Seed tray, Seedlings & Strawberry wall update...

Even though it has been a while since the last post a bit has been going on out the back...
But first, a quick update on the Rust & pest problem from the last Blog post... The beans were removed & disposed of in the garbage in an attempt to get rid of as much infected matter as possible... The garden was then sprayed on the 17th of September with Neem... The White Cabbage Butterfly caterpillar & Colorado Potato beetle populations have nearly disappeared completely so I am very chuffed with that.. I was contemplating purchasing some Dipel powder for the caterpillars as it will be needed for the Aquaponic system as it is Fish friendly but that can wait until the beds are all set up..


Spring sowing's...
Seeds...
Since the last post a few seeds & a couple of seedlings have gone in...
Bean, Black seeded Snake, Madagascar/tropical Lima
Purple Vienna Kohlrabi
Mangelwurzel 
Beetroot Early Wonder
Cucumber, Muncher Burpless, Lebanese, Mini White
Corn, Baby Pop
Rainbow Chard
Eggplant, Thai, Udumalapet, Large White 
Cumin
Tomato, Black Russian, Brandywine Pink
Rockmelon, Minnesota Midget
Cos lettuce & Unidentified Lettuce seedlings from mum
Seedlings
Mixed Capsicum
Transplanted unidentified volunteer Brassicas  x 2 Bed #2
Transplanted Red salad & Brown onions into Bed's # 1 & 2 form various beds in the patch...
Transplanted the Broad Ripple Yellow currant & Wapsipinicon Peach Tomato seedlings from the Lime Bed into newly prepared Wicking Barrels with cages...

Still waiting for most to sprout & most from the previous batch are yet to sprout but here is a quick look anyway...

Strawberry wall...

As the remaining Strawberry barrel was cleared out to make way for some Tomatoes so what was left was put into the Strawberry wall... Was a bit of a squeeze to get them in but they're all in there now... What surprised us the most was finding 2 small plants that look like they have sprouted from seed...
 Left is a shot before the other plants from the barrel went in... There is a quick look at what they look like now in the clip above..



 
Happy Harvests... 

We are still harvesting the last of the Carrots from the Bath tub bed along with Kohlrabi & Spring onions for coleslaw a few times a week... The last of the Beetroot& Purple Cauli's were harvested for a nice Roast Lamb lunch with guests on Sunday... They all went down a treat...
Still getting heaps of tomatoes from the volunteer plants around the yard & the Mangles that had all their sick looking leaves trimmed off are now providing us with some lovely fresh greens...
Most of the tomatoes on the Right are now a very tasty tomato paste in  the Freezer...


Have a great one all....
: )»

Neem V's Rust, Powdery mildew & pests...

Bean rust & Powdery mildew...
   Rust & Powdery mildew have both present in the patch for a while now but due to the growing size & variety of plants that can/have been affected in the patch I think it is time to get serious with the control of these diseases...  To be honest I have been slack in my research to find control methods that will work against these diseases in the past...

   Rust (Left) was only dealt with once became obvious... Infected leaves were picked off or if the plant was to infected, the whole plant was pulled... 
   Plants infected with Powder mildew (Below) were sprayed with a 1:10 Full cream milk & water mix once the infection had set in with virtually no change in the infection or is spread... Others swear by it's use & say it works great for them but I think our more humid conditions here create an environment where the mildew thrives once it has infected a host... The other spray I used was a commercial Neem oil spray that contains a wetting agent... I had searched & found that Neem was successful in controlling both the mildew & the rust so have sprayed both with a 1:10 solution of Neem oil to water with slightly better results of the milk but ended up resorting to pulling leaves that were infected the most in the hope of the plants bouncing back...
    I have decided to read more than brief snippets gleaned from Google searches & came across "Neem: A tree for solving global problems"... It appears that I have been using Neem the wrong way.. After reading pages 53 & 56  I found that it should be used as a preventative on the plants... Neem works best when sprayed onto the plants before an outbreak occurs as it has little to no effect on the infections once they have settled in... As a result of this newly discovered information I cleaned out the beans & will be spraying the pruned back Lemongrass along with the rest of the patch to try to reduce the risk of these diseases reoccurring in the patch...
The next lot of  Beans going in are Snake Beans which are said to be very resistant to Rust so they will be planted directly into the beds this weekend...
Pests...

Another benefit to Neem is its insecticidal properties... In the past when we have had a regular spraying regime in the patch we noticed a dramatic drop in White butterfly caterpillars (Left) on the Brassicas, Thrips on the Eggplants & Colorado Potato beetle (Right) on the Cape Gooseberries after spraying the plants directly...We were slack over winter but will be spraying the patch every weekend for the next few weeks then fortnightly after that...
  Neem is a plant that has many useful properties & has been used in India & surrounding countries for thousands of years... A great site with useful information is Discover Neem.... We have made up our own Head lice hair conditioner for the kids & have used Neem based toiletries for a few years now & have found them to be great...

Have a great one all...
: )»

Digging in....

  The rain has been great for all.... Dams are full, no major flooding (yet, **Crosses fingers**) & creeks have been flushed...

 Our garden has loved the rain, well maybe not all the plants...  The Pumpkins, Honey pod/Snow Peas all have a medium to bad case of Powdery Mildew...Is a sad day today as we need to pull the Honey Pod & some of the Snow Peas... are leaving ½ the Snow Peas as there looks to be 2 pickings worth of peas & another pickings worth of flowers coming on... Will be chopping up & digging in the old plants..  I was concerned about digging the infected plants into the soil so did a bit of a search on the Net & a few books.... I found out that it shouldn't be a concern for future crops in these areas... Thinking about some Lettuce & Kohlrabi & some climbing Beans on the small trellis.... There are also what I think are some Egg Plant seedlings coming through so might just see what pops up over the next week or so... Should consult the Queen B☼ as well Me thinks...

 

 The mini Roma Tomatoes are coming on nicely... Gave them a trim back around the stem to allow some air flow & also some branches that are encroaching onto the path..









The Chooks have really done a job under the mango tree.... I am thinking of fencing it off & planting some Chook greens.... Just need to work out what they will eat & wont now... We did grow NZ Spinach as we were told they loved it but refused to touch it...   There is a "Grow your own Poultry & animal Forage" Kit available from Green Harvest. so might try that If we can't come up with anything else...
 

Today's harvest.....
Most of the Zucchini will be cooked up with some Mushrooms, onion, & tomatoes to make our all purpose chunky sauce.... The last of this crop of Cabbage will make some coleslaw for tomorrow nights dinner  along with the  Honey Pod Peas...

Left : This Fungus was attached to the roots of some Snow Peas so shall be looking into what they may be a bit later...
Right : These little fellers are popping up everywhere along with 2 other types... I don't mind them but shall just see if they are going to pose a problem in the future...
If you have a suggestion for what food to plant the Chooks or know anything about the Fungus, please feel free to lets us know.... Cheers !!!

Have a great one all....
: )»