Spring seed raising

Quite a few weeks ago now, Liz from Suburban Tomato gave us a great run down of the tomatoes she was raising. Sadly I didn't have my act together then to make a similar post, indeed, I hadn't even started to raise my tomatoes or any other seeds as I feared a late frost -  I thought it was too early for our mountain slopes climate.

But now that the weather has jumped from maximums in single digits to ones in the mid twenties in the space of two weeks I feel like I am starting too late! Ah, gardening in a new environment!

 Here is what I am currently raising.

Tomatoes
Last year my tomatoes were a complete failure, mostly becasue it was scorchingly hot and also because we only arrived at Highfield in mid-November. This year I am hoping I will have much better fortune especially seeing as I have so many wonderful varieties with different shapes and colours. All these seeds came from Yvonne - thank you so much, I hope to do them justice.

• Juane Flamme 
• Red Pear
• Yellow pear
• Verna orange
• Green grape
• Oxheart yellow
• Speckled Roman
• Peach
• Purple Cherokee

Chillies/Peppers/Capsicums
I have gone completely overboard here with the encouragement and seeds from Nina and Bek. It's just that these plants seem to be able to survive the hottest of summers, and I do like a chilli or too and I have a secret desire to hold a chilli-based food festival... one day...

• Chilli - Long Cayenne
• Chilli - Padron
• Chilli  - Jalapeno - thanks Nina
• Capsicum -  Orange Glory - thanks Bek
• Capsicum - Hungarian Wax - thanks Bek
• Capsicum - 7 colour mix
• Pepper  - Merlin - thanks Bek
• Pepper -  Chocolate - thanks Bek
• Pepper - Absa - thanks Bek

Eggplants

• Listada di Ganda -  thanks Yvonne
• Prosperosa - thanks Bek
• Rosa Bianca

Greens

• Lettuce - Salad bowl
• Lettuce - Freckels Bunte
• Pak choi
• Fennel Florence
• Rocket

Beans and Peas

• Bean - Kentucky Wonder - thanks Nina
• Bean - Sex without strings
• Peas - Snow peas
• Peas - Pigeon peas

Onions

• Spring onions

Pumpkins / Melons

• Pumpkin - seeds from Pat Murray's pumpkins (Pat is King of vegetable growing at the annual Adelong Agricultural Show)
• Melon -  Minnesota Midget

Roots

• Beetroot - Crimson Globe
• Radish - Round Red

Zucchini

I have shared with you previously my obsession to enter the Gundagai Agricultural Show in the category, Three zucchinis under 18cms. I am hoping that I can grow three great specimens of different colours just to wow the judges. So I have planted the following varieties so far - I have a few other varieties held back for planting later in the season as insurance.

• Costata - thanks Bek
• Gold Rush - thanks Bek
• Greenskin
  
  
  

Don't you think a trio of green, yellow and speckled zucchinis would be a show stopper? If I am successful, perhaps  I can share my winnings  with Bek... but I am getting ahead of myself!

Herbs
I have put these seeds in but when they are up they will join my other more perennial herbs.

• Basil
• Thai basil -  thanks Yvonne
• Dill - thanks Nina

Flowers

• Marigold - French Bonita
• Marigold - Petite Yellow -  thanks Nina
• Larkspur - thanks Diana
• Nasturtiums - Red - thanks Nina -  the leaves are stunning, I am sure the flowers will be too
• Sunflowers -  Prado Red and Evening Sun, my usuals
• Zinnia
• my beautiful purple Holbrook poppies

That's it for the moment but I will be putting in some cucumbers and other things as the season develops.
What are you putting in?

Soon I will post on all the fruit trees I have put in over winter.

The garden in mid-April - Roots and shoots

In this the fourth  and last instalment of my garden in mid-April, I will focus on the roots and shoots I have in my patch this autumn / winter growing season.

My seed bed: L-R  - Radish, Rocket, Beetroot

Roots
Parsnips
I fell in love with the parsnip when living in Blighty. They were a different vegetable in Britain  sweet and tender and we ate them regularly but back in Australia I didn't find them as appealing.

This is the very first time I am attempting parsnips. I  never wanted to try when I was living in Sydney believing that a good frost was probably necessary to really make them deliciously sweet. So now we are living in the bush in a place that will definitely get a frost, I thought it was time to take the plunge and try my hand.

I am trying Hollow Crown from seed and have had no trouble in raising two rows. They seem to be growing well at least above the ground, but I suspect that my soil isn't good enough yet, or deep enough to get a great result.  Still I am happy with their progress so far.  When there is a little more room in the patch, I will be putting another row or two in.

Beetroot
I love beetroot.  I love the plant and love the root and eat it pickled, baked, boiled, grated and I find them so easy to grow.  This year I have had more difficulty than usual. You see it seems that Wallabies love beetroot too and as a result they grazed off two of my plantings of beetroot. The plants miraculously survived and I am now gradually pulling the roots that developed.

Radish
Radish were another favourite of the Wallaby and over summer we had hardly any of the crop. With the Wallaby excluded now I have a row that is being picked  and grazed on by us and some other creature why is taking off some of the red skin making them a bit spotty.

Fennel
Yes, I know, not really a root more a swollen leaf base, but not sure where else to put it.  Not everyone's favourite, I have grown fennel for many years now and love them best from the garden.  I probably have about 30 in the patch at three different stages.

Here are two little fellas growing side by side - I obviously missed thinning it out.

Notice something missing?  "What, no carrots!", I hear you say. Yes, it is true, another vegetable I have never really managed to grow...

Shoots
Rocket
It's another of the things that are just so encouraging to grow because they are so simple. I have also discovered that the chooky girls like to graze on the rocket thru the veggie garden fence which is fine by me.

L-R: Muriel and Mavis being distracted from the rocket

Try as I might though, I couldn't get a photo with them actually pecking it, they must have found a bug in the grass.

Snow peas
One of my all time favourite things to grow and eat, my snow peas this year are a little disappointing  I suspect its the soil - it is still pretty average.  Nonetheless I am getting a pick.

Sugar snap peas
I am trying these this year for the first time.  I was inspired by Daphne's haul of sugar snaps and had to give them a go.

They are only just starting to produce now - I have had a small pick which, when combined with the snow peas, was enough for greens for two for a meal - early days yet.

So that's more or less my garden in mid-April. How is yours going?

Harvest Monday - 25th March 2013

The beetroot that were grazed off by the Wallaby earlier in the season have managed despite their mauling to survive and their roots are now thickening.  This last week I decided to pick a few - they are small but I always deliberately over plant beetroot  and use the first pickings to thin the crop. As time goes on the roots will become bigger as more space is made for others.

I have also been picking zucchinis determined to get most from this crop before the frost shuts it down.

Other pickings this week have been peaches - lovely white ones,

loads of rocket, some radish, herbs and some chillies which are getting strung up to dry.

and the first four snow peas, only two pictured here as I quickly ate the other two -  they often don't make it inside.

I am contributing this to Daphne's Harvest Monday. My harvest is pretty meagre for this time of the year for Southerners. I am sure that others who occupy this half of the globe will have much more produce to show you.

Harvest Monday - 11th March 2013

With the weather cooling (slightly) and with a little added rain, I have had a little more produce to pick.
Delights this week have been the Minnesota Midget Rock melons.

They have been such performers, dealing with the heat and the lack of rain, I have decided to 'harvest' their seeds to re-plant next year.

I am also starting to get a decent picking of zucchinis (about time). Here are three that I have picked just the last couple of days, the good news is that more are on the way.

Amazingly, the radishes that were almost completely grazed off by the Wallaby have started to produce their rosy little swollen roots.

Other than this, my harvests have been mostly rocket, rocket and more rocket. I am not very good at remembering to take photos of the things I harvest, especially when they are herbs and saladings, so you will just have to have pictures of my plants instead, you can see where I have picked the rocket at least!

Baby beetroot leaves also for salads.

Basil -  not huge quantities, just tip pickings for salads and parsley, chives, garlic chives and thyme.



I am contributing this to Daphne's Monday Harvest. A collection of great produce will be posted there soon, when the earth turns a little more.

Thursday Garden Gobbles - Peaches and Saladings

Today I  gathered rocket, chives, parsley,  lollo rosso lettuce, beetroot leaves and peaches from the garden,

added bocconchini mozzarella (un-photographed) and a pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon juice dressing and made a Peach, Mozzarella and Rocket salad.

We ate it with a very good locallly raised beef Scotch fillet steak and roasted mini potatoes, garlic cloves and shallots. Yum.

A beautiful sunset accompanied dinner.

I am contributing this as part of Veggie Gobbler's Thursday Garden Gobbles. Gobble on everyone. Thanks VG.

Thinking of winter

When it's 30c plus in February, it's pretty hard to think of seed raising for winter. Still over the last couple of weeks that's exactly what I have been doing. Some things have gone into the ground but most are being raised on the verandah away from tip nippers and Wallabies.

Here is what I have recently put in or will put in soon.

Beetroot - Crimson Globe
Love, love, love beetroot. I already have a few rows in but they have been pretty decimated by the Wallaby who seems especially drawn to the leaves. Now that the Wallaby has pretty much been excluded, I will put some more rows in.

Broad Beans
I will wait a while before I put these into the bed but I will be planting two types - Crimson Flowered and Aquadulce. Most years I have used broad beans as a green manure only, this year I might also harvest some to eat (a little good oil, some lemon rind, black pepper and parmesan I think).

Broccoli - Green Sprouting and Romanesco
I have never tried the Romanesco but they look amazing, all that crazy lime green spiralling.

Cabbage -  Red Drumhead, Mini
Must get some seeds of my favourite cabbage - Savoy.

Cauliflower - Purple and Mini
Never tried purple cauliflower before either...

Celery - 'Normal' and Chinese
The 'Normal' celery was a punnet I bought, the Chinese Celery seeds were provided by Kebun Malay Kadazan Girls -  thank you, they are coming up nicely.

Chinese cabbages - Red Bok Choi and Mini Wombok.

Fennel -  Florence
I have put some seeds directly into the patch and others in seed raising pots.

Leek -  Jaune Du Poitou

Lettuce - Cos
I'll be putting more lettuce in at some stage, not sure which type.

Spring onions - Ishikura and some provided by Kebun Malay Kadazan Girls -  thank you!

Parsley - Curlina and Continental
I find that curly parsley is more suited to dry conditions (thus my new patch) than Continental, but I like to have both types of parsley in the garden.

Parsnip  -  Hollow Crown
These I have put straight into the soil and they have come up quite well. This is the first time I have tried parsnip. I am really hopeful that they will thrive. We get enough frost here to make them sweet like they are in the UK.

Peas - Snow Climbing
I always have snow peas in the patch, they are one of my favourite things to grow and eat. I will also be putting in some climbing sugar snap at some point. I was so impressed by Daphne's sugar snaps that I have to give them a go.

What am I missing?  I will get frosts here but no snow, have I planned on something that just wont work?  I don't have any micro climates to take advantage of at the moment...that will change eventually as things get growing.

What are you putting in nowish for winter? Those in the northern hemisphere, what are you getting excited about?

Take a look at Suburban Tomato to see what she has recently put in.

Spring sum up

It has become a habit of mine to do an end of season sum up.  This is really so that I can work out what the successes were so I can plan for the next season. Also to note things I have learnt. Here is my spring sum up.

Pickings
The early spring pickings were:

• cauliflower
• broccoli
• cabbage
• snowpeas
• celery

These were really my late winter crops maturing in early spring. All these were second or third plantings. The caulis were smaller than earlier in the year and also a little yellowish. The broccoli heads, with the warmer weather I guess, matured faster that the earlier planting, meaning that if you didn't keep an eye on them, they quickly developed past my preferred stage - tight flowers. The cabbage were wonderful and arguably more flavoursome that the earlier season ones? And the snow peas - well they were fabulous and trouble free - but I always find them that way.  I realised I planted far more celery than I needed and as a consequence many went on to seed before I really got to them.

In later spring these crops were coming on:

• radish 
• beetroot 
• fennel

I love the look of all these vegetables - the fat red-purple of beetroot, the bright red orbs of a baby radish and thick green-white bulbs of fennel.

Pests

• stink bugs -  I got onto these quite early , while they were still at their green and orange stage and thus they caused limited damage only
• aphids - these were a bit of a problem on the late broccoli
• snails - hiding in between pots they had regular might feats on my lettuce

What I learnt

• attack your stink bugs early and you will win
• attack them well protected
• fennel, if  harvested by cutting off at the roots, re-sprouts and yields multiple heads of the one root mass
• your brassicas that you plant early and the ones you plant later really do perform quite differently
• transporting plants in the back tray of a ute is not a great idea
• what wind burn looks like
• eggplants aren't as tough as they look
• zucchinis are tougher than they look
• Currawongs are very amusing birds

Special pleasures

• Currawongs - everything they do, even their tanties
• Holbrook poppies
• bright new radish
• blueberries

Big changes
This spring was the last season in my Sydney patch. This small patch has provided such joy. It has been my solace, my quiet time, my distraction and excuse, my place to get dirty, my refuge after a long day at work and the first place I went to after being away from home. A place of secrets, a ritual of forgetting and the occasional tear. Thank you my Sydney garden.

Late this spring we moved to our new patch in the bush.  It will bring so many new challenges - tackling new vegetables, fruit beyond citrus and nuts. There will be things to learn about the land and the very special plants in our protected box grassland. Exciting and daunting at the same time.

Potting up, moving out

My patch is pretty empty now. I have harvested the last of my savoy cabbages and beetroot and now the only things left in the patch are some herbs (mint, Vietnamese mint, thyme, chives, parsley), some flowers (poppies, lupins, the end of the violas and pansies) and some self-seeded tomatoes from last year's crop. I hope that the new residents will like what is left and feel excited about planting up their favourite things into the patch.

Everything that I would have in the ground at this time of the year has been raised in pots ready for the move.

I have these vegetables ready for the move:

• eggplants
• tomatoes 
• chillies 
• fennel
• spring onions
• zucchini

and these herbs:

• parsley - Italian and curled
• mint - Vietnamese and just mint
• basil
• sage
• dill
• thyme
• chives
• garlic chives
• marjoram / oregano - I never know which -  do you?
• rosemary
• lavender
• bay
• yarrow

and then there is some fruit:

•  Collette the finger lime (this is probably overly optimistic as I am not sure how she will handle the frosts!)
• the blueberries

I have cut some right back -  the chives and bay have received a big haircut today. Others have been staked, well watered and mulched over some time so they might be more tolerant of the drive. I hope that it will be a mild day the day we move.

I am hoping that they all survive and that the vegetables will settle into a new, no-dig  raised bed  which will be hastily constructed soon after arrival. The herbs I am likely to keep in pots for a while. And then there will be other things to get started  as soon as I get organised at the new place - beans, corn, pumpkin, rock melon, cucumber ...

I will be leaving behind my special, special espaliered lime trees and my fabulous lemon tree. These citrus plants have given such pleasure.

This final picture is of my last harvest - 3 savoy cabbages and some baby beetroot.

Bye my Sydney garden - friend and comforter.