and then see a broccoli head. I really wasn’t expecting to find anything but upon inspecting the very first plant and brushing aside broccoli leaves a meter long, I looked into the centre of the plant and bam! there it was, a tiny purple head of broccoli. Needless to say I literally jumped up and down with joy and yelped woohoo! My husband looked at me like I was crazy as I was frantically asking where my phone was so I could take a picture to share with Lesley from my gardening group on Facebook as I knew she would totally get my excitement.

After recovering from my excitement I left this broccoli plant exactly where it was and proceeded to check the rest of the plants which as I suspected, none had heads forming but one looked like it was very close so I left that one in the other raised bed. All three gigantic, (and when I say gigantic I’m not exaggerating as this particular broccoli plant grows to take up 1sqm!) broccoli plants were tossed into the girls (our chickens Leia and Karen) to feast on and boy were they happy. I’m pretty sure they thought they’d won the green leaf lotto as they went straight to town eating the leaves. Hubby and I then proceeded to reset the garden bed with some fresh cow manure, mushroom compost and potting mix ready for new seedlings. We also did some maintenance on one of the beds as the side was popping out from the weight of the soil so we moved the soil out of the way which goes against my grain as it disturbs the microbiomes and the worms below, which really shouldn’t be done but more about that in another post. So we fixed up the bed and made it secure, put all the soil (and the worms) back where it belonged and then did the reset.

I also made a makeshift trellis to grow some beans up in the bed. I just used some tall wooden tomato stakes, those skinny ones you get from Bunnings and some aviary wire I had over from when we did the girls’ run. I fastened it all together with cable ties and voila one trellis ready to go. Hubby got on digging all the grass out from around the Jacaranda tree I planted last September. I can’t believe it’s been in the ground 12 months and has grown almost two feet already! Though it is looking a little miserable at the moment and I think that might be for a couple of reasons. One, I think the grass was strangling it and therefore the roots couldn’t ‘breathe’ properly and two, it’s been such a long, wet, cold winter here in the west that I think it’s hanging out for some sunshine and heat just as much as I am. I have noticed this week since it’s not struggling for space any more with the lawn it looks happier with lots of new growth coming from the centre of it. Hopefully that new growth will take off as it slowly warms up over here.

So yes, patience is a virtue and it definitely pays off and rewards you when you least expect it. If you’re new to growing a veggie garden, don’t give up if things seem to take a little longer than you initially thought. Persist and learn as you go and like me you’ll know not to plant the fancy heirloom purple sprouting broccoli unless you have acres of room for them all to grow. Having said that though I think I have the perfect spot for a couple next year where they can take as long as they like but they won’t be going back in my raised beds, that’s for sure.

So that’s about it for today. I know I was away a little longer than I’d planned to be but honestly I just don’t have enough hours in the day and I’m struggling with this winter that just doesn’t want to end. I need the sunshine, the beach, the waves, the salt in my hair and on my skin. Damn it I need the sunshine to thaw me out and give me some energy and a tan!! On the upside, yesterday I swung past our local salvage yard and scored some scrap for an awesome project….more on that soon.

Take care for now and I’ll catch you all again soon.

A bientot…..Michelle x