an aussie in austria

With baby Sam due at the end of June, I was ready to forego the veggie garden this year. I would have neither the time nor the physique to deal with it. But hubby kindly stepped in and with some slight variations and a reduced crop we still enjoyed eating from our land.

He wouldn’t weed, was hubby’s only condition, which is fair enough. So the black covering was left on the garden, and we simply cut holes where we planted. In there went sweet corn, zucchini, cucumber and pumpkins – basically, the easy stuff that needs little maintenance but yields well. We also bought a small standing garden which I could use to plant some smaller things like radishes and lettuce without bending over, and two tomato plants in pots by the door would be enough to cover most of our needs.

Was it a success? Well… yes and no. When more of the garden is uncovered I generally plant multiples of things, and so if seeds get eaten before germination, there’s back ups. It also means that random things grow themselves. With this year’s system we started sowing individual seeds only. And it was a bit hit and miss.

In the end one zucchini and one cucumber grew, which was enough. Unfortunately there was only one sweet corn which produced a measly two cobs, but what can you do? The pumpkins were fine, as usual, producing far more than we needed.

My small standing garden was a great investment, especially for the early crops where I was still available. I got some radishes and for the first time lettuce. With plenty of sun and no overhead rain the potted tomatoes thrived – luckily hubby took over the watering in those first weeks when I could barely get out of the house.

I would have loved to spend more time in the garden, but it wasn’t the year for it. And growing veggies is only part of the work – once you grow them you also need time to use them, to cook and freeze the excess, which was all time I didn’t have.

So I guess we’ll just have to see what next year brings, and how disruptive a one year old is to the 2023 veggie garden!