Sept/Oct is a time of change - the last of the winter vegetables are looking ragged or going to seed, some cool season crops are growing well, but it's time to clear most of the beds and prepare them for summer crops.
The bed of brassicas in the foreground of this photo needs clearing - one cabbage has gone to seed, the caulis are past their usefulness, and the brussel sprouts are also bolting.
Next to it is the bed of lettuces, spring onions and leeks. The leeks are starting to come into their own, but the lettuces are bolting. I'm going to pull the rest of these out this week. The spring onions around the lettuces are also starting to grow flower stalks - I will use some up, then freeze or dehydrate the rest.
The bed of brassicas in the foreground of this photo needs clearing - one cabbage has gone to seed, the caulis are past their usefulness, and the brussel sprouts are also bolting.
Next to it is the bed of lettuces, spring onions and leeks. The leeks are starting to come into their own, but the lettuces are bolting. I'm going to pull the rest of these out this week. The spring onions around the lettuces are also starting to grow flower stalks - I will use some up, then freeze or dehydrate the rest.
This was the beetroot bed - they've all been harvested and bottled (recipe coming soon). I finished clearing the bed, and added various nutrients before giving it a light mulch with grass clippings. If we want our food to be nutritious, then we need to make sure it is growing in soil that is healthy and full of nutrients. So far I have added blood and bone, Rok Solid (ground rock organic fertiliser that contains some 60 essential nutrients), soft lime (calcium from it more easily absorbed than regular lime) and the lawn clippings (extra nitrogen). I will also add some manure or manure tea as soon as I have it available.
I haven't decided exactly what I will be planting in this bed yet, but I'm leaning towards planting each bed in rows of different plants, mixing some flowers in with the food crops too.
I haven't decided exactly what I will be planting in this bed yet, but I'm leaning towards planting each bed in rows of different plants, mixing some flowers in with the food crops too.
The strawberry bed is flowering well. The kids keep asking when we will have strawberries to eat. Won't be long kids! The chives in the middle are looking very healthy, and have a few flowers developing too. I'm looking forward to those flowers, as they will help to attract more bees to the bed, resulting in even more strawberries. The combination of the pine mulch and the chives in the bed seems to be serving well to keep the snails away. I've found many snails in other beds nearby, but the only one I've found on this bed was crawling along the wooden edge, and staying away from the plants.
Inside the garlic bed. I've been pretty disappointed in how many garlic cloves have sprouted. As you can see, the ones near the front left are doing much better than the rest, and from memory those were from a different batch of garlic as the first lot ran out. There are some popping through here and there on the rest of the bed, but I don't know how well they'll turn out. I'm tempted to pull them out and plant something else, or just put in some brassicas in the gaps and see if the garlic that is growing will keep the white cabbage butterflies away. Hmmmm. Will be moving the netting over to the strawberries soon.
This bed is a bit of a "miscellaneous" bed - nearly everything in it was stuck in there because I ran out of other places to put it - a few left over silverbeet seedlings are now huge, a couple of left over brussel sprouts - now gone to seed and to be pulled out - a few celery plants, doing well, and some left over peas I sowed here when I had filled another bed, and then forgot about, which are now sprouting fairly happily. Oh, and two left over leeks right at the back, which are looking very good. I think we'll eat one and let the other flower and set seed for saving. Really I'd like lots of silverbeet elsewhere, not here, but these plants will feed us for the next few weeks until other things have grown big enough to eat, so here they stay for now.
Another brassica bed - looks pretty full and healthy, but it all needs clearing. The last of the broccoli is flowering, which is good for the bees, so I may leave that row in for a while. The brussel sprouts (the row along the side closest in the photo) is all trying to bolt - will see how many sprouts I can pick off them before they just need pulling out. There is one more purple cauli to pick on the other side, and a couple of celery plants I put in recently that are doing ok and will be left in. Otherwise this is a bed that needs clearing, improving, and replanting.
This bed full of brussel sprouts are all bolting. There are sprouts forming on the stems. Will take off the tops and see if I get edible sprouts, otherwise they will all need to come out. They are under-planted with parsley, which will then grow big and cover most of the bed.
I have seen the first of the white butterflies flitting through my garden this week, so the days for brassicas are strictly limited now anyway.
I have seen the first of the white butterflies flitting through my garden this week, so the days for brassicas are strictly limited now anyway.
Now, here's an interesting thing. My peas are doing pretty well, despite the plague of snails eating the back ones. But suddenly mushrooms have appeared all over this bed. I don't think they are edible ones, and I was contemplating what to do about them when I just happened to read a book that mentioned how mushrooms play an important role in breaking down old wood, and in cleaning the environment of toxins and other nasties. Mushrooms can transform, for example, a pile of treated wood or sludge from an oil spill into, eventually, healthy, growing soil teeming with life! I had noticed before I planted the peas that the sawdust mulch in this bed looked odd - it hadn't broken down, and had the consistency of bran with white cotton-y threads running through it. Turns out that is the vegetative state of mushrooms (the mushrooms themselves are the fruit). They are, no doubt, breaking down the sawdust, so I think I'll just leave them to do their thing in this bed. I did notice when clearing the beetroot bed (shown above with grass mulch) that one patch of it looks similar, but the rest is nicely broken down and looks dark and rich. So maybe there are patches where the sawdust I have used was from a different type of tree or wood, and it needs the action of mushrooms to break it down?? Nature doing its thing!
I WILL thin the carrots this week, really I will! The kale at the front has aphids all over it, so I'm thinking I'll just pull them out and feed them to the chickens. There is some merit in allowing a few aphids to remain in the garden as a food source for beneficials, but I think it's time this kale went. The white butterflies will get it soon otherwise anyway.
The raspberries and boysenberries are looking great! They're both starting to flower too - yummy berries coming soon! I've planted some extra raspberry canes in a bin behind this bed, and mulched the path behind it with pine needles, as well as this bed. Now to figure out how best to net them all in due course...
On the 30th I started digging up 10 square metres of my potato patch (finished digging it over on the 2nd). Now I need to make trenches, add amendments, and plant my spuds, which are well sprouted in the greenhouse.
Around the garden there are exciting things to see and
discover....
The grapevine and blackcurrants are bursting into leaf.....My three year old red currant and gooseberry bushes are showing signs of their first every flowers and developing fruit...the apple and quince trees are beginning to blossom, bees are working the various flowers....
discover....
The grapevine and blackcurrants are bursting into leaf.....My three year old red currant and gooseberry bushes are showing signs of their first every flowers and developing fruit...the apple and quince trees are beginning to blossom, bees are working the various flowers....
I dug up the black currant cuttings that have been quietly growing in the corner by the caravan and potted them up as I don't have a good permanent spot decided on for them yet. Here are some of them, just coming into leaf.
My daughter dug this new bed along side of the path we use to the back gate. I was going to put raspberries here, then realised it's just too wet for them. So I raised it a bit, and have planted four small feijoas along there - will underplant with flowers as soon as the seedlings are ready. The feijoas can get quite big, but I plant to keep them clipped into a hedge in time.
The bed behind where I had zucchini last year is looking a bit bare. The miscellaneous silverbeet plants are making a good recovery now the chickens can't get into the yard. I have plans for this area - more on that soon.
The bed behind where I had zucchini last year is looking a bit bare. The miscellaneous silverbeet plants are making a good recovery now the chickens can't get into the yard. I have plans for this area - more on that soon.
The herb patch is needing some work - parsley is doing well, the lime tree has suddenly dropped its leaves, and the lemon needs feeding. I'm thinking of moving the Chilean Guavas I planted under the apple tree - not sure where yet. The passionfruit hasn't started growing again yet. I'd like to create a herb spiral, but haven't decided on a location, and this garden area needs mulching.
The tyre full of greens is still looking healthy, though the lettuces are starting to bolt. There are some beets and peas in there doing well too. I'm looking forward to clearing this out so I can move the tyre to another location and put up a fence.
Well, that's it for this month's photos. I'll create a separate post with some more photos of different parts of the garden, along with all the ideas and plans I have for them.
Well, that's it for this month's photos. I'll create a separate post with some more photos of different parts of the garden, along with all the ideas and plans I have for them.
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