Had a huge list of jobbies to finish yesterday but only finished ½ of them I think...
There was seed to sow in beds, seeds to sow into punnets, cutting's to take, some transplanting, seedling's to plant out, Chook pen to clean/re straw, some pots to organise for a Wetpot garden, wicking barrel to organise, set up a trellis for some climbing peas, sift some more Cracker dust to add to the bed's, place & fill the bathtub bed & join the lime tree beds to make 1 larger one...
From the list we managed to,
- Sifted more cracker dust,
- Lime & put some bedding straw down in the Chook pen,
- B☼ started to clean out Bed #8 by transplanting some flowers to under the Lemon tree & a sage into Bed #3,
- The washing machine barrel had the Lemongrass removed, potted up for a family member... That was an hour long Battle I don't want to go through again... OH the Carnage !! B☼ planted out the barrel with some Lavender seedlings after the soil was freshened up with some home "cooked" goodies...
- Some seeds were planted out in punnets for the Wetpot garden...
- A new bed was made by joining both Lime bed's together& filing it with 2 bags of horse manure, bag of composted horse manure, blood 'n' bone, rock dust, the last of a soil delivery that was stored in the bath tub & the last ½ of a bag of "5 in 1" that was found under the house... 2 poles have been put in for a future trellis for some Tomatoes... Onions are planed for this bed along with a Garlic or 2...
- A wicking barrel was placed between the washing machine barrel & the Zucchini barrel at the end of Bed #1 along with some bits of mango trunk... This helped make a small retaining wall so we could fill the hollow between the new Lime bed & Bed #1 with some soil we have had stored... The grass removed from the new bed was placed in between the 2 beds & some "good bug" mix was sown behind the barrels...
Some compost tea(Thanks Praxxus)was also made & added to a few of the seedlings & some plants I feel are struggling... Will be interesting to see how they go as I have left a few as control plants to see what the difference will be...
I will be a busy this week finishing off a few trellises, planting out some of the seeds & seedlings listed above... I think it is time to check some of the Compost barrels to see if any have finished cooking down so the compost can be bagged up & the bins refilled...
Just to finish up, we visited my parents on the weekend & had to grab a shot of dads Friends...
We counted 13 plants in pots grown from heads of fruit they have bought or "pups" from the past few years plants... The centre shot shows 2 pups forming below a fruit... You cane end up with 3 plants for the next season if all pups survive... The shot on the right was just to show how pretty the fruit is when young... Rather spectacular Me thinks... The 2 to the Right are our first 2 plants... I am hoping to have enough to do a little strip don the fence line with the neighbours...
Remember these guys ???? They are Colorado Striped Potato Beetle & its larva... I have been spraying the leaves & around the base of the Cape Gooseberry plant with Neem & it appears to be doing the trick.. Even though the plant has about ½ a dozen mating pairs on it everyday I am only finding 1 or 2 larva... It has also been suggested to turn them into Larva Pancakes by using flour to dry them out... Might give this a try on an individual Larva as I find them rather than getting the sprayer out for 1 Beastie me thinks... Tar Del... : )»(>E
The Azadirachtin in the Neem oil stops eggs from hatching, stops the larva's ability to moult, & by inhibits their ability to feed... It has these & other detrimental effects on many other leaf eating insects... I have read that when Neem mulch or the foliage spray is applied near the roots of some plants that some Azadirachtin will be taken up & act as a deterrent to some pest...
As far as I know it isn't available as a registered pesticide here in Australia due to not meeting government standards but has been used in India for centuries as for its horticultural & general health benefits to us Ooomans... We use the soap, toothpaste, mosquito repellent, the oil as an antiseptic & in cream blends to help with rashes/eczema...
Here is a link to a QLD Government PDF download that has some useful information & "Discover Neem" has a great round up of it's broad range of uses if you feel like looking into it further...
I purchase all our Neem products from Neeming Australia but there are a few distributors around now...
Have a great one...
To the left is what is left of the collection after any seed dated to expire before June last year was taken out... They won't be wasted, just donated to people with larger gardens than us that can afford a dud seed or 2... Over the past 12 months we have been purchased from a large chain Hardware outlet on & off rather than placing orders for 1 or 2 packs of seed... We will not be doing that any longer as a lot of what's available from there comes imported from the UK, which shocked us, or is from a formerly Kiwi then Aussie owned company that has been gobbled up by Monsanto but that's another story not for here...I will admit to buying a few punnets of seedlings through there as we needed to get a jump on the plantings & unfortunately, the local nurseries were found to be lacking with the quality of their seedlings...
Seed Orders...
3 orders of seeds arrived yesterday !!!!! **Does Happy Dance**
I ordered from our old favourite, Eden Seeds, another trusted Queensland Supplier, Green Harvest & from a store on eBay, Boondie Seeds... This is the first time I have purchased from Boondie Seeds so shall see how they go...
We have been using these guys fairly exclusively for the past few years as they have a great selection "old Australian varieties and organically or bio-dynamically grown where possible" seed varieties...
I bought from these guys at a Permaculture fair some years back & found the seeds to be great... The Turmeric & Galangal sets we are growing come from these guys & have never had a problem... We will be keeping an eye on their website for when their Strawberries & Asparagus sets are available... These guys have heaps of good books & other gardening bits & pieces available for sale... The Madagascar Bean is an old favourite here as it has a great nutty flavour & goes well tossed into salads raw... Unfortunately, the seed we saved years ago was too old when we planted it & did nothing but grow single runners that produced no flowers... It has a suggested sowing time of Spring for us here in "sunny" Subtropical Queensland so we will need to wait a few months before sowing...
I came across this eBay store when I was searching for Mangelwurzel... I have wanted to try this plant after seeing it on the Gardening Australia Website ...It is an old variety of veggie that will provide a leaf crop for us & the Chooks as well as a root that we will be able to utilise in stir fries & stews...
A few other stores that I have only browsed through after recommendations are Cornucopia Seeds & Diggers Garden club... I haven't used either of these suppliers but have heard good things about both so thought I would mention them to be fair...
Saved Seed/bulbs...
We bought 4 bulbs of garlic grown by a local market gardener before New years & have had them hiding up the back of a cupboard until planting time in mid April...
Oh !!!!
& I must mention this up & coming seed supplier.... (Teee he he he he he)
Koo (Dear Daughter #2) has been saving Bush been seed from plants in the patch & have been asked to show her effort... She has named them "Nira Beans".... : )»
They are Brown Beauty Bush Beans we purchased as seedlings last August...The last of them were pulled at the end of February... Hope fully they will produce something for Koo..
The first is what we think is a cross between the Orange Mild Chilli & a yellow Banana Pepper... It has the shape of the Banana Pepper but the heat & flavour of the Orange Chillies... The plant is still growing & producing but I thought I would grab some seed to see if they grow true to type later this year...
Other saved seed include,
Shallots
Basil, Sacred
Basil, Sweet
Bean, Blue Lake climbing
Silverbeet/Chard, Red stemmed
An unknown variety of Flat seeded Bush bean
Snowpea, Roi De Carouby
Pumpkin, Kent/Jap..(We have the seed but all 4 plants from it that have grown in the back yard from last years seed have not been holding onto fruit after fertilisation so I bought the seeds listed above...)
Tomato, Yellow pear
Tomato, Cherry
The seed tin will get a good clean out today so we will be ready for tomorrows seeding frenzy... Anything 2010 or previous will be tossed unless we can't source that variety any more...
Vlogs...
I have started to look through You Tube for helpful information on gardening from everyday people who are out there getting their hands covered in dirt... I was searching for information on Composting & came across a channel put out by a Happy Chappy called Ray (Praxxus) in Minnesota, U.S.A... Although our growing regions are quite different he has a straight forward approach to gardening that I like... I have learnt a few things about propagation & Feral Turkey wrangling (teee he he he he) that I have missed looking through dozen of sites while gleaning for helpful tips...
He also Has some great Recipes which I shall be trying out once I am done with "Asian" March...
I have been working through his videos from start to finish & am really enjoying them... Am up to July 2010 at the moment...
I will be adding links to other helpful Channels/sites as I come across them...
An update for Lynne & all...: )»
The worm farm is going great guns... The little fellas are munching through 3-5 kg worth of "processed" food every week... It is getting near time to harvest the little fellas so they can start again as nearly all the Coconut coir bedding has been turned into castings... They love to mass under their food along with a few Black Soldier fly larvae... The larvae are no real problem & when picked out make a great source of protein for the Chooks... Some even farm them as a food source for their Chooks & for fish bait/food... Here is a great site with heaps of information on the Larvae... http://www.microponics.net.au/?p=175
We have been stockpiling the Worm wee over the past few months just for the Autumn crops... I pour about a Litre into a 9 Litre watering can then spot water the Veggies & lime trees every second week... None have complained yet so it must be good...
Horse Poo Palace...
Charming name me thinks... **giggles to self**
The old worm farm has been sitting around doing nothing but storing some Wetpots so today it was put into action as a farm again...
I filled the 3 tiers of the farm with some of the "special blend" manure compost with some Sugar cane trash and about 1 cup of worms for every level... It will be interesting to see just how fast they get comfy, start little families & eat their way through the mammoth size meal that they have..
My Favourite plant...
B☼ & I have this thing when we go driving around where we get so excited when we see nature start to take back over what we Ooomans think we have conquered... Trees & grass growing in gutters always bring a smile & grass growing from cracks in the centre of bitumen roads just makes us do a seated Happy dance in the car, much to the disapproval of the spawn in the back seat... That is one reason I don't mind the weeds & grasses growing in between the paved paths between the beds... I figure they also provide food for pests which in turn feed the countless Skinks, Geckos & spiders that live in the gaps around the beds & paver's... This Sweet Basil deserves to be a revered plant & wont be harvested unless catastrophe strikes all the other Sweet Basils that are popping up in & around the patch... The others that live in the lawn around the patch are still there even though they have snapped their main stems due to their size... Nothing better than the smell of fresh Basil as you walk around the patch & disturb the leaves on the plants...
Compost...
All the compost drums we made over the past 2 weeks were added to the garden & have been filled up again with the next batch of Horse manure & "fixings"... The big surprise was the horse poo, mushroom compost, Blood 'n' Bone & Cracker dust blend we did last weekend... It has turned out smelling very sweet with no bad odour...
Not the most exciting Clip but better than a photo...
The Patch...
Saturday saw us clearing out & transplanting the left over plants from Bed #1 & the Capsicums from Bed #8.. Bed #1 had the far end topped up with Mushroom compost then both had some compost added along with Bed #3... (Action shot Included)
The Thai green & Early long Eggplants that were trimmed in Bed #3 have already started to bounce back with new growth... 6 Cauliflowers were planted up the other end... I have purchased some Purple Cauliflower seeds that I am going to sow in the rest of the bed to see how they go...
2 of the 4 Zucchinis & a small pot of Lemongrass were planted into Bed #9...They appear to have settled in nicely & have already been given a health drink of Worm Wee... The 2 remaining Zucchinis found homes in the old Lemongrass Barrel & the end of Bed #1...
Bed #10 is going great with the divided Parsley taking root & the Beetroot seeds shooting... Bed #11 had a Coriander seedling & the baby Leeks From Bed #1 planted in it...
Bed #7 has the Broccoli & had the Snow Peas planted out under the trellis on Saturday...
Also managed to clean out the paths between the beds... A bit more clearing of weeds needs to happen... The whole patch is looking heaps better which also motivates me to get in & spend more time out there...
I have 2 bales of Sugar Cane trash to mulch the beds with during the week...
I am expecting a small seed order to come in as well as organising some seeds that we have saved over the past few months... That should keep me busy as well as planing the Wetpot garden that never eventuated during Summer...
I will also do a Worm Kingdom update tomorrow... I think I have waffled on enough here already... ; )»
Weekly Harvest...
Well, that's about it except for 21 eggs... The leeks will be used up in dinners this week & the Lemongrass has already made it into the freezer...
- A new bed was made by joining both Lime bed's together& filing it with 2 bags of horse manure, bag of composted horse manure, blood 'n' bone, rock dust, the last of a soil delivery that was stored in the bath tub & the last ½ of a bag of "5 in 1" that was found under the house... 2 poles have been put in for a future trellis for some Tomatoes... Onions are planed for this bed along with a Garlic or 2...
