Attack of the pests

Sadly I have lost half of my broccoli crop to Aphids. The little B's have eaten away at the heads of the broccoli before they could emerge. Either that or one of the punnets I planted, was a dud. Evidence would suggest it is the former.
Also, I have noted the leaves had holes suggesting a Caterpillar is at large..tried to find the little squirmer...to no avail.

In my research to identify the culprits I found some information that again could be a "der statement" for some, but if you lop of the veggie head and leave the plant you can effectively grow more veggie heads. This I will try rather than ripping out the plant after just the one offering.

The broad beans are producing many beautiful flowers - not quite sure when I'll start to see the beans..
The stark black against the white on the flowers is rather a pretty sight.

Yesterday I picked what I would consider our biggest harvest thus far, it constituted a meal:

• sweet juicy carrots
• tender spinach
• intense broccoli
• crunchy lettuce
• snappy peas

The cauliflower whilst unusual in appearance (not tight florets like the others in the crop) turned out to contain aphids which just couldn't be budged.

I purchased chilli, tomatoes and eggplant yesterday and I'll be placing them in the garden over the next week.

on guard
Tania

Time flies...

It has been a hectic last few weeks since my last post.
The patch continues to flourish. We have had several meals with fresh lettuce, lots of herbs and the odd sweet pea. Oh.. how the yummy the corriander has been, sadly some is starting to go to seed.

The orange tree continues to drop oranges - they are almost sweet enough to eat instead of just juicing. The possums also continue to enjoy the low hanging fruit...

My strawberry plants, avocado, blueberry and asparagus have arrived and are all in the garden -mostly in the front. The chances of the asparagus seedlings surviving ... are ...well who knows what mother nature will dish out.

The broccoli and cauliflower are showing signs of their heads and looking delicious.

Lastly, the broad beans have stood tall and are now showing flowers - can't wait for the spring bean salads.
gotta go.
Tania.

Growth, growth and more growth

The patch is filling up. Three weeks does make a difference in the garden.

Today we had some of the lettuce and coriander. I have also picked the baby spinach. The slugs or something seemed to have had a good munch too. So I am not sure the plants will come back.

Oranges are due to start picking in two weeks. Some are starting to fall from the tree. The possums are having a feast on those that have fallen. Hm mm.. Possums. What can one do to deter possums? Many birds visit the orange tree - check out the most common visitor seeking the orange blossom and getting the oranges ready for next year!







The leeks progress interests me. They don't seem to be doing anything. When I purchased the punnet there were eight clumps. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to separate out the individaul plants (6-8) in each clump when I transferred them to the patch. Advise on this would be good.


This week there will be some feeding and pest control....

oh and a few of the asparagus seeds have germinated... very slow growing.
Soon I will be picking up my strawberries, blue berry and avacado plant from the post office. Can't wait :)

Researching best practice for BB.

Well after no one respond to my call for help on the Broad Bean (BB) issue of staking...
I checked out the web.
There are many ways to stake a BB it seems:

• don't stake
• put stakes in either ends of the row and run string around the perimeter
• put stakes in the rows at regular intervals (120cm) and run string around
• put stakes in the patch of BB to create a zig zag effect
• stake each individual BB plant http://www.gardenersclick.com/questions/view/staking_broad_beans
• use a triangle on a few plants

I have found out the string needs to be strong as the BB can become weighty. Also that when black fly is visible on the top its best to pinch the tops to stop the growth of the plant and promote Bean growth.

I also learnt that staggering your crop plantings will ensure you have BB for longer in the season - der on that one!
Bottom line is... it will depend on how I feel like doing it tomorrow - stay tuned for further BB updates.

Progress Report

I picked my first crop of dill and coriander for a fish pie sauce. Yum.




Growth
For your interest, everything is growing in the garden...as you'd expect.

• Lettuce leaves are doubling
• Broad beans & peas are reaching for the sky
• Brocolli have gotten taller & fuller as have the carrots.

I am trying to remember to feed the plants weekly. I am just using seasol.

Opportunity
My seeds finally arrived from diggers. Luckily I had planted the seedings else the garden may have been planted too late. I'll save these seeds for next years crop.
I did plant the asparagus seeds into a seed tray. These will go in the front garden along the fence line, once big enough.

The winter magazine from Diggers arrived a week ago, so I quickly ordered strawberries, avacado and a blueberry vine from them before stocks run out! There is a small amount of soil space left - this is where the strawberries can be planted. The avacado and the blueberry can go in the front yard.

Problem Solving
I also pre-empted pests and dieseases hitting the garden so ordered a book on this - just in case.

A question for the audience - How does one best tie broad beans? any help on this is appreciated.

Tania - off to work soon...

Ground Breaking news

Folks are you ready for it.....the broad beans have arrived.
Green stalks have emerged through the mulch overnight.


Oh, what excitement I have in my life.

More Plantings

Well the veggie patch is almost full.

In the same week as the other plantings I aquired some leeks, carrots, dill, basil, oregano, peppermint, peas and bay leaf tree. These went into the patch on the 30th April.

Not much esle has been happening other than the plants are getting bigger. Yes I can hear you all going ... "well, der..."

Here is what the veggie patch looked like on the weekend.

Key Status report:

• Broccoli are getting taller
• Peas are almost due to be given some sort of support.
• Broad beans are yet to surface....

The bay leaf tree went in the front garden with the olive tree.

The Orange tree is looking magnificant and full of offerings. Oranges are showing a slight yellow hue and are a decent size considering the lack of water over summer.


I shall refer my "references" - perhaps it's time to give the plants a feed.. Interested in your thoughts?

take care.

Regrowth and pot luck

Forgot to add that I planted some recycled items as well:

• Ginger that was starting to shoot
• Vietnamese mint from a cutting that Bonnie gave me
• A Self sown tomato plant from last year (I know its the wrong time of year but who knows!)
• Dill from Peter
• Self sown coriander
• Self sown parsley.
  

Fingers crossed on this lot!

Patience is a virtue

The last week seems rather slow.
I've have been quite busy, but alas no time has been spent on the veggie garden.
All the while I've been waiting, patiently for the soil to be just right.

Today I planted a few things into the soil, because I couldn't wait any longer...

lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, parsley, coriander, broad beans, spinach.

I then sprinkled the bed with snail and slug destroyer (friendly to wildlife!), followed by a layer of luecerne mulch.

I had ordered some seeds from the diggers club last week and have a seed tray ready to go. When the seedlings have finally grown, the plan is to fill up the rest of the bed.

I guess this week has promise to be forthcoming with rain and I thought I should get something into the ground - lets hope I wasn't too early to put the seedlings into the soil.

Not much more to comment on at the moment. Just need to wait...

bye for now.

The beginning

All growth starts with a beginning - although like the chicken and egg debate, one could also ask which came first the plant or the seed.

Neither it seems without some key factors:

• Sun
• Nutrients
• Water

In my garden the beginning had to start with the space which had the most sun. I had tried a couple of veggie patches in the preceeding years. The first year I had a few cherry tomato plants which did well and wet the appetite for expansion. The following year, during the summer 2008-9 I did just that and expanded the space by moving some of the non-edible plants and introduced lettuces, cucumber, capsicum, corn, eggplant and more tomatoes. It was really only the tomatoes and lettuces that gave the family fresh produce. The others failed to survive - I'll come back to this at another time.

You can have too much sun it seems. With soaring temperatures of the summer, who says we are not experiencing climate change, many of the ornamental shrubs nearby literally karked it. So they were removed promptly to make way for the New Veggie Garden ( The V patch).

The soil in the V patch was pretty stripped of all nutrients. This I assumed because of my first two attempts noted earlier and my forgetting to give nutrients back into the soil. A man at Bunning's said to me "you feed the soil first, then you feed the plants...". The soil also consisted of a layer of pine bark chips which had to go. So grabbing my tape measure and working out the space (twice) I ordered 2 cubic metres of a soil mixture (top soil and organic) from Broadbents.


Next I removed the the soil from the V patch area and carted it around to my front garden to build up sunken beds that had formed over time (also the place for my future bulb garden under the magnolia tree) then refilled the V patch space with brand new load of soil. Back breaking and leg strengthening work for two days...but was made more enjoyable with a little help from my son.

I then added some lime, wood ash (from the outdoor open fire place), Dynamic lifter and Blood and bone. Added another layer of soil about 5 cm deep and turned the fertilised layer over. It will stay like that for 2 weeks. I'll turn it again next weekend.

We have a dog. He has had free range of the V patch area in the past and this had to change. So from my Bunning's expedition I also purchased some puppy fence and stakes. I constructed a small fence around the V patch to keep out the dog. Curiosity has caught the cavvy due to the blood and bone aroma....and he has tried it on a little to get into the soil.

Lastly, I needed to put in place a new watering system to work in with the new area (another one of my Bunning's purchases). Fortunately it wasn't too difficult just a matter of hooking it up to the one not used but in place already. In the near future with our new water tank I'll be able to maximise water captured from the house roof.

So after three long days, I have sun (well the optimum space for my back yard), I have soil with nutrients and have water.
Stay tuned...