April, 2011.

April has come and gone so I thought I'd do a bit of a writeup about how the gardens were.
What was growing, what we ate, what I planted...

I was thinking that the gardens are empty and that last year they were looking so much better but on going back and reading I think the main difference is Eggplants.  I haven't any in this year but they did fill a few spots last year that are now empty.  And this time last year we still had melons and corn growing.

Growing out there now, ready to pick and eat, I have chillies, capsicum, silverbeet,  pumpkin, beetroot, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, chokos.  A bit of celery.  I could get a couple of meals from the spinach if I needed to.
I still have garlic and onions from last season out in the shed and pumpkins from this year.
Peas, carrots and corn in the freezer.

We are picking and eating passionfruit and green (Granny Smith?) apples, a few strawberries...Have apricots and bananas in the freezer.  I have had a couple of Indian guavas and some strawberry guavas as well but the chooks get most of those.
Had a couple of fresh tiny bananas a few days ago.
Ate our Pineapple.

We are also eating eggs, chicken (rooster), pork, fish...all supplied by us.   Could eat marron if we wanted to but haven't this month.
Oh, the son brought out a box of cooked prawns just before Easter so there are quite a few meals of them in the freezer even if we didn't grow them ourselves.

We are not going hungry and looks like we are going to do OK for May as well.

This month I have planted or shifted a few things but need to do more over the next few weeks.

I bought Beetroot seeds and planted them.  I soak the seeds for a bit in warm water then roll them in small bits of paper.  Before I started doing this I was always *losing* the seeds in the dirt.  This way I know where they are and once they are in place I can just poke them in the ground.

I bought punnets of Cauliflower and Broccoli and have put some out in the big tank garden and some in the smaller tank gardens.  I have seen White Cabbage Butterfly around the place though so I covered one lot with a net to try and protect them.  I will make some more little moth shapes to hang above them and put eggshells around as well but these things come by the dozen and it is a neverending battle between me and them..  I will get the baddy racquet's out and put them somewhere handy as well.

I have planted peas, a Dwarf Sugarsnap, seeds, that are starting to come up. 
A punnet of Capsicum are in.
Seeds of normal peas are in.
The English Spinach is growing and I have already had a few leaves from them.
A patch of Garlic has come up in one of the drums so that has been thinned out and I now have it it 2 of the drums along the driveway.  This must be from a clove missed last year. 
Still have a heap of cloves to plant.
I have transplanted a seedling fruit tree from the front garden.  This was quite big about 2 and 1/2 foot high so I don't know if it will make it.  It is a Peach.  Or Apricot.  Something anyway.
Two Capsicum plants need to be removed from where the fence was and a new spot found for them.Four new Pineapple tops were planted.
Half a dozen rooted Pepino plants have been put in the back garden.

Still lots to do but that's the thing with backyards and gardens isn't it.  There is always something that needs doing, be it planting, picking, mowing, mulching, watering, eating...