Organising the Yard Part II...

Monday walk through...
 A bit of a walk through looking at a few bits around the yard that we did on the weekend in the yard & Veggie Patch...

Harvesting the Spice barrels...
We decided to harvest the Galangal, Turmeric & Ginger (GTG) early this year  so we could renovate that part of the patch for the Aquaponic system...

We got far more than we thought we would as the soil they were planted in was of very poor quality...The Worm cast & Compost tea's gave the leaves a boost in the last few months so the rhizomes must of benefited as well I think...

I think we got twice the Turmeric (left) than the last crop, about the same from the Galangal (middle)... The Ginger (left) produced a lot more than last years crop that was grown from rhizomes purchased from the supermarket... This crop was grown from rhizomes purchased from Green Harvest & produced about double the amount of better looking ginger... Glad we paid the extra now... The pieces with stalk still on them will be given to others & some will be planted into Bed #9 with the Lemon Grass...

New Barrels & other Bit's... 

2 new Wicking Barrels were made up for some seedlings in need of new homes... 2 purple & 1 Thai basil (left) were put in a barrel down in the patch & the Bell Chilli & 2 x of our Banana x Chillies (right) were put in a barrel beside the new Spice barrel by the back stairs...

All the remaining potted veggies were put on a frame around the side of the house with only a few pots & the Bromeliads, including the Pineapple, were left under the stairs with some Aloe & herbs.. The Strawberry wall (left) has had a minor renovation with some more wire cut out to allow for the plants settling down further in the wall & restricting the crown from sprouting more growth...

Have been harvesting a few Broccoli flowers (left) for salads & nibbles while walking around the patch.. Will be saving some seeds once they set..
 There is only 1 white Kohlrabi left (right) & B☼ wants to leave it to see how large it will grow...Will be a week or 2 before the Purple ones will be ready.. Planted out 10 others around the patch & plan to sow some more seed when we can find some space...

The Passion fruit barrel has been overrun by feral Tomatoes & Eggplants that have sprouted from the worm cast that was placed under each of the seedlings... Shall have to thin them out soon but am thinking of leaving the Eggplant in just to see what type it turns out to be... 

 Have also moved bits around the yard & have packed up all the composting barrels until after the reception... I might be able to take out Bed #5 , put in the bedding pebbles, cut down then place the IBC's  before the reception is held but it might be a push.. Was hoping to have a little Barrel system up by then but the 2 new Wicking Barrels have taken up the spot next to the stairs where I was going to put them... Such is...

Random Pic's...

 Some of the produce we have been picking...
Long early Eggplant, Beans, Kohlrabi, Beans, Beetroot, Lemons, Beans,Mangle Leaves, Snowpeas, Dragon Carrots, Beans, Cape Gooseberries, Raspberries, Beans, Honey snap Peas, Oh & did I mention Beans ???



Have also been trying to get a Celery base to shoot & will try to plant it once the roots come in... We do the same with store bought Shallots/Spring onions (depending on what country you live in).. Have bought a few bunches of them marked down to clear for 50cents & didn't loose any after planting them...
 

 That's about all until the weekend..

Have a great one...

: )»

Odd jobbies...

Seeds...

   Finely got around to harvesting the seed from the long purple Eggplant that was on the bush in the patch... After looking in the Seed Savers book we decided to just scrape the seeds out rather than cutting into cubes, whizzing in a blender then floating the seeds out... We also purchased a large white variety at the markets on Sunday so some seeds will be collected from it soon...
   I think I may have cooked the last lot of seeds we sowed in punnets after putting them in a make shift grow box... Some more were sown in other punnets over the long weekend...
In punnets I planted,
Broccoli, Albert x 6
Cauliflower, All Year Round x 6
Cauliflower, Purple Sicilian x 6
Kohlrabi,  White Vienna x 6
Kohlrabi,  Purple Vienna x 6
Lettuce, Mignonette mixed x6
Cabbage, Sugarloaf x 6
Kale, Dwarf Green x 3
Kale Red Russian x 3
Eggplant, Rosa Bianca x 4
Eggplant Udumalapet x 4
Parsley, Italian flat Leaf x 6
These will just be left in a sunny spot in the yard in a tray to germinate...
I also sowed 6 or 7 Blue Lake climbing beans under the trellis in Bed #8 after pulling out the Cucumbers... They just were not preforming well which I think is due to the Tomatoes that grew there before them... Not very friendly to each other those 2 plants...

Compost & Worms...
We harvested all the larger fruit from the Zucchini's to make up a batch of sauce & found 3 to be fairly badly blown with some sort of fruit fly... Would be nice to be able to spray the garden knowing the Neem is going to stick & do the job it should...
Such is as they didn't get wasted & were turned into worm food...

These guys are mating & increasing in volume so fast that B☼ is thinking about getting a bathtub so we can increase the output of castings for the patch & to help some others out... I have 3 bags of composted manure blend to feed them as soon as they have finished feasting on the current batch... The 8 bags of manure I was ageing for a few weeks has now been blended with Blood 'n' Bone & cracker dust then added to the drums for3-4 weeks... I used some of the leftover compost & castings solids/slops from the compost tea to help speed things along with it's added beneficial bacteria... This is the first time I have screened the manure before mixing it so it will be interesting to see if that helps with the process at all...

Have a great one all...
: )»

Wander through the patch...

Update Video...
 The Monday morning update video might become a regular occurrence to help us keep track on the gardens progress as a whole me thinks... If I'm too boring let me know & I shall try to incorporate a jig or square dance in the middle to liven it up...

Have a great week all....

: )»

Vids are Go...

You Tube...
If interested, we are going to start posting some updates onto a You Tube Channel...
2 have been posted today that show a general "where we are" update with the beds... It will be used mainly to show the growth rates of the plants, any little side projects & how to videos that can help explain what the blog cant...

Hope you enjoy them...
Feel free to post any questions/comments & I will try to answer within a day or 4... ; )»

Have a great one...


: )»

It's been a while....

A bit has happened since my last post...
 We have had a bit of rain, lost our Bunny pup to what the vet thought was a snake bite, had a bit more rain, & then a rather serious flood event... We have had to put the garden & some other things on the back burner for a while & have only started to get back into the swing of things now with the kids starting back on their schooling...


 The Feral's in the patch....
 The Kent pumpkin that sprouted in Bed #2 is the only 1 of 2 Pumpkins left the other being at the end of Bed #1... It has had about 6 flowers fertilised, grow to the size of a tennis ball, turn yellow & drop off... I think I might just trim some of the longer runners off & try again with some of the newer ones as it is getting rather large... It now wraps around Bed #1 as well as growing over it & the also down the fence line towards the bottom of the yard... Very impressive looking but not much good if it doesn't set fruit...

Left : A Sweet Basil that I delicately mow & snip around... Right : Ginger that sprouted in the tomato bed.. Must of been a bit left in the soil when we recycled the old spice bed... The tomatoes were pulled due to disease & fly strike.. Cucumbers will be going in after the soil gets fed & a turn... 

 All the other tomatoes were removed from Bed #2 as well... Think we may just plant them near the house where it will be easier to control the fruit fly... We pulled the Fly traps down after 2 weeks as we caught less than 50 in all yet still had by far the majority of the Tomatoes being struck...
Right : The orange Chillies & Capsicums are still popping up everywhere... Happy about this as I think we may need to retire the original Chilli plant soon...

 Too much Rain...

 We lost about 50% of the Kohlrabi due to them rotting in the ground... It was mainly the imiture ones that we lost & like the die back in the Beetroot, we think it has to do with the amount of rain over the last few months... The beetroot do look like they are recovering by themselves & we are picking the larger ones as they look ready... Is a bit of a toss up as the bed could have something more productive go in...



 One benefit of the rain is that we are now seeing little "Rocket" Frogs turn up in the patch... Found a few in amongst the Bush Beans feasting on the small grasshoppers infesting the patch... We keep spraying with Neem but the rain keeps washing it off...  The beans have started to pick up as well... They always tend to after threatening them with being dug back into the bed... A lot of the soil looks really bad & compacted at the moment... This is mainly due to poor selection, as we chose the closest supplier rather than the best, but also due to the rain compacting it as well I think... Most of the beds have had a fork over & a good feed of worm wee (thanks to the new productive Worm Kingdom) & the plants are loving it... I am also getting a quote on some composted Horse manure mixed with worm castings from a supplier at the Gold Coast that will be used to help condition the beds...

Bits going well...

The Egg plants are all going well enough for us to be giving the excess away regularly... The Green Thai have come on well as have the Early Long Purples... We have also been told that what we thought were Lebanese Eggplant (Right) are actually Pingtung Long from Asia...

Left :These are some Shallots I bought marked down drastically at Woolworths...Cheap & already productive... : )»
Right : The Cape Gooseberries keep getting attacked by a leaf munching beetle that feeds exclusively on them... There are also some grubs that squash very easily eating the underside of the leaves... The Darwin lettuce popped up from an earlier sowing that produced nothing...
 The red Cabbages are coming on slowly.. Has been a battle to keep them free of Cabbage Butterfly grubs due to not being able to spray with the rain... I have been spending some time on them every morning squishing grubs & it looks as if we will not loose any... **Knocks on wood**  

One Dragon Carrot has surprised us by going to seed early so we are keeping an eye on it daily ready to collect the seed... The other Carrots are going well as are the spring onions in the bed with them...We have picked a few baby ones & munched on them already...

The Cucumbers are on their last set of fruit I think & we should have some Marketmore Seeds going in this week... The Spice Barrels (Right) are powering along & we are very happy with the way they are progressing...



The Lemon tree is laden with fruit... Unfortunately it has a leaf disease/infestation, like the Kaffir & Tahitian Limes, that must be looked into this week as well...

On the whole I cant complain about the state of the patch... We were not directly affected by the flood as the water didn't enter our property like it did in 1974... The water covered 75% of our back neighbours land (Right) yet they were lucky as their shed/tools were spared & only had their Laundry flooded out under the house... We went & helped a couple clean out their Mothers property on the Friday afterwards but by the Saturday, we were turned away from helping locally so went around offering the use of our washing Machine as a way of helping out others...



Well, that's about it for now so have a great one all...
Hopefully I will post more often now that we are getting back into the swing of things...
: )»

I saw the SUN !!!!!!!!!!!!

Well..... it lasted about 15 minutes anyway....Last 2 days have been fairly dry but now the Washing machine has thrown a tizzy fit so I can't take advantage of the few sunny periods we have been having until it gets fixed... Such is....

 Haven't been out in the veggie patch other than squishing the White Butterfly eggs & tending the Chookies.... I have been slack & not made up the Decoy butterflies or fruit fly traps as of yet... Was busy last week with school reports & curriculum writing for the Moo... All reports have been posted to the Home Ed unit & next years Curriculum for the Moo has been sorted.... Just need to do up Koos application for starting grade 1 now... 3 days of no school & they are already
B O R E D !!! Might get the girls to make some decoys up to keep them occupied...


The plants...

The Bush beans are going great guns as you can see from the flowers in the pic to the Left... We are getting a few plants with beans that are "browning off" as soon as the beans start to form...I have Googled & checked up in our books but haven't come across the cause as of yet...

A bit of pruning has taken place over the last few days.. The Pumpkin has been cut back to 3 leaders.... The tomatoes in the bed to the left got some manky looking shoots trimmed as well.. The bottom leaders are growing more victoriously as well as looking a lot healthier so will let them become the dominant leaders...

The Kohl Rabi (Left) is coming on great as is the cucumbers at last... A dried bean was found on one of the paths so B☼ popped the seeds into the Cucumber bed & they all sprouted within 5 days... I am itching to harvest the carrots so I can plant some more Beans...

The Turmeric, & Ginger are loving the warmer weather... Both Barrels have new sprouts... The Mini Roma's are giving us about 2-3 Kg per week... The poor Golden Nugget in the left of the shot has had it's day I think... Time to dig through some compost & plant some Melon's...Hopefully the powdery mildew wont get them...
The Zucchini's were pulled out & Cape Gooseberries (Left) were planted in the barrels as well as 2 into the Eggplant bed (Bed #4)... Just to much powdery mildew with all this damp weather to keep them...
The Silverbeet seed head (Right) is rather impressive... Really want it to hurry up & produce seed so we can get our first saved generation in the ground...


Shots of the Garden...

Here is a few shots of the garden & gnome taken from opposite corners...
Feels great to sit amongst all the greenery.... Well, it would do if it stayed dry long enough....




Wild Life....

Got a good shot of a juvenile Kingfisher having a snack... We have seen 4 fly around together so this years clutch must be doing alright..
We have also had a couple of visits from 2 Channel-billed Cuckoo's...
I have now found the culprit behind this song...


Weekly Harvest...
Orange Chillies, Shallots, Baby Carrots, MORE Mini Roma Tomato's, Strawberries, Basil, Sage, Lemongrass, Kaffir Leaves, Thyme, Mint, Beans, Beetroot leaves, Eggplants, Silverbeet, some Lettuce found hiding under the Carrot leaves & 3 eggs a day...

Rainfall...
Since the last post on Nov 28th we have had 68mm of rain, with 57.8mm falling in the past 7 days... More is on the way as those on the eastern seaboard would be aware of by now...

That's about it until the weekend when I will update on the Worms, Decoys & traps...
Have a great one all....
: )»