On Sat, 31 May 2014 19:00:15 +1000, Fran Farmer
wrote:

On 31/05/2014 12:28 PM, bluechick wrote:

It sounds like you manage to produce a lot of food from your garden and
have done a lot in the time since you've moved.

We had surprisingly good luck with our first garden here at the new
place. This will be the second year and all our hard work last year
may pay dividends. I say "may" because you never know what Mother
Nature has in store. I certainly didn't expect a hailstorm to come
through this past week.

I try to grow citrus but in my climate it's a bit iffy. I've managed to
get some lemons but each year lose my mandarins and it's too cold here
for oranges. I should do what you do and put some in my sunroom - it's
certainly big enough to take big pots of citrus.

It's too cold here as well for citrus to overwinter outdoors. The
sunroom and gallery that leads to it seemed to be the ideal solution
for us. With all the east-facing windows, the citrus trees thrived. I
hope you have good luck trying a citrus in your sunroom too. I misted
mine on a regular basis last winter because the ceiling fan was always
on, even in winter, and I was afraid they'd dry out too much in the
dry air of the house. It seemed to work. That, and the fact that
that part of the house stayed pretty warm on sunny days. They didn't
drop one lemon or orange but were otherwise dormant (no new leaves or
flowers). We didn't have any limes last year but we will this year
along with a couple of extra lemons and one more orange. I wonder if
there will be room for _us_ in the sunroom this year!

I do grow figs and I've planted 3 blueberries which I hope will produce
next summer. I have lots of different varieties of raspberries but
can't get to them before some animal eats them. I suspect mice or rats.
I have lots of strawb plants and yet only got about 3 berries this
year - same suspected mongrel animal getting the ripe fruit - either
mice, rats or possibly blue tongued lizards.

Do you have a critter camera? Like a deer trail camera that hunters
use? Might want to set one up to take pictures or AVIs during the day
or at night with IR, set to trigger after 30 seconds or whatever.
We've used the heck out of our cameras. They go through the
batteries, though. But that way you'd have a better idea of what is
getting your berries.

I too grow lots a herbs largely because I like to cook.

Me too! There's nothing like popping out to the kitchen garden to
grab some fresh herbs.