Sowing for the Autumn/Winter Garden

It's not a very exciting photo I know, but I wanted to post, so I have a record of when I sowed and what I sowed. These are all the seeds that can't be direct sown, and were sown on March 5th. The seeds that can be direct sown won’t go in until we get some cooler weather, which at the moment feels like it is never going to happen. We have had a reasonably cool summer this year, but just as the temperatures should have started to drop, it rose instead and we are now on day seven where the temperature has been above 35°C. Today’s high was 41°C, (105.8°F) as was yesterday, and the day before. 

Here is a list of the seeds I have sown so far.

Brassicas 

Brussel Sprouts - Long Island

Broccoli  Green Dragon and Di Ciccio

Cauliflower - Macerati Green, Purple Sicily and Rober

Pak Choi - Shuko

Lettuce - Green Mignonette, Freckles, and Butternut

Spinach - Red Kitten

Here is how they are doing after six days.

As soon as the weather starts to cool down I will be sowing all of the carrot, turnip, parsnip, wombok cabbage, and pea seeds.

There is still a week of warm to hot days ahead so while I wait for the weather to change I will order some compost to top up the vegetable beds, and dream of the harvest to come.

Until next time, stay safe and be kind to each other.

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Blogtober Day 17

 I woke to sunshine and blue skies this morning a perfect day for doing the laundry. After I had hung the clothes on the clothesline, I sat down at the computer to work on the plan for the summer vegetable garden. I use Grow Veg, a subscription-based program that helps me keep track of what I've planted and where, it also helps with crop rotation.

I have three different varieties of cucumber, Lebanese, Marketmore and a gherkin cucumber, that I need to find room for. I might extend the garden on the left-hand side and grow them there, the grass there is very patchy so it wouldn't take a lot of work, it would also give me more growing room for winter crops. Before I plant anything, I have to check the irrigation system to ensure it's all working, it saves me so much time and, I no longer have to stand out in the heat to water the garden.

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The Winter Vegetable Garden

I'm very happy with the way the winter garden is growing this year especially after the dismal year I had last year. 

Mammoth Melting snowpeas July 14th, 2020

August 8th, 2020

Brassicas July 14th, 2020

August 23rd, 2020

The harvest has been small so far. Mammoth Melting snowpeas

More snow peas and a very early asparagus spear.

Red Kitten and English Medania spinach

Violaceo di Verona cabbage, another white cabbage, Red Kitten spinach, Freckles lettuce and another tiny head of broccoli.

I've harvested two beautiful Purple Sicily cauliflowers that grew from seedlings planted last winter but that never made it to maturity before the warmer months arrived. I moved them to another part of the garden not thinking that they would make it through summer, but make it they did and this beauty was the reward for my patience.

I've since harvested another of these as well as a white cauliflower which I think is a Rober, but I'm not sure.

Some harvests have been smaller than some others.

 A tiny head of broccoli

Tiny turnips.

     What could quite possibly be the worlds smallest cauliflower?

Freckles lettuce

Everything else is coming along nicely and in a few weeks, I expect to be harvesting lots of cabbages, broccoli, beetroot, Speckled snowpeas, more cauliflowers, potatoes and carrots.

The beautifully coloured flower of the Speckled snowpea.

I miscalculated how long potatoes take to mature and the spot I had set aside for them was where I will be planting my tomatoes mid-October so they are growing in pots this year instead.

Apart from some very small broccoli heads, the only other problem I have had in the garden this year is whitefly. Normally they arrive at the beginning of winter, stay around for a few weeks and then leave, but this year for some reason they have stayed around much to my annoyance. Luckily, this year I invested in some insect netting which protected my young brassica plants from them as well as the Cabbage White butterfly. They have been a very worthwhile investment. 

I think that's all for now, I will be back next week with another post.

Until then, stay safe and be kind to each other, Jan.

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Sunday

I was so annoyed with myself this morning because I thought I had slept in, it wasn't until an hour later when I looked at the clock in the kitchen that I realised that daylight saving had started while I was sleeping. Can I just say, and I know that I'm in the minority here, that I hate daylight saving time, I always have! I realise that there aren't actually any more hours of daylight, but  I think it's so unnecessary in a country that already has so many hours of daylight during summer to artificially extend it. If they moved it to winter when we actually could use more I wouldn't have a problem with it.

It was another overcast, windy day today and so much cooler than yesterday, the BoM keeps predicting rain but so far there has not been a drop, it would be nice if they could get it right occasionally.

I took a walk to Aldi and Coles to pick up a few groceries (the stores don't open here until 11am on Sundays) and dropped into Bunnings for "a quick look" and I didn't get home until well after lunchtime, these came home with me.

Tomatoes Genuwine, Rouge de Marmande and Blue Berries, a purple capsicum and Fairy Tale eggplant.

I have sown seed for tomatoes and a few have germinated but not many and the ones that have germinated are growing at a snail's pace so I thought rather than wait until they're big enough to be planted I would get a head start with these. The eggplant and capsicum haven't germinated at all, I am going to sow more seeds but just in case they don't germinate either at least I will have these. The eggplant is only a small one but as I'm the only one who eats them it is a perfect size.

I did get the beans planted and I will take a photo once they are established and growing, I didn't manage however to get any more seeds sown.

While I was down in the garden I harvested the last of the sprouting broccoli, the rest is starting to flower so I will leave it for the bees until I need the space, a Purple Sicily cauliflower, my first time growing them and I will be growing them again next year.

I picked the one and only Violaceo di Verona cabbage, it's my first time growing cabbage and I'm not sure it was ready to be picked but the whitefly has arrived and I didn't want it to be ruined, as it was I found two Cabbage White butterfly caterpillar feasting on the inner leaves. 

In the basket along with the cauliflower and cabbage are some Golden Podded peas another first for me this year, some Sugar Snap peas, the first snowpea (Mammoth Melting) and a single broad bean. The asparagus is doing so well this year that I can barely keep up with them, not that I mind they are delicious.

Tomorrow is Labour Day holiday here in South Australia and at this point, I don't have any plans, some seed sowing maybe, we'll see. Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely day and if I do decide to do anything tomorrow I will be back with another post. Bye for now.

Edited: I actually wrote this last Sunday and for some reason, it didn't publish.

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Seeds

Hello, and welcome to this month's Garden Share Collective, the theme this month is SEEDS.

Seeds, they are natures little power houses. Enclosed within each seed case is all that is needed for a new life to begin, from the tallest of trees to the tiniest of flowering plants it all starts with a seed. 

The largest plant seed belongs to the Coco de Mer, commonly known as the Sea Coconut, it weighs 18kg (40lbs) and is 30cm (12 inches) in length, when fully mature the palm tree which it grows into will be between 25 - 34 metres tall. At the other end of the scale the seeds of the epiphytic orchid which at 85 micrometres (1/300th an inch) is too small to be seen by the human eye. It's seeds are dispersed and carried on the wind coming to rest in the canopy of the rainforest trees where, over time they will sprout and form new orchids.

There's a kind of wonder in growing a plant from seed, you put a dry little capsule in some compost, keep it moist, and in a week or so up pops a tiny sprout that with care in time will provide food for your table. 

A tiny carrot seedling with its first set of true leaves.

I use seeds nearly all the time in my own garden,  they are cheap to buy and readily available in stores or online.

I am very excited to be trying out some new varieties this season.

 Once you start growing your own vegetables a good habit to get into is letting one of each of your favourite variety of plant go to seed, this way you won't need to buy seed the following season and you'll save money. 

Sunflower seeds collected from the only sunflower I managed to grow this year, but one is all I needed, I now have enough seeds for sowing next year.

I've never  seen so many flower buds on a lettuce before. These will eventually provide me with enough seeds for the next few years.

I would love to have picked this sprout of the Italian Sprouting broccoli, but I will let it flower and when it sets seed I will harvest them and keep them for next winter.

Growing from seed is not always the easiest of options, but it is the most rewarding. There is a great sense of personal satisfaction in knowing that you have been involved right from sowing to eating.

So why not give growing from seed a go, you still have time to go out and buy some seeds and get sowing. 

Harvesting

Broccoli

Cauliflower

A few peas

Parsley

Sowing

Tomatoes

Beetroot

Eggplant

Capsicum

Leeks

Shallots

Coriander

Thyme

Marigolds

Zinnia

Bergamot

Sunflowers

Alyssum

Things to do

Remove wnter vegetables as they finish

Add compost and fertiliser to each bed

Sow seeds for chickpeas and beans

That's it for this month's Garden Share Collective, if you would like to see what's been happening in other people's garden pop over and visit our GSC hosts Kyrstie at A Fresh Legacy or Kate from Rosehips and Rhubarb. I will see you again for next month's Garden Share Collective where the topic will be PHILOSOPHY. That is going to take some thinking about.

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Growing Potatoes In Pots

Unlike most gardeners I grow my potatoes in the winter. I learnt very quickly that trying to grow them summer is pointless as they just got burnt to a crisp, so there really is no point even trying.

This year, I'm growing my potatoes in pots. No digging trenches, no worries about damaging the tubers when it comes time to harvest and no chance of leaving any in the ground, which I always do no matter I hard I try not to.

I had set aside some potatoes in the greenhouse to chit, but they never sprouted so they
went into the compost bin. Instead, I planted four Kestrel, six Kipfler
( one I haven't tried before) and 7 Red Delight, that had sprouted under the kitchen sink. 

I put about 10 centimetres of compost in the bottom of the pot, added some pelletised manure, put the potatoes in and covered them with more compost.

Top to bottom: Red Delight, Kipfler and Kestrel

It took about three weeks before I saw any signs of growth, but eventually, the Red Delight (the bigger plants in the photo below) started to push their way up through the compost.

The Kipflers, on the other hand, took so long that I was starting to think that they had rotted due to all the rain we have had, but when I had a scratch around in the compost I found some tiny shoots just starting to appear.

The photo below was taken yesterday, you can see how much they have grown in the last week.

As they grow I will add more compost until it is about 5 - 6 centimetres from the top of the pot and then it will just be a matter of waiting until they are ready to be harvested. 

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Seeds

Seeds, where would we be without them?  They fill our flower beds with colour and fragrance, and allow us to grow tasty, nutritious food to feed ourselves and our family. They are the perfect little capsule, containing everything that is needed to start the next generation of plant life. They lay dormant sometimes for years waiting for the perfect growing conditions and then, they spring into life. 

This year I am trying to grow all my vegetables and flowers from seed.

What I'm growing

Sown 24th September

Melons

Hale's Best 

Sugar Baby
Luscious Red

Tomatoes

Honeybee 

Rouge de Marmande

San Marzano

Unknown truss (seeds were from shop bought tomatoes)

Corn

Kelvedon Glory

Jubilee Bicolour

Cucumber

Lebanese (sprouted today)

Zucchini 

Green Bush

Beans

Windsor Longpod

Brown Beauty

Butter 

Cannelini

Red Kidney

Borlotti

Leafy Greens

Cos lettuce

Green Mignonette

Salad mix which includes

Lolla Rossa

Bionda

Red and green salad bowl and

Great Lakes

Endive

Kale

Medania spinach
Celery

Eggplant

Snowy

Rosa Bianca

Capsicum

Hungarian Yellow Wax Sweet

Basil

Sweet Genovese

Thai

Radicchio

Palla Rossa

And a new one to try this year, chickpeas.

Flowers
Borage
Alyssum Rosie O'Day
Poached Egg Plant
Nasturtium
Zinnia
Candy Tuft
Calendula

So, hopefully not only will my vegetable garden be productive it will look beautiful as well.

This is my contribution to this months Garden Share Collective 

hosted by Lizzie from Strayed from the Table, Krystie from a A Fresh Legacy and Kate from Rhubarbs and Rosehips. To see what they and others have to say click on any of the links above.

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Tale of Woe 1 - When Chickens Go Wild

I was in the kitchen cooking dinner on Sunday night when my daughter called me to come outside. "I'm cooking dinner", I told her. Her reply was "I know but you need to see this". So outside I went wondering what could be so important, "You're not going to like this", she said in a very ominous voice. Of course the first thing I thought of was that one of my chickens had died, it wasn't quite that bad but bad enough. The gate to my vegetable garden is a bit dodgy and if you don't latch it right it comes undone and the chickens had gotten into the garden and had themselves a fine old time.

Not a leaf was left on the Kohl Rabi

They ate the lettuce which they would normally turn their noses up at and the cucumber seedlings that I had planted that morning are no more.

Not a single corn seedling was left uneaten.

This bed had bok choy and choy sum in it, not anymore.

The strawberry bed which I had just started to plant up. It only had three plants in it, I can only find one.

The good news is that the tomato plants some of which are just starting to flower were left untouched.

 As where the pumpkin, zucchini, rockmelon and watermelon seedlings. I was already late in getting the garden planted out and this has put me even further behind, so it's off to the big green shed to buy replacemant plants and the gate is now securely tied up,  I don't think I could stand it if this happened again.

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Harvest Monday

This week's harvest consisted of the last of the broccoli, along with snow and sugar snap peas.

Excuse the less than stellar photo, the lighting in my kitchen is terrible.

Ginger, Grace and Rosie enjoying the remains of a broccoli plant.

 More peas, more than I can use really. I wonder if you can freeze them. The first asparagus spears were picked and enjoyed, as well as the smallest cauliflower I've ever seen.

 I forgot to weigh it but the basket it is sitting in is only 23 x 20 cm (9 x 8 inches) which should give you some idea of how small it was.

The only other thing harvested this week were potatoes. From the twelve plants that grew I only got 5.94kgs, I was more than a little disappointed.

I had planted four different varieties (Cream Delight, Red Pontiac, Purple Kestrel and Golden Delight)but I ended up with mostly Cream Delight, a few Red Pontiac, one Purple Kestrel, there was no sign of the Golden Delight at all. Next year I think I will grow them in wire cages, maybe that will improve my chances of a bigger harvest. Linking up to Daphne's Dandelions

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This Week In The Garden

The snow peas are finally producing enough to pick.

 The sugar snaps on the other hand are taking there own sweet time, I counted a total of four.

Loads of self seeded coriander, some of which has started to go to seed. Hopefully the seeds will be ready to harvest before I run out of last years.

Celery that was planted last spring and is now only just big enough to pick.

I haven't had a lot of luck growing beetroot in the past but these plants seem to be doing OK so far.

I had never eaten kohlrabi until I grew it myself a couple of years ago, it quickly became one of my favourite things to grow. I use it finely sliced in stir fries, leaves and bulbs, it tastes like a very mild broccoli. It is super easy to grow and the best thing about it is that unlike broccoli the cabbage white butterflies show no interest in it at all.

Winter is the only time of the year you can grow potatoes here in South Australia and this year's crop looks like it is going to be a good one.

Lettuce, good anytime of the year.

A forest of carrots that really need to be thinned out. If ever it stops raining I will do just that.

 Broccoli that's just about finished,

and purple sprouting broccoli that is just starting.

The first blossoms on the Mariposa plum tree made an appearance.

And two more cauliflowers were harvested. Not very big, only 200gms each, but very tasty.

So tell me, what's happening in your garden?

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