Vegetable Gardening @ the Vegetable Patch: regional information for vegetable gardeners on the New South Wales North Coast

Gardening is never easy. We have had our failures and successes - losses with hail and animals and the general run of pests. You name it we have had our ups and downs. My one consolation is that we were not growing to make a living out of it. I love the challenge plus the fact that we are doing something healthy for ourselves by being out in the garden and also in eating the produce.

Our big project the past couple of weeks is to reclaim the area we gardened a couple of years ago. We had about the size of half a building block fenced off from other part of our acreage. This has been left unused mainly to rest the ground for a while and we were putting our energies in building the house. We have had a terrific season with rain and the grass was higher than the fence we put around it.

To see the job ahead of us made us not want to do it. We decided to pull the wire fence down - after attacking the grass that had grown up through it and then get the slasher and cut through the jungle. The grass - so good for mulch and goodness for the soil is a plus that we will appreciate. After spending about a week on this we have now progressed to getting ready to put the tractor on and rotary hoe it. We planned on not having such a large area and decided that we would leave about half of it with mowed grass (cannot call it lawn) yet hopefully we can keep it cut nicely and it will be OK for the kids and the dogs to play on.

We plan to put some winter vegies in this area when it gets prepared. Keep you posted on our plans and progression.. We have another couple of areas we have gardened this year and I felt that we need to give them a break with some different types of vegies. I am going to sow a lot of it with a legume. Maybe peas. They will do well from now on and will also put something back into the soil.

Our late pumpkins and corn are doing well. The potatoes that we planted are just showing through the ground. We have a late crop of tomatoes in (hope they beat the frost - planted quick maturing variety - egg tomatoes) and have also have about 18 plants of an improved grosse lise tomato that is just fruiting all growing well. Today's task was to mulch the tomatoes and prune the laterals. Never ending job with the larger varieties and had to continue to tie them up on the stakes. I watered before mulching (this was overdue but it is done now).

My lettuce seedlings (seeds that I planted a few weeks ago ) were just large enough to transplant out. I took advantage of the weather yesterday - we were having showers and it was quite overcast as well. The little plants were standing up brightly today. The nursery tries to sell me larger plants - I still prefer the smaller ones. My theory is that they are smaller and the transpiration is less. If I have larger ones I reduce the plant by 1/2 or 1/3rd depending. This helps with the transpiration problem also covering them lightly with ferns or grass as a light cover helps for a day or so till they get a hold on. I have a good success rate with transplanting vegies out.

I put in 2 rows of beetroot seedlings as well today. My next task is to wait for a few days and then put some manure out of the chook pen on the bed. I have been putting lots of grass and greens from the garden in for the chooks to munch up for me. It is so good and they do a great job. I retreive about a barrow load for each bed that I plant. This I place around the plants on top of the ground and water it in. I find this acts as a mulch and also fertilizes the plants when they are watered. The manure content is not strong as there is so much other goodies in it that has broken down. So much for my compost heap - this I have to a large extent done away with. I do like my workers as it is less work for me. Enough rambling. Hope the weather is good to you ....I really dislike gardening in February/March mainly because it is so humid and hot.

I have had a very satisfying month with gardening. I feel at long last that I am getting somewhere and that the property is taking shape. It may have been due to the weather, it has been great for growing, keeping up the water was a problem though. Watering with the hose just does not get the same results as rain. Just quietly I do not mind watering with the hose as it is relaxing and sometimes that is what gardening is about. Just doing nothing but seeing things grow and just stand there and think. A mini irrigation system would be good to set up but our place seems so open an area that I baulk at the idea. We have to pump up water from the dam into a storage tank and this gravity feeds water to the garden. It only lasts a week or so depending on usage.

We have been picking corn, cucumbers, tomatoes and chinese greens and a few lettuce. I found the weather played havoc with these. Too humid and they decided to go stimy and brown inside. A few pumpkins have been picked and eaten, much to my husband's horror. He says they have to be vine ripened. They keep better if left on the vine till the vines die I do admit . Why buy when an early pumpkin can be picked from the garden. I think they taste so much nicer.

The family has benefited well out of our efforts as well as what we used. I have frozen some of the sweet corn and some tomatoes (cooked of course). The tomatoes have come into their own with being bottled for use later on for spaghetti and gravy, I made some tomato sauce and turned a few into chutney. Green tomato pickles are great too. These are made out of the little tomatoes that are on the end of the tomatoes when the bushes are pulled out.

My late crop of tomatoes have been doing well. I am picking tomatoes off the Gross Lisse bushes and the Roma tomatoes are growing well and have flowered and have hands of small tomatoes all over them.

Looks like we will have a good crop of them. My couple of rows of potatoes are up and flowering. These have been hilled.

The new corn has been side dressed and hilled. This is going to be touch and go whether we get it to form ears but either way we can use it for chook food and mulch for the garden.

We have a patch of pumpkins that was looking the very much in need of a good drink. I watered them as I had been putting it off as the weather forecast was for showers nearly every day. (Can't believe the weather forcast). These did not eventuate so I spent an hour or two watering by hand. They appreciated the effort and looked much happier the next day. You guessed it. The next day we had torrential rain. The rain has lasted for about 4 days easing to showers most days. I must admit the pumpkins look super now and have put a lot of new growth on the vines. They are flowering well and should set another lot of pumpkins before the weather beats them. This is what I had hoped would happen. Late pumpkins usually are good keeping pumpkins and these usually last us till the next season.

Picking ones with a longer keeping quality is a good idea. Queensland Blue, Potkin, Jarradale are the longer keeping ones Butternut and Buttercup are short term ones and do not hold over the season. There is an endless list of uses for pumpkin if you have an excess of them.

Pumpkin is a very good staple vegetable. It has many ways of being used in cooking.

a. Pumpkin soup (very quick and easy to make).
b. Steamed with other vegies for main meal.
c. Sliced and dry baked with potato (sprayed with little oil) in the oven.
d. Pumpkin Risotto.
e. Savoury pumpkin loaf
f. Pumpkin Pie
g. Pumpkin scones
h. Pumpkin Fruit cake

If anyone would like recipes for any of these or any other ideas or recipes. I would only be too pleased to forward them in.

We had a bit of a set back a couple of weeks ago. The tractor had a little mishap, it ended up in a place it should not have been. Very embarrassing for the driver who is usually so careful. Just quietly he does not like to be reminded of it either. We were going to rotary hoe our recently slashed area. This was put on hold till the tractor got repaired. In the mean time it has rained and the regrowth in the garden looked a bit serious. If anything can grow here it is grass - we had all the right elements. Water, heat, humidity.. We bit the bullet the other day and armed with rake and shovel, fork, wheel barrow and lots of energy (joke) decided to attack the patch ourselves. Our philosophy is just get and do it. We had left all the grass just lie where it was cut to die and keep the ground covered, and found with the rain and heat it had already started to decompose. When we started removing the new growth of weeds and the grass the soil underneath was just full of worms and so friable. So different from when we first started gardening here. All the refuse from the garden went into the chooks. (Could have gone into a compost heap). They soon devoured the greens and scratched in the grass. The soil wet with was quite easy for digging and in an hour we had a reasonable size bed dug over and ready for planting. Today we did another bed and plan to plant some winter vegies in it later this afternoon. Mainly cabbage, broccoli and caulie as seedlings.

March is a good month for planting carrots, peas, swedes,spinach, parsnips and maybe a late row of potatoes. The seeds that I planted a fortnight ago are up and on the way.

Even the parsnip which I find hard to get to germinate came up. I planted some Chinese radish (large, long variety - used in Chinese cooking, salads etc) I was so surprised that these came up in just 2 days. They are about 4 inches high now and growing well. I use a lot of Chinese vegetables - Bok choy, wong bok, and the daikon radish. These are very quick growing and can be used at a very early stage. I plant rather thickly in a well manured bed and keep the water up to keep them growing and thin out the plants when they have well formed leaves and stalks. Thinning them out until the plants have a reasonable space around them to grow properly and fill out. I find that there is always something in the garden to make a meal out of - Chinese meals are a favourite in this house. Quick and easy too.

I planted out some English Spinach seedlings a couple of weeks ago. I find that they need a well limed and a well manured bed and a side dressing of liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks to keep the plants growing well. English Spinach has a shorter growing time than the larger variety and go to seed quite quickly as the weather warms up in Spring. I plant both to keep the spinach going.

Broad beans can be planted now as well. Broadbeans can be picked when they are quite young - sliced like ordinary bean or left for the pods to mature. They often need staking up if the weather is windy as they can be blown over easy.

Not everyone likes broad beans but they have an added advantage in the form of a green crop for the soil. We used a lot of broadbeans for making the soil good when we first started a new area. We found they had a lot of bulk and broke down well in the soil. Good for nitrogen as well as fibre. We dug a trench in the bed and layed the plants along the trench. Chopping into pieces with the spade for quicker decomposition. Add a sprinkle of lime and cover over with soil. Water well. Leave a couple of weeks undisturbed to allow to break down.

We are picking guavas now. Both cherry and the yellow variety. Guavas make good jam and jelly.

Our citrus are doing well. Keeping up the water during the hot weather is essential.

I am looking forward to our first citrus ( I do like home made marmalade and the first of the fruit seems to be destined to going into the pot for this) Even the grandkids like nanna's marmalade. I have a Seville orange which I make into a bitter orange marmalade. This is also nice (recipes available if wanted).

The late tomatoes I planted have done well. The Roma tomatoes are at the picking stage and are doing well also. With the cool weather starting the plants will drop off no doubt. I am definitely going to put an early crop of these tomatoes in next year. They will be great for bottling and using for tomato sauce.

My broad beans have come to disaster. They have had a bit too much humidity and water and I have lost quite a few of the plants. There is still time to plant some more.

Peas should be in and up yet I find these can be grown this month as well. After the frost in early spring another crop can be planted. Nothing nicer than fresh peas. I have planted both the climbing variety (sugar snap and snow peas) and also the bedding variety (massy gem and greenfeast). This will keep us well supplied in peas.

I like putting in the legumes to help build up the nutrients in the soil. Nitrogen is added when peas and beans are grown. These optimally should be dug in when they are flowering as a green crop but also do some good when grown for use in the kitchen. Dig the spent plants into the soil when finished to get the best out of the plants.

The weather here has been great for gardening. Usually April is the start of the cold weather but it has been rather warm up till this week. I went down to the orchard yesterday and noticed the peach trees starting to come out in blossom. They are early varieties -- but April?

It is the time to plant out strawberries. Make sure the bed is well manured and place dried grass over the top to keep the weeds out and give the berries a clean place to rest when ripening. Plastic is also suggested by some growers but I am not impressed with it as I feel the ground cannot breathe properly.

I have spent a lot of time in the garden doing maintenance jobs. The weeds seem to grow rampant here. The early crop of winter vegies I put in (Broccoli, cauli, cabbage and brussels sprouts and the root crops carrots etc) are progressing well. Celery is another vegie that can be tried. I find that this is a very heavy feeder and likes to have water regularly. I am picking spinach now. This is a vegie that can be planted now as well and is a good provider of greens regularly.

I chipped around the brassica and added more compost/manure from the chook pen and watered it in well. It has made a big difference to the plants and it will not be long before we will be picking broccoli. Caulies seem to hang in until later. The cabbage are growing strongly. Keep these plants growing steadily with plenty of water and liquid manure regularly.

The bugs were a pest to start with (due to the warm weather) but I went out every morning and removed most of them by hand. I hate sprays. Once over the first initial flush of grubs the plants started to grow and the new growth was unchewed.

I find that putting a few plants in at a time and then some more later on the supply is kept going and not having all come on at once. Having enough room in the garden is another problem with this system. We are fortunate in having enough area to keep ourselves self sufficient in vegies. With a little thought about it, it is surprising just how little an area you need for some plants.

I have planted climbing beans (summer) and climbing peas (winter) on trellises. We made free standing ones that could be moved around when needed to rotate the soil and tied to 2 stakes to keep them upright. This can also be done by making a frame out of tomato stakes and planting the seeds at the bottom of each stake. The plants can climb up these. Extra support can be added with twine or wire. Cucumber likes to climb too. A couple of plants trained upwards onto a trellis saves space as well.

I have a cherry tomato that climbed all over my bean trellis. Will say it competed for space on the trellis but in between the beans we had a supply of lovely red cherry tomatoes that grew and grew. The kids loved picking them and eating them when they came into the garden, the beans also got munched up as well. The beans have finished but the tomato still is going on and on.

Digging over the beds and manuring them has been on the agenda the last couple of weeks. It has taken us a number of years to get to the point where we can call our dirt good garden soil. We started out with impoverished dirt and over the time have added compost, grass, manure, lime and dug in anything we could lay our hands on. It is now a pleasure to dig it. Each shovelful is full of worms and the soil just falls apart. Keeping the soil healthy makes for healthy plants.

One of the many methods that we have tried with the composting is to dig a trench in the bed about 25cm deep along where a row will be planted later on. Into this I placed the vegie peelings/fruit peels/tea leaves/ and household scraps each couple of days after saving them up in a covered bucket. These we piled in and covered the scraps with the dirt from the side of the trench. Continue until the trench is finished. Leave for a couple of weeks. It is surprising just how quickly these break down and after a quick dig over can be planted with seedlings or seeds.

Another method that we have used is to dig the path out in between the beds placing the soil on top of the beds, thus raising them up, and in between the beds place dried grass, lawn clippings, or sawdust very thickly. We have added a handful of lime and a sprinkling of fertilizer to get his working. This in time will break down and can then be added to the beds when next planting. This also keeps the paths weed free (sometimes) or makes it easier to keep clean.

Making a usual compost heap with all the grass clippings, dried leaves, scraps, paper etc is also good. I found it hard work having to turn it regularly. It is a waste to put all these things in the bin when they can be composted and used in the garden.

With the cooler weather coming on gardening can become less time consuming. Weeds seem to slow down and the grass does not need cutting as often. Watering seems to be less demanding. There is still quite a bit that can be done in the garden. Gardening is to be enjoyed.

June has arrived and so has winter. It hit us with a vengeance the other morning. It got so cold with the freeze that came up the mountains and the winds off that made it decidedly chilly and frosty here. I woke up and looked out onto a sea of white. I went down to the garden and it was a picture post card in the making. The caulies, cabbages and broccoli hung heavy with frost. They looked beautiful. The remains of the summer vegies that had survived till this month succumbed to the cold. The tomatoes, beans and the grammar vine that had taken over 2/3rds of the garden and fence turned black with the cold. I was surprised that everything was still growing so strongly up until then.

This week I have been out in the garden and did a lot of cleaning up and redigging a couple of beds that have been smothered by the grammar vine. Each forkful of soil was filled with worms who had been sheltering in the moist soil. The soil has improved a lot since we started gardening some years ago. It is now a pleasure to be able to dig it.

We dug the beds over, added a handful or two of complete fertilizer and some dolomite and dug this in. I planted another bed of spinach, carrots, khol rabi, and peas. I will add some more chicken manure /come compost on top when the plants grow. This adds nutrients when watered in each time to the plants plus making the ground better for the next digging with the extra compost that has broken down. The day was enjoyable out in the sunshine even though it was rather cold.

After purchasing some more brassica seedlings (cabbage, cauli and broccoli) and another punnet of celery this meant more time outside today planting them out. I also bought some pak choy and chinese broccoli seeds. These are very quick growing. The only requirement is plenty of water and manure. They are very quick growing and fill a gap in the greens.

I have got to like the chinese greens and use them a lot in chinese cooking and sometimes just as another vegetable. There are so many different vegetables on the market that is is worth the effort to try them. You may be surprised as to the taste sensation. Growing something different is exciting as well.

I do like to have things growing in different stages if at all possible. The broccoli that I planted earlier in the year has headed well and I must say has been consumed readily. It has such a lovely fresh taste that shop bought vegies seem to lack. The side shoots of broccoli will mean that we have many more pickings of broccoli over the next few weeks. By the time these are picked over well the new ones will be well on their way to being ready for picking. The cabbages are hearting well and the caulies are still growing strongly.

The carrots, parsnip, swedes and turnips are growing slowly - these always seem to take forever to grow. These vegetables are worth the effort if the room is available. I plant different varieties of carrots depending on the depth and quality of the soil. All Seasons and Western Red are larger longer carrots and Chantenay are stumpier ones for shallow soil. They all like friable soil and not too much manure. Thin out the carrots when they are of a size able to be handled. Continue thinning out as they grow, using the thinnings in salads or cooking when large enough. Leave about 2 inches between plants and let these grow to maturity. Put continuing rows of carrots in to keep the continuity of fresh roots.

My grandchildren are good little fresh vegie eaters. Nothing like a fresh carrot to munch on, or peas and beans. I have even known one of the boys to like to eat raw broccoli flowerettes. Tomatoes and cucumbers and beans are winners in summer.

The peas that I planted in March have grown well. I planted two sorts for bedding ones. Massey Gem and Greenfeast. I have picked the peas off the Massey Gem (this is a smaller and quicker producing pea) and the others have started to pod after flowering abundantly. The frost knocked them back slightly but they have recovered. The peas off the Greenfeast pea plants are a larger pea and are very sweet if not let go too old.

Sometimes some of the peas hide under the plants and get quite large and dry. Too much so for cooking as green peas. These I have podded and added to soups and stews. Not much difference from dried peas when cooked. The beans can be treated the same way. I have found that some of the pods are stringy and the beans well formed. These I just shell and add the beans to the sliced beans.

It is still OK to plant peas. They are good soil improvers. Climbing peas are great space savers. A trellis with Snow Peas or Sugar Snap peas are a good idea. Plenty of good eating on them. These need to be picked often when ready. Do not let get too old.

Where we live we have a resident population of birds. The parrots are great boys for the peas. I have seen them swing down off the top of the trellis and reach down to open the formed pods with their beaks. This always happens very early in the morning or later in the afternoon.

The first lot of celery I planted has grown well, It still needs plenty of water and extra side dressings of manure or liquid fertilizer to make it grow into larger plants. At the stage it is now I can start cutting some of the stalks off like spinach. It is great for stews and soups. Later when the plant is nearer to fully grown it can be blanched for a couple of weeks to whiten the stems. Newspaper wrapped around the plant is fine or perhaps a bucket with the bottom out of it. I found that sometimes when this is done aphids attack the plant being enclosed. Just watch out for these pests.

Spinach is a great green to have growing. The English spinach has a very short growing time here as Spring comes rather early and the spinach does love the cold, but it is well worth getting it in. Silver Beet is a longer producer but I find I like to plant a couple of beds at different times. Keeps it coming on. 6 good plants are better than a bed of mediochre ones. Keep these well watered and side dressed with manure or liquid manure often. The faster they grow the nicer the vegetable.

My late crop of potatoes did surprisingly well. Nothing like freshly dug new potatoes to add to the menu,. I dug half of the bed early and left the rest to fully mature, well so I thought. The frost put paid to the plants and I dug the rest the other day. I had another few that I put in and the plants have only come to the flowering stage - the frost hit these as well but did not flatten them. I may be lucky and get a few off these as well. If not - tough. I knew when I put these potatoes in that I was running a risk planting them. January/ February is potato month and again planting come in June/July.

If you have any spare ground - even rough ground, potatoes are a good way to break up the soil. They need to have a trench dug and the bottom filled with compost and a handful of complete fertilizer sprinkled over it. Cover a little soil over that and place the seed potatoes on top keeping fertilizer away from the sets. Make sure they have some eyes sprouting and fill in the trench with soil making sure the potatoes are about 6 to 8 inches under the ground. Water well. Allow a good space between rows so that the potatoes can be hilled before they come into flower. This prevents the potatoes from greening before harvesting by exposure to the top of the soil in the light. I have covered my potatoes with compost made from dried grass and this later can be raked off when digging the potatoes. Added back to the soil later it helps build the soil up for next planting. When there are shot potatoes in my potato box in the kitchen I share these with the garden and cooking. I cut off quite deeply the shoots and keep aside. These I plant in the garden and cook the rest. They grow quite well and it is surprising how many potatoes that can be harvested from one plant grown from this method.

Don't grow tomatoes where potatoes came out from or potatoes from where last years tomatoes were growing. The soil diseases are transferrable to either species. Crop rotation is advisable to keep diseases at bay.

Onions also that have been overlooked and have shoots growing out of them can also be planted in the garden. Just place the shot onion into the soil, not too deeply and leave for a little while. Eventually the shoots grow and the onions divide into 3 or 4 plants and continue to grow. I often pick these as green onions and use as shallots in salads etc. Left longer they do continue growing to become larger onions.

How are the strawberries going? I started a small bed of strawberries last year and this year it has filled in a bed. They like plenty of manure and it is advisable to place straw under the growing plants to keep the berries off the ground. Strawberries I find are something that I just grow. I have too many visitors in the garden in the form of little boys who have big eyes and always find the ripe strawberries before I can. The birds love them too. Placing a net over the plants helps keep the latter pests off. One year before the boys actually knew what strawberries were except when given to them on a plate I had an abundance of berries. These I hulled and sprinkled a little sugar over and left in the fridge for a while and then had with cream or icecream. The rougher berries I turned into jam.

A job that is good for the winter season.... Do not burn the leaves that have dropped from the deciduous trees. Rake them up and place in compost heap with any grass or other composting material. It is a shame to waste them as they are a valuable resource.

Winter is upon us again. The nights have been cool to cold and the days have been beautiful after a cool start to the morning. Without the wind I would say the days were perfect.

I have been noticing the effect that shade had played on my garden. This has been caused by trees that have grown over the years and the sun has shifted north and the shadow creeps over the garden a good part of the day. It has made the north end of the garden quite shaded and cold and the ground does not dry out. There is moss starting to grow on the ground as well. The vegies that I have had growing there broccoli, cauli and cabbage have grown but not what I would call good. The broccoli has headed and has been picked so I cannot complain about that but the cabbages have not grown very big and look a little stunted. The lettuce did not like the frost and cold shade so they have not hearted well either.

Further along the garden it is surprising just what difference the extra sun has made. I put other lettuce seedlings in and they have hearted beautifully, the celery, and spinach are growing strongly and the climbing peas have just come into flower. This end of the garden gets much more of the morning sun and the afternoon sun as well yet was shaded some part of the day.

The other garden that I have reclaimed is in full sun and I have had better results of the vegies that have been grown there. They looked great - large plants and healthy looking. This is another reason why I wanted to get this area back in production again. The days being shorter makes it necessary for the vegies to get the optimum amount of sun that they can.

The cabbages have hearted well. The caulies and broccoli are growing strongly. I have also planted carrots (I plant these in stages every three weeks or so to keep a supply going) The first lot I put in we have eaten and the others are coming along well. If the soil is not deep Chantenay is a good solid carrot otherwise All Seasons or Western Red if the soil is deeper. I find Topweight takes ages to finish growing. I have trouble keeping the two legged terrors out of the carrots when they are fit to pick. Nothing like munching on a fresh carrot.

I also put some potato cuttings in (shared the potatoes with the garden when I cooked the vegies for tea by cutting off a good portion with eyes on it and planted them when I had enough for a row). These have started to grow and poke through the ground - maybe a little early but I intend to cover them with grass to keep off any frosts that may happen to occur in the next few weeks. A slight nip won't hurt them too much. Make them more determined to grow more shoots. June/July is the time to put in potatoes. I find they do help the soil to break down. I have put them in really rough ground at times and by the time they have been harvested the soil has improved. Don't plant tomatoes in the same area that potatoes were growing. This can cause problems with diseases as they are the same family.

I have planted out some more lettuce and spinach seedlings. I seem to keep things going in smaller lots instead of all at the same time. It also means that when plants are past their best I can afford to remove them before disease gets in if necessary.

Winter time is a time in the garden when it is not so pressing to get everything done. The weeds seem to have slowed down (except the chick weed which is taking over the beds.) This is not too bad a weed to remove from the garden but it is one weed that cannot be pulled out and thrown on the beds. It takes root again as soon as you turn your back. Dispose of it in the compost heap. When I weed these out I give them to the chooks who make short work of them.)

July is time to start pruning the fruit trees and vines and feeding them. Our citrus fruit have been great this year. The first frost managed to sweeten the navel oranges mandarins and tangelos up. The valencia oranges will be later in the season - September. The lemon trees are doing well. Nothing like having your own lemon tree. We have two varieties. One is the Eureka lemon which has lemons on it in three stages (flowers, small fruit and ripe) and the other is a Meyer which is a sweeter lemon and very juicy. It is great to be able to go and pick a lemon off the tree just when you want it.

I have a Ngarmi cumquat tree which is again loaded with fruit not yet ripe but on the way. The rind is very sweet and the center juicy when ripe. It for nothing else it is a picture when the fruit is on it and would make a lovely specimen tree in a large tub. I have preserved some of the fruit whole and made some into marmalade. The kids like eating the fruit when they visit. When I go for a morning walk I often fill my pocket with the fruit and take off nibbling them on the way.

Onion seedlings can be planted now. I find these are very time consuming in upkeep as they take so long to grow. Keeping weed free is a problem. Here on the coast is not the place to really grow onions as the season is quite wrong and they get a fungus before picking. They need a dry summer to grow into.

In preference I planted leeks - These take some time too but can be used at any stage once large enough. Another way I grow onions is with a bunching variety that can be used like shallots in chinese cooking. They keep multiplying and if not used with take over a row very quickly. I have broken mine up and given away quite a lot of clumps. I also place in the garden, onions that have started to shoot in the vegie box in the kitchen. These divide into 3/4 small bulbs when planted and left grow in the garden (just plant the bottom end where the roots can take hold - not very deeply). It is surprising how quickly they take root and grow. I use these as small onions or pick the green shoots for shallots to be used in salads, soups and Chinese dishes again. Great when onions are expensive or you are out of them as an emergency supply.

This is a good time to green manure any spare ground you have with peas or I like broad beans as they have more fibre when dug in. Getting the soil ready for early spring planting can be done now as well. Adding manures and compost and lime and grass clipppings and leaving after digging in. I am afraid that I make my garden work for me too hard and I do not spell it often enough for its good.

Rotating the plants is a good idea as it gives the soil a change as different plants have different nutritional needs.

I find that growing the same vegetable in the same ground all the time without something else in between can cause trouble. A little thought and planning can save problems down the track. Keep adding the compost to help build the soil up. It also encourages the earth worms. Mulching helps as well.

Growing marigolds in amongst the vegies can also be to an advantage. Keeps nematodes at bay a bit and the bees love the flowers.

Keep the compost heap going. Remember to put all the leaves and clippings on it as well as anything else available. This time of year it slows down somewhat but keep adding to it all the time. Happy worms means a healthy garden.

I have been away for a couple of weeks and had a much needed break from family ties. I worked in the garden before I left hoping to come back to something at least a little bit presentable. On my return I found the garden was a mass of green lush growth. (Weeds everywhere amongst the vegies) I left instructions with my husband to pick the vegies that needed to be picked and give them to the family or whomever if they couldln't use them. This did not really happen and he left it all for me to do when I returned.

I was fortunate in one respect that it rained quite a bit while I was away and with the compost that I had on the beds this helped keep the moisture in so the watering was not a priority. The weeds had grown (mainly chick weed) and a lot of the vegies were in need of picking, the broccoli heads had been picked before I went and the side shoots were growing strongly and I picked a bucketfull in a short time. The cauliflowers were a picture. It is surprising just how quickly they mature once they start to heart. I had about 8 that needed picking. I did not have any trouble in giving away the excess. Just as well we like cauli.

My climbing peas have reached the top of the trellis and are about 2 foot over the top. They were in much need of tying up to prevent them blowing about in the wind and being a soft plant falling over onto themselves. This often happens as the tops continue to grow and get too heavy to be held up. They manage to drop over, makes for easier picking though. Beats having to get a step ladder. The plants are a mass of flowers and amongst them are the start of the first snow peas and sugar snap peas. These peas are well worth putting in and growing. The dwarf varieties are fine but I find take up a lot more room for what you get in yield, but they do the soil good so it is a toss up.

Some of the snow peas I have picked and had in a stir fry. I also sliced a few and put in a salad with fresh Wong Bok (chinese cabbage), broccoli shoots and chinese radish and dressing.

I was down the garden the other afternoon and surprised by 6 lovely colourful red and blue parrots. Yes, they were checking out the pea situation and love to eat them when mature. I love the birds but ....These are more destructive than the other birds I have in the garden - only doing what they like and that is eating seeds - pea seeds are a specialty. The little wrens check the beds out all the time for insects and grubs when the beds are freshly dug. I had a kookaburra drop down at my feet before I went away, when I was digging, and he picked up a nice juicy worm. These kookaburras are getting very friendly. One of them we could hand feed with worms. He would sit on the trellis and take the worm from our hand. I have yellow robins and jacky winters, magpies and now have a family of butcher birds that are around the place. We are fortunate to have such a bird life around here. That is another reason I will not use sprays.

I have had trouble growing lettuce. I manage to get them to grow but not heart properly. I am thinking it is too shaded where I have them. The frost has knocked quite a lot back too. I planted some brown minnionet lettuce earlier and these were much better as they were quicker. Maybe spring lettuce will be more of a success.

The other winter vegies are growing strongly. I have spinach that is at the picking stage, the celery I have been using by picking the stalks only when I need them. I will soon start cutting the remaining part of the plant and use it in soup or stews as I have another row coming on. I have quite a number of chinese cabbage type of vegies in the garden. These I use quite often and keep the supply going where I have a spare row. I find they can be picked at any stage so are quite versitile.

I have picked quite a lot of carrots and have a few other rows in different stages. The parsnips, swedes and turnips are growing well. With the frosts we have had these should be sweet now. The broad beans are flowering and as per usual seem to be taking ages to get beans on. I have never had early beans, they seem to go until September/October before we get anything off them. I like these picked early and sliced as ordinary beans. As they mature and get older the beans can be shelled. They are a good change of vegetable.

I have used the broad beans as an aid to building up the garden soil. These I have planted quite thickly and let them grow until quite big and flowering and then have chopped them up and dug them into the ground as a green manure. I like them for this as they produce quite a lot of material to be dug in.

I have dug a few of the potatoes that I planted earlier. The frost hit the plants earlier. The potatoes did not grow very big but are lovely as chats. It potatoes I put in before I went away are just coming up now. These were planted in June. If you want to plant a row or two of potatoes these can still be planted this month. They are great for breaking down the soil as well as getting nice new potatoes.

Since coming home I have refertilized my next lot of cabbage, broccoli and caulies. These have grown well and are well on the way and with another push with fertilizer should head very soon. I put another barrowful of chook manure/compost on the bed and chipped it in and gave it a good watering. The soil is becoming very rich and manageable and easy to dig. I has become a pleasure to dig it now but has taken a lot of hard work to get it to where it is. It is worth the effort in the long run.

As usual the caulies look as if they will all start to heart together. I find that the early ones are better for here. More managable in size and planting them at different stages the supply can be kept going for a little longer. I was surprised as well when checking out these vegies that the cabbage moth had been busy again. The cold means nothing to them evidently. It just meant that I had to check the plants for infestation - I won't use sprays unless it is really necessary.

I can hardly wait for spring to arrive. The peach trees say it is on the way as they are nearly all out in blossom. Another job - Should have pruned them earlier - I can still cut it back a bit and remove some of the excess growth. Another job is the grape vine. It needs cutting back. To do it cut each can back to the second bud from the main branch. Looks drastic when done but the fruit grows on the new canes. When the fruit is set these canes can be shortened to the last bunch of grapes to make sure that all the goodness goes into the fruit and not vine growth.

It is nearly time to fertilize citrus trees again. Our citrus this year has been wonderful. The frost has sweetened the oranges. We had our first lemonade fruit this year. Worth a try if the room is available. I have also got cumquats - Ngarmi. They are colouring well but will be a few more weeks to be at their best. These preserve well and make lovely jam. Good eaten fresh as well.

I am looking forward to planting the tomatoes, corn, zucchini and cucumbers, beans amd lettuce. I am always a little impatient in getting these started. It does not always work as the soil has to warm up considerably before any of these really do well. I find here watermelons and rockmelons should not be put in until really late September early October.

To get a jump start, planting seeds out in trays or pots and keeping them in a warm sheltered situation can make a difference of a few weeks of planting out directly in the garden. I found they all did well last year and took off growing strongly instead of germinating in the colder soil. Just watch out for late frost though as these can affect all of these plants. When planting out these early make sure they are covered for protection from the unexpected frost. Placing plastic bottles over tomatoes helps these grow as it forms a little glass house effect on them and protects them.

For an inexpensive pot I cut milk cartons in half, remove top and bottom and placed them on a tray (make sure of drainage) and filled these with seed raising mix and placed cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkin seeds in each. Label these for planting out later. Let these grow until quite a good size and when the soil is ready for planting just place the plant (carton and all) in and water well. The roots will find their way through the carton and continue to grow strongly. Make sure the ground is well manured for these plants. Alternately, transfer plant carefully out of the pot and place in the ground. Water in well. The reason I like doing it this way is that it does beat the weed problem.

This morning I went out in the garden early - There was a distinct chill again in the air and it was quite cold. Fresh I think is the word. All the same, looking at the fruit trees, the plums and peaches are out in flower and the citrus trees have just started to break out into new leaves. I have one orange - a Leng that has started to blossom already. I love springtime.

This year I planted some bulbs in pots and put them along my front patio and they have started to bloom. Makes for a cherrier place with a few flowers around after winter. Along with spring comes work of course.

This month we dug up a couple of beds and limed and manured them in preparation for our spring crop of tomatoes beans and corn. The soil was great to dig over when we did it. Haven't had any rain since and it is drying out fast. I have put a lot of compost on top to help conserve what moisture is in it. The soil is getting good. The more that can be put in it the better it becomes.

John ploughed up an area to put the pumpkins and watermelons this year which will go inhopefully in a couple of weeks. All I need to do is keep the pesky crows out of the patch. I have seen seeds picked out of the ground , corn can be pulled up and the seed on the bottom picked off.

While I had the beds dug over I did a soil test on them for the Ph. We have been just going by the look of the plants for nutrition etc with them and was not worried about the condition of the soil but throught we would check just the same. I was not surprised when the Ph came out at 6 - 6 1/2 which is good for most plants.

We have over the time put a little lime in every time we planted. Lime is an element that is needed to release the other nutrients and minerals from the soil.

We have at different times placed hydrated lime in the soil along with dehydrated lime or dolomite. The hydrated lime is an instant action lime where the rock lime is slower acting and lasts longer. This along with the compost we add each time is how we have built the soil up to where it is now.

I was going to get a jump start with the spring planting this year I sorted out about 3 trays and put a good seed raising mix in them and planted out tomato, lettuce, chinese greens, cucumbers, zuchinni, corn and pumpkin seeds. I did a silly thing and placed them where a rodent ate all the large seeds the pumpkins, corn etc, and kindly left the remains sitting on top of the trays. The only plants I got out of all I put in was about 12 senposia plants (Japanese green) and I did manage to get a punnet of lettuce plants up. Back to the drawing board again and replant. So much for getting an early start.

My garden is growing well. The peas have been attacked by the birds and it is surprising just how efficient they are at taking the peas out of the shells on the bushes. I have to get in early if we want any for ourselves to eat. Can't complain really as I picked a bucket of peas the other afternoon and there are lots more coming on as well. The peas are snap peas and snow peas and have grown on 2 trellises.

We are still picking broccoli, spinach, chinese greens, cabbage and caulies. The potatoes I planted have bushed well and look good. I can hardly wait for new potatoes. The carrots have started to develop and I have started thinning them out. The little ones are good just steamed with a small amount of butter or margarine added when cooked. I have often cooked baby carrots and parsnips together. These are great together. Thinning out the carrots is a good idea. I always manage to plant mine too thickly and when thinned out they allow room to the others to grow bigger. As these continue to grow thin out the alternate ones.

Coming into the warmer days the lettuce have started to grow better. They will be another few weeks yet before they have finished growing. Fresh lettuce out of the garden is great. I find that lettuce plants needs lime and also needs to be fertilised regularly as they grow, watering well. I try not to water over the plants and water alongside only and water deeply as well.

Our broadbeans have at long last started to have beans on them ready to pick. The fruiting of these is temperature related. No matter when I put them in I find I cannot pick anything off them till September. They are a nice change of vegetable. These can be sliced when picked young or as beans when the pods mature. When the beans are finished, chop up the plants and compost.

Coming into spring it is getting time to plant beans again. Dwarf beans are great as they, like peas, add nitrogen to the soil. I prefer to plant climbers to dwarf beans. I find they are very prolific in the quantity we get off them yet I do manage to grow a row or two of the dwarf beans as well.

Zuchinnis, cucumbers , pumpkins and tomatoes can also be planted now. Just watch out for the last sneaky frost we can have unexpectedly. Last year when all the mulberries were well developed we had a late frost. We lost the lot also some of the really early peaches.

Small plants can be protected with plastic bottles with the bottom cut out. Acts as a mini hot house. The plants can grow well in these for a while till the weather warms up. I find corn needs to be put in late September or early October - yet we always try for an early crop so we can have corn for Christmas.

Watermelon and rock melon need to be planted as early as possible as they have to grow into a hot summer. Plant October for February March picking to be at their best.

Tomato beds need to be manured well with compost and old manure and need to be watered regularly and deeply. I also compost my tomatoes with dried grass or hay to keep them from drying out. I plant tomato seedlings quite deeply - depending on the size of seedling of course. I plant them usually up to 2 1/2 cm from the leaves. The plant will grow roots all along the stem of the plant and therefore make for a better stronger plant. Regular pruning can be done once the plant has started to grow. Do not add extra fertilizer until the first hand of flowers appears and then fertilize at regular intervals as the tomatoes develop.

I can hardly wait for a nice fresh tomato instead of the store bought ones that have tough skins and are tasteless.

I keep a supply of chinese greens growing nearly all year round. Of course there are certain times which are better than others but I do find them so versitile that I keep planting them. I find at the moment they are starting to go to seed but I pick them just as they are starting to develop a head. They are OK for stir fries etc.

Cabbage, beetroot and carrots can also be planted. The white butterfly is a pest coming the warmer weather so keep an eye out for them.

I cannot believe it is nearly the end of September. I was wishing the warmer weather to come so I could plant the Spring/Summer vegies. Now it is here with a vengeance. 29 degree days and humidity high. The plants are enjoying the warmer days and the seedlings that I planted mid September have started to come up at long last. I kept them out of harms way this time and I have succeed getting quite a few up. More will come. l had to protect the trays the other afternoon this time from the elements. The sky looked black and we ended up having a good electrical storm - little or no rain - but small hail. It cooled the air off again, it has been so humid. We could have done with a good shower of rain , it has been so dry here for ages. Keeping up the water to the garden is a challenge. Mulching the plants does conserve the water quite a bit. Full time job here I might add.

My garden looks great at the moment. Everything is growing well even though it has been dry. Watering by hand is not the same as natural rain - After a good storm there is a distinct difference in the growth of the plants. We are still waiting.

I am still picking broccoli yet find this is not holding as well as when it was cooler. It has to be picked when ready - holds in the fridge for a couple of days without any trouble though. I have had an abundance of broccoli that I have taken to using it as well in the salad along with the lettuce, tomato etc. The dressing seems to make it. Give it a try.

The late caulies I planted are doing well. They have not hearted yet but look good and are on the verge of hearting. The plants are quite large and are taking a lot of water to keep them going. They are a deep rooted plant and need deep watering. My guess is that they will come on very quickly from now on and will have to be picked as soon as they heart. It is really late in the season to have them growing but I was given the seedlings and could not help myself - I just had to plant them out. Another reason for not having these types of plants around at this time of year is the white butterfly. The grubs have started again. They just love caulies and cabbage plants.

The spinach (silver beet) is growing extra well and we are picking lots of it. Giving bunches away as it is prolific at the moment. I have planted English spinach as well but have only 4 plants. Usually I have a good row of this as well. It is more tender and sweeter than silver beet. It is good eaten raw in salads too. Mainly the young leaves though. I make spinach quiches and have it just steamed, great in stir fries too. A sprinkle of lemon on spinach once it is cooked changes the flavour considerably and is nice for a change.

If we do not eat everything I grow I give it away the excess or give it to the chooks. Nothing goes to waste. The chooks eat very well as they get all the excess greens and weeds from the garden plus peelings, outer leaves etc. from the kitchen. My morning task is to pick a couple of buckets of weeds out of the garden. Helps give the chooks greens and keeps the garden weed free (ha, ha) - has been a never ending job and more weeds seem to pop up over night.

The amount of manure that I have taken out of the pens is surprising - I have depleted the supply for the time being with my enthusiasm of getting the spring garden ready, but my husband and friend put about 10 huge barrows full of grass and leaves in for the chooks to scratch on. I will reap the rewards later when it breaks down. Beats a compost heap which has to be turned every so often - I let my little workers do the main job for me.

Compost heaps are good just the same as all grass and vegetable matter and kitchen scraps can be piled up. Avoid nasty seeded weeds or diseased plants. I incorporated a handful of blood and bone and other manures and lime in between the layers and kept the heap moist. At this time of the year with the heat and humidity the material breaks down quicker than in winter. Turning the heap a couple of times during the process is the secret to good compost. Use the compost when it has broken down well. Once the heap is turned, start another heap with fresh material and repeat the process.

We have been going through a lettuce a day with the warmer weather. The bed of lettuce seemed excessive when I put them in - same old story - could not bear to throw any away, they all thrived and now is more than half picked out. I have found that some have developed a brown part running through some of the leaves near the rib part. Does not affect the whole plant and can be cut out when preparing the lettuce for salads. This I have put down to humidity and watering over the leaves - which I try to avoid as it can be a problem here. Another solution to the problem which again is water/weather related, is that I have the tendency of planting a little close together and not allowing enough air around each plant. (How else could I put all the plants in if I planted them out correctly and they are only such tiny plants.... I forget that plants grow.) I have noticed a few slugs in some of the lettuce as well. They have not done any damage - just nuisance value. I have had to make sure the lettuce before eating is well washed.

I have more lettuce coming on in different stages and have this week planted more seeds. I have both the hearting variety and also the buttercrunch lettuce in as well - mainly for variety. The cabbages have all but gone. I still have a couple left. The chinese greens have finished also - what were left have gone to seed. I find that letting a good plant go to seed and save a few pods of matured seeds and planting them a little later on in the season. They are such good growers that the kept seeds grow well. I have a lot of self sown plants coming up in the garden at different times. These I transplant out as well when I see them.

The carrots - same story - planted too thickly this time, are growing very well with the warm weather and I have managed to keep the water up to them. I have thinned these out and have used the baby carrots (not too small) both in salads and as a vegetable just steamed. The carrots left are growing bigger with the extra room and I will thin the alternate ones out later when I need larger carrots. I put in All Season carrot seeds, which I find are fine here, as they are not really a large carrot (not like topweight) and can be planted most months of the year. (March is the optimum month though).

A good way to plant carrot seeds is to put some dry sand in a container and mix some seed in it. Gently sprinkle this along the marked rows. Helps spread the seeds more evenly than by hand. Lightly cover with soil or compost and water gently.

I have dug a few of our new potatoes - they taste wonderful. I bandicooted the plants , by hand finding the larger potatoes and I took a couple from each and left the others to mature. This will be in a month or so when the plants die down. I would like to grow all our own potatoes but find that this task is not practical. Space wise it is not possible. What plants I do put in I find helps break the soil down and adds variety to the vegies we have. If you have room to spare it is worth the effort.

Leeks are still slowly growing. I have used quite a few - not fully grown -but better than having to buy them. They are a good vegie to grow. I find lots of uses for them. One thing I find is that they seem to take a few months to grow. Not as long as onions, but they do take up an area for a considerable time. I class celery in the same way. It takes quite a while to grow. I have used nearly all that I planted - I do have a few more newer plants that are on the way to being usable. I noticed at the nursery the other day when I was there they had punnets of celery available again. As a vegetable this plant has to have lots of water and extra feeds during growing period. This helps the plant to be tender and not strong tasting. Lime before planting is a must as well.

I started our spring garden in earnest this week. I have been unable to get to it properly before as I have had lots of visitors staying with us and life is not the same with others around. I put a lot of seedlings in - tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and more spinach. The basil and capsicum have a bed of their own. I planted some seeds in trays a couple of weeks back of pumpkin and corn and these have come up too yet are still not large enough to transplant. The ground is ready so it will not be a big job hopefully. October is about the earliest corn can be grown here. I have put it in earlier yet it manages to just stand still and do nothing. It needs warm soil to grow well. Keeping the water up once it has started to grow in ideal. I find that it is a heavy feeder and needs a couple of side dressings along the way to keep it going and make good cobs. I had planted a row of beans and these have come up haphazardly. Usual for first crop I find as the weather can be not quite right and the soil not warm enough. The missing beans I will replace and put some climbers in and another row or two of dwarf beans.

Water melons can be planted this month. They too need plenty of manure and water to keep them going. Once the fruit has filled out fully, back the water off and let the fruit suck the goodness from the vines till they are fully ripe.

The citrus trees are well out in blossom at the moment and the perfume is lovely - I have a problem with perfumes and find it a bit overpowering at the moment yet appreciate the flowers just the same. These trees have been fertilized a couple of weeks back and well watered. Keep the water up to them if it is dry (good deep water once a week is fine). This will help fruit to stay on the trees. They will often shed the flowers if there is insufficient water available.

I managed to get the mower out of the shed today and tidied up around all the fruit trees and mowed the lawn as well. The place looks a lot tidier now and looks like it is loved and cared for again. I am dreading summer, the mower could be out twice a week.

We have had at long last good rain that has soaked the soil. We could still do with more but are quite happy with the rain we got. The electrical storms, which have been with the rain, have added nitrogen to the soil and everything is growing strongly. Much better than before. It has saved on watering the garden too.

My carrots are growing nicely. I have thinned them out quite severely (used thinnings in salads and cooking) and left a gap in between each plant. These are growing steadily and can be harvested in a few weeks if they are not used before. Quite on the cards as we like fresh carrots. I have put in a couple of extra rows at different times to keep the supply going.

The Caulies that I had in the garden, as predicted, all came to head at the same time. I picked about 6 one morning. I still have about another 6 in one bed and have another 14 in another. They have been delicious and I have had no trouble in giving the excess away. Not large ones just smaller variety which takes only about 2 to 3 months to grow. I get two meals out of each. I am wondering if the next lot I have growing are going to come to anything. They are rather late in the season yet I have kept the water and manure up to them and the leaf structure is growing steadily, except for a few holes from the cabbage moths which are around again in profusion. The broccoli is still producing side shoots. It is such a good vegie to grow and holds in for ages. I often feel reluctant to pull it out and replace it with something else when I am still picking shoots.

The tomatoes I planted in September are flowering. Now is the time to give them another feed. I have taken some chook manure out of the pens and put it around the plants. Keep it well away from the stems and water in well. It is surprising just how much the plants love this. I am taking out of the pens mulched grass and manure which has been broken down for a few weeks. The manure is not straight chook manure which can be a bit strong for plants and can burn them especially if it is fresh. Feeding the plants too much before they flower will only encourage leaf growth and not flowers and fruit so take it easy for a while.

We have been enjoying the silver beet as well. This has really taken off and with all the picking is standing up well. For good plants a side dressing of manure and plenty of water is the secret of good plants. The taste of the silver beet straight from the garden is so much different from the shop bought vegetable. I have also discovered that a squeeze of lemon and a dab of butter over the cooked greens makes a refreshing change.

I have a couple of rows of Chinese greens in. I find that they are just mediocre at this time of the year but are a different vegetable. I also planted some Daikon radish. Great in salads, stir fries etc.

The leeks I planted some time back are growing well. I have been using them but they have a way to go to be fully mature. I have quite a lot in so find that using them before all mature helps spread the crop.

My first dwarf beans are doing well and are about to bud. A good hilling at this time is a good idea as it holds the plant up and keeps the bean fly at bay. Once they fruit keep picked regularly. This is going to be a welcome change from the brassicas. I have two trellises of beans planted. One is Purple King and the other Blue Lake. I have had great success with bother these varieties. Some of the older varieties are nice too but hard to get the seeds for. These like lots of other vegies are better planted more often with lesser plants to keep the supply going over a longer time.

I have planted quite a few lettuce. I am trying some oakleaf ones for a change both green and brown. I still have the hearting variety as well. Some of these are growing strongly and will be ready to pick in a week or so. I have kept planting a few seeds every few weeks to keep a constant supply going. It is better to have a steady supply instead of all at once and having to give them mostly away for lack of use.

We have struck disaster with the corn planting this year. I have tried a couple of times to get some up - first lack of germination (too early I think) second - some varmint (bird no doubt) pulled the seeds up out of the tray and ate them. I managed to salvage about 12 plants which are growing well now in the garden. Should have had 4 times that much in already and another lot on the way. This morning we got out with the grandkids and planted direct 3 good rows straight in the garden. Hope the crows have not got their eyes on it. I have known them to pull the plants up and eat the seed off the bottom of each plant. Corn can be planted here in stages until February. This keeps a constant supply if you have the room to plant it. Stalks and leaves when the corn is finished makes good mulch for the garden. Chop it up and bury it in the garden.

The variety of cucumbers I have planted include the Lebanese, crystal apple, long white and green varieties. A couple of years ago I planted gherkin cucumbers which I picked when reasonably young and pickled them. John is still enjoying them as I put them down in the Vacola outfit. The gherkin cucumbers are also good eaten when larger in salads. Quite a few escaped on me as they hide well.

To make for easier picking I have made a small trellis made out of ring lock wire (squared wire) and a couple of tomato stakes for stability and I find the cucumbers climb readily up this instead of running along the ground. I found that I did not loose so many cucumbers with contact with the ground this way.

The zucchini have started to flower at long last. I can hardly wait for them. By the time the season is over I usually wish I had not put as many plants in as they always manage to bear well. I have quite a lot of different ways to use them in cooking instead of just steaming or cooking in a little oil. Secret - Do not let them get too big - twice as much to use if they are large. I do not like the baby zucchini though but prefer one slightly larger.

With the rain the ground moisture has risen and we planted out some pumpkin plants. These I had in punnets just waiting for a good time to plant out. Saves on the weed problem too as they had a bit of a head start. Mulching again also helps, especially around the roots of the plant. I planted some quicker producing pumpkins and some larger ones. I will plant another few in December to get a late crop. These usually grow into the frost and are usually better keepers.

I am planning on planting some melons both watermelon and rockmelon this week. I have been holding off with these again with it being so dry.

I have put a lot of attention into my fruit trees this year - cleaning around them, manuring and watering etc.. All the citrus have really gone ahead and put a lot of new growth on. Most of the fruit has been taken off the trees and the new flowers and little fruit that has developed is taking over for the new crop. To spread the orange season I have planted both Navels and Valencias. I made quite a few jars of marmalade again this year. The cumquats made into a lovely fruity marmalade. I make mine two ways. Some times I leave the fruit whole which means that the seeds are still inside the fruit when bottled. The other way I cut the fruit and remove the seeds. Time consuming job but worth the effort. The Seville orange tree I have makes really good breakfast marmalade. The kids like the emperor mandarin. There are a lovely lot of mandarins on the market, Honey Murkot is a nice variety as well.

The plum trees have held quite a lot of plums this year even through the dry season. I placed Dak Pots in the trees last year and was surprised just how effective this was with fruit fly. We had some but not as much as the year before.

I noticed earlier that the Nashi pears have flowered together this year. I have two trees for cross pollination and with the number of bees around hopefully we will get a few pears this year. Keeping up the water when the fruit flowers and forms is the secret with any fruit tree as they will drop any fruit if it is too dry. I planted a Packham pear last year and this will not have fruit on it this year. It has all gone into growth which is OK as it will be stronger to hold fruit next year.

The birds are into the mulberry tree, I cannot reach them and the kids are not around early in the morning before the birds get their fill. I will have to net the fig trees again this year to beat the birds as they make short work of them when they are ripe.

After pruning the grape vines back hard this year the new growth is quickly now taking over the trellis. The birds too like the grapes.

Coming into the warmer part of the year is always a challenge in the garden. Weeds are a problem - mulching does help with these and the water. With all the down side of the coming summer - the up side is being able to pick your own vegetables straight from the garden. The cucumbers and tomatoes always taste so much better and the corn YUM.

We have had a lot of rain during the month. More than I would like, but we cannot be choosers when it comes to the elements. There were a lot of cloudy days - no sun at all or very little. The effect of all this has created havoc with the garden. It has made all the plants weak and a little leggy due to too much water and no sunlight and when the sun came it caused another problem. Mildew. The garden has started recovering slowly.

The cucumbers and zucchini seem to have suffered most. One zucchini plant actually broke off due to too much water in the stem. Fortunately we started picking the zucchini from this plant before we actually lost it. It is nice to have a change of vegetable. I picked my first cucumbers this week - they taste so fresh straight from the garden - I start picking most of the produce rather early so as to keep the supply going longer - I find the younger the fruit sometimes the nicer it is - cucumbers are usually good bearers. I have grown Lebanese cucumbers and a long white and crystal apple this year. Given the long green ones a miss for a change. The Lebanese cucumbers are great as they are sliced without peeling provided they are not too large.

The rain has leached a lot of the fertilizer from the plants, which will mean going round and giving them a good dose to catch up again. I noticed the tomatoes had started making side roots on the part of the stem closest to the ground up about 4 inches. (10cm) This I remedied by hilling the tomatoes up over the roots. The plants will benefit from the extra root system and be able to support more fruit. A good dose of chook manure or compost alongside will also help. Mulch to keep the moisture constant. Go easy on the nitrogen, as this will cause the plants to grow leaf and not much fruit.

Generally my tomatoes have stood up to the weather well. They have started to produce a number of hands of fruit and have been tied up to a stake and are 3/4 of the way up. The tomato plants seem to be like the other plants, lacking sunlight, but this will be remedied in a couple of days of sunny weather. It is a full time job taking the laterals out and keeping the plant supported.

When actually tying the plant to the stake, watch where the tie is put, watch the flower part of the plant that it is not squashed into the stake. The fruit needs room to develop. I find that removing some of the leaves help the plant grow healthier as it allows for circulation of air. Keeping the leaves off the ground is also a good idea - stops soil born disease. It is important that the tomatoes (the fruit) are shaded and protected from the sun as they can sunburn easily if left exposed. Make sure the plants get ample feeding and water to keep the plants growing strongly.

I am still picking large heads of broccoli and some caulies. It is late in the season but they have been nice. Guess they will go off quickly now once the warmer weather arrives. The spinach has developed brown spot - due to the rain, but we are still able to pick quite a lot of good leaves off the plants - the chooks get the rest. I will have to resow some more seeds to keep the supply going. The warmer weather is definitely not spinach growing time.

I had trouble would you believe, in getting beans up. I had to try 3 times to get climbing beans to germinate. The dwarf beans were OK and I have one row that we are picking beans from and the next one is just about coming into bud. I usually plant a row of dwarf beans and a trellis of climbers the same time. By the time they have grown the dwarf beans are picking and the climbers come in a little later so a constant supply is available. The climbers take up less room as they can be put on a trellis near a fence or planted at the base of a tripod of tomato stakes and let climb up that. If you keep picking the beans they do produce more flowers and then more beans. They are a great vegetable - good for the garden too as they set nitrogen in the soil.

The rain has upset some of the carrots. Too much water can cause the carrots to split. Not too many have been affected and we are picking quite a few that have grown to a large size. It is not too late to put more carrots in if you have the room. Just watch them with the heat while they are little. They can burn off so keep moist whilst growing.

We have been using the lettuce I planted out earlier. The coral and oak leaf lettuces seem to be coming on nicely the hearted variety seem to be confused with the weather. These may go to seed or not heart properly. I placed some more manure around the smaller lettuce plants this morning and watered it in hoping to push these along a bit. They looked a little hungry and a boost would not hurt them. A dose of Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom salts) a tablespoon to a watering can of water watered in would help a lot of the plants need pushing along and need greening up.

The Chinese cabbage plants are taking off now and growing well. I may be fortunate and have them heart but if not they will cook up any way in stir-fries. The Chinese radish have started to grow long roots. They are a quick vegetable to grow. Typical of most vegetables they have special best periods to grow in. Growing in the cooler months seems to be better than the warmer times.

I did not have a great deal of success with the shallots and spring onions seeds I planted, due to the rain. The Leeks came up and I will have to transplant these out much later. They seem to take ages to grow. Where we are the weather is not really kind to onions or onion family. Mainly too much and humidity. The plants always seem to have a disease problem and mildew does not help either.

The pumpkins that I planted out have flowered and have set a number of fruit. Of course the weeds are in competition with them and will take a bit of time to clean up the patch. The small patch of corn has started to form cobs and tassel. I am disappointed with the number I have for a first crop but the next crop is much better, except that it does need a lot of attention on the patch with weeding and hilling. This should grow well into the warmer weather.

I planted a row of potato cuttings some time back and these are now flowering. I am sure the rain did a lot of good on these, as they look great. They will have a few more weeks to finish off and then we will dig them. Maybe we will have new potatoes for Christmas.

The rain spoilt my attempt of growing melons and rock melons. Maybe next year... I think it may be a little late to replant now.

I noticed the strawberries have flowered again and have set some fruit. The humidity will not do these a lot of good as a fungus often sets in. I have trouble picking any strawberries - We have too many eyes watching their progress, boys and birds and none for us.

Our fruit trees have set fruit ready for next season. They have appreciated all the rain and have grown a lot with it.

Along with the entire garden the lawn has exploded and jumped into growth. I spent the best part of this morning doing some mowing and tidying up - the place does look good for the moment. I still have to rake up all the grass - a lot of it is clover and this will go into the chook pen for a pick for them. Lawn clippings help add bulk to the compost heap don't waste them.

My garden quickly turned into a typical summer garden. Weeds, weeds, and plants that need pulling out because they decided that enough were enough.

The heat has finished off quite a number of plants - the broccoli that I did not pull out went to seed along with the spinach and some of the lettuce. I have lots of work to do just tidying up the mess. Chooks will benefit as I throw all the discarded plants into them. Just finding the energy is the problem at the moment. I still seem to be in holiday mode. That is the down side of the garden. I have had quite a number of successes as well.

The potatoes have mostly been harvested. We managed to get a bucketful for over Christmas. Most of the pumpkins that grew turned out to be quick growing variety and these too have been picked. Just as well as the weeds have taken over the patch making finding fruit difficult. It was great having our own new potatoes and fresh pumpkin again. I managed to plant another late bed of pumpkins before the end of December. I grew the seeds in pots and then just planted them out when large enough. I find this helps with the weed problem as they get a bit of a head start. These should grow well now and into the cooler months.

I seemed to have timed things better this year - maybe it was the season as it has been rather good for growing . I have picked a lot of tomatoes and we had them over the Christmas break. I am still getting lots off the bushes. I will have to give them another feed to keep them growing. This year I tried growing some different varieties. Along with the Marmande and Grosse lisse I have a few egg (Roma) and cherry tomatoes and Quick Picks. These have proven good bearers and the cherry tomatoes are good just to throw into a salad. They are so sweet. Somewhere along the line I procured a Black Russian tomato. The taste of this one is fantastic - of course after you get over the colour of it as it is rather dark. I have intentions of preserving some of the tomatoes for winter. We use a lot of tomato and it does save buying tinned ones. Freezing the cooked tomatoes is handy if you do not have a preserving kit. Just as useful. Every tried tomato jam?

The coral and oak leaf lettuce seem to be the better varieties to grow into the heat. The ones I put in held up well, much better than the regular hearting variety that I planted. These grew but had the tendency to go to seed quicker. The coral and oak leaf lettuce are a softer lettuce but are quite nice in salads as well. The cucumbers and zucchini have done well and we have a constant supply of them. I have included a few zucchini recipes in the Recipe Segment if you are interested. The corn is just about ready to pull. I have another lot just starting to tassel. I should put another lot in this week

I seem to get disheartened with the garden at this time of the year. Too much heat, grubs, weeds.. You name it and the garden has it. Next month is just as bad. Can't be too disgruntled, as there are better days ahead. Getting out in the garden early morning or late evening is still pleasant and is the best time to do things outside. There is a lot that can be done in preparing the beds for autumn sowings.

Have you tried planting your own seeds in trays and planting out the seedlings? It is worth a try. A lot of seeds can be planted direct into the garden of course. We are fortunate here on the Coast in New South Wales that we can plant most of the year and have a supply of vegetable all year round.

This is the time that you can process the excess of the produce from the garden. I have bottled peaches and pickled zucchini and onions. I also picked a bucket of figs and turned them into jam. (This year is the first year the birds actually left them alone - they got the first crop of course and the second is hardly touched - I know why.) The figs are quite dry but made up into jam well.

I am at the present time sun drying tomatoes. I have used Roma (egg shaped) tomatoes and understand you can use any tomato but the egg tomatoes are the best as they are fleshier and have less seeds. I grew them in this year as I thought it would be great to try my hand at drying for a change also good for bottling and sauces etc. So far so good. My trial batch did not last long as it was well received by those who had a taste. I made a note of all the comments. The second attempt is still in the process of drying. It can take a couple of days or more to dry the fruit in hot dry conditions.

I have done other preserving, jam making, and bottling; drying is just another dimension of preserving produce that is homegrown. Give it a try. Contact me if you need and advice or suggestions etc. I will only be too pleased to reply.

The tomatoes have done really well this season and I am still picking from the bushes even though they are saying enough is enough and looking quite past it. The tomatoes have got smaller but are still sweet. The cherry tomatoes are still prolific and are ripening well on the bushes. These have been great for salads. The Roma's are starting to colour on the bushes, yet are getting quite depleted of fruit as I have been picking them when they have started to ripen. The Marmande have all but finished and I still have a few other stragglers that are hanging in. I say I will pull out the bushes tomorrow... It is another job on my list. My family have been kept well in tomatoes over the past 6 weeks and I have used lots. I am still waiting for enough to bottle for winter, if I am lucky enough to manage to keep enough that is.

I have found a few large Gross Lisse tomatoes amongst the jungle on the ground when I was picking. I let one patch of tomato bushes just grow and did not prune or stake them. I thought they were all Roma tomatoes; they have a different growth habit and staking is not really necessary. They managed to grow well. Big mistake.. The sun has been very hot and has burnt quite a lot of the tomatoes that were exposed. Still usable in tomato sauces. I have found the plants are hard to water (I try to keep the water from the foliage) and fruit more difficult to pick, as they seem to be underneath the bushes. The only plus in this experiment is that I heavily mulched the plants before they grew too large and this has protected the ground moisture and what tomatoes lie on the mulch so are not really damaged by the ground.

I planted out a new lot of tomatoes (in January) to keep going for the next month or so. They have reached the flowering stage and are in need of attention with mulching and extra feeding and pruning back a bit. Keeping up the water has been a full time job. This supply of plants has been propagated from the original vines I planted at the beginning of the season. I took laterals off whilst pruning and trimmed these back quite severely and put them into the ground and kept them moist. They take root quite easily and produce quite healthy plants in a short time. When they grew roots and new shoots I dug them out and replanted in their permanent position. This way of getting new plants is quicker than seedlings or starting from seeds. Make sure you get cuttings from healthy bushes though. I have done this a couple of times this season to increase the supply of plants.

I picked most of the ripe corn yesterday I have still another pick or two with the smaller cobs that have to finish filling out. The corn miraculously escaped the birds but I noticed there are one or two grubs in it. Some of the tomatoes have grubs in them as well. I do not like spraying if it can be helped. Not to worry - I share.

This corn is definitely not going to be given away this time. I have enough to freeze a few packets for winter. Just par boil it and then put it in iced water to cool quickly. Cut the kernels off the cobs and pack in plastic bags. Flatten out well and label. Keeps well in the freezer. To use I find the kernels are great in corn fritters or to cook plain just place in microwave in a dish with a little butter and cook for 2 minutes. The corn can be frozen on the cob but I find it takes up too much room in my freezer.

I have another 3 rows planted and this is about 10cm high. I am going to plant another lot this coming week. I am debating whether to plant it in trays and then plant out later when high enough, or plant straight in the garden. The reason for this is water again. I am thinking I can control the water on the trays better than trying to compete with the heat in the garden. Corn can be planted in our area up until the 2nd or 3rd week in February. The spent stalks make good compost for the garden. Chop it up and bury it in rows where it will break down well or place it on the compost heap.

The late crop of pumpkins, squash and cucumbers are doing well. The pumpkins are running and have their first flowers on. The weather is ideal at the moment as they like the dry heat. Usually at this time of the year humidity and rain causes fungus. Not a sign of it as yet. I am hoping to get a good crop from these as we have used all our first picking of pumpkins. Late pumpkins can keep for a long time if stored properly. Make sure they are well matured before picking - store in dry area.

My zucchinis have not been as prolific as they could have but we have had a constant supply of this vegetable. Usually I have had oodles to give away. I did cut back on the number of plants also this year. I have found that they do not like the really dry conditions that have been here for a couple of months. Watering regularly does not seem to be the same as good ground moisture from rain. I only put 6 plants in instead of 12, Maybe that had something to do with it as well. I will be able to get another lot of plants going before the cold weather sets in. We like the zucchini and I find them a very versatile vegetable - our kids are not so fussed. I have added a few of these recipes in this months recipe segment if you would like to check this out.

The climbing beans have decided to produce beans at long last. I am not too happy with the results though. The bushes look OK but the beans have become rather misshapen and curly. I noticed today that a lot of the flowers have dropped and the beans that have survived are not in good shape at all.

? Weather problem. I have kept the water up to them. Strangely the nights here (well until the last week or so) have been quite mild. Beans do not mind heat.

? Seeds. I am getting suspect as to how they gather seeds these days. I have planted seeds at other times and had trouble in getting them up. These came up well but the fruit is not the problem.

I have planted a couple of rows of dwarf beans and hope to do better with these. They came up well and are only about 10 cm high as yet. Time will tell with these.

Last month I planted seeds for lettuce and other vegetables along with Brassica - caulie, cabbage and broccoli. I did a silly thing to the latter tray of seedlings. I got most of the seed up and neglected watering the seedlings continuously, plus not keeping them shaded in the heat of the day - result what seedlings I had up frizzled away. So much for my getting an early start his year. I guess I will have to rely on the nursery again for my first crop of these. I intend to replant again to keep the supply going.

The lettuce and spinach seedlings have done well and surprisingly survived my mistreatment and I have planted a couple of rows out of these. Watching them in the garden and keeping them moist and shaded has been time consuming but has paid off and they have now taken off. I planted these out and put them under shade cloth until they got established. Keep the water up to the lettuce and spinach plants. They do not like being starved of water and can become quite bitter if this happens. Make sure the soil is well limed, as this is also help in growing good plants. Liquid manure also keeps them growing well.

What to Plant
February is time to plant potatoes. Beans can still be planted out. Peas can be planted out mid February. Carrots do well when planted in early March. Getting the caulies and cabbages an early start before the cool weather sets in is recommended; yet with the smaller growing varieties this is not quite so imperative.

Keeping up with the lawns has been time consuming. That is one thing that grows without too much water. Fortunately for the rest of the garden it is native trees, which manage to grow without too much assistance as well. My flower garden is low maintenance and I have started a few hanging baskets of ferns etc for under the verandah and have some other things in pots which are starting to grow nicely. My herbs are growing well now in pots near the house. It is good being able to go outside and pick parsley or sage (I have others as well) when needed. A lot of the herbs I had previously were in the garden, which meant if I wanted something, it was, a trip to the garden to get it. Needless to say the dried herbs sufficed most of the time. Fresh herbs taste so good and are really worth growing.

The fruit trees have needed constant watering to keep the young fruit growing - slacking off with the water can make for fruit drop. The citrus have started to grow bigger now - the crops on all the trees are not as heavy as last year though. I think I have lost all the limes again this year. I said that last year but managed to pick quite a few just the same. I have not really had a good look yet. I planted a lemonade tree last year and got the first fruit off it the same year. This year it is much bigger and has a considerable number of fruit on it. The lemonade is a citrus that is well worth trying. We like just eating them, as they are very refreshing. Not tart like a lemon yet as juicy and quite sweet. Good for drinks. Each year I make a supply of marmalade out of the various citrus fruit we have growing. Beats store bought marmalade.

Looking back over the past year, we have done very well out of our vegie garden and overall I am pleased with the results. I can always get something out of it for a meal, supplemented sometimes by the processed/frozen vegies helps. It is so rewarding being able to go out either in the morning or latter in the evening and pick the vegetables for the day. It is well worth the effort.

My garden during February has been quite a challenge. The weeds have grown well and overtaken all of the beds. The last couple of weeks we have been attacking the garden, only managed to tame ¼ of it so far and have planted some of the winter crops.

My attempt at early Brassica was a disaster - the seedlings came up but I did not look after them well enough. The heat got to them one day and when I found them they were quite past it.

I have planted some carrots, parsnips, turnips, beetroot and swedes, Chinese greens and silver beet. These have started to come up already.

I like to plant Swedes reasonably early as they take a good 4 months to grow well. They like a good amount of manure and water to keep them growing.

Turnips do not take as long to grow as Swedes and usually you can start using these before the Swedes are large enough to use. I find that with the Swedes, it pays to start using these as soon as they are big enough instead of letting them mature and then having a lot of large Swedes to use at once. A good frost on the maturing vegetable makes the taste a lot sweeter.

I always manage to put too many in for our use ending up with a row of large matured Swedes It is one vegetable I find hard to give away here. Really do not know why as they are a lovely vegetable. I like Swedes (provided that they are grown quickly and are sweet) just cooked up and mashed with a little pepper and butter. Of course they can be used in soups and stews for flavouring.

The tops can also be cooked up as a vegetable as well. I find that mixing a few of the leaves in with silver beet makes a nice change.

The Chinese greens (pak choy, bok choy etc) - (they are such quick growers) - were up in a couple of days. We use these quite a lot - stir-fries and of course just as a cooked green with other vegies. Well worth the effort of planting. Ever tried growing Daikon Radish? Chinese radish for another name. Quick grower and useful in many ways in the kitchen.

Make sure the bed is manured well and just keep them watered for all of the Chinese vegies. A dose of liquid fertilizer occasionally keeps them growing. I find they are easy to grow.

My way of planting may be unorthodox, I plant the seeds rather thickly in a row, and when grown to manageable size a few can be transplanted out into another bed to grow on. As soon as the plants are about 10cm high I start thinning a few out and use these greens, letting the others grow. Continue to thin out (using the thinnings of course) until the bed consists of larger maturing plants to let grow to maturity.

Fully matured plants usually only take about 6 - 8 weeks from planting so you can see they are quite a fast grower. Keep an eye on the transplanted greens as these can grow quite fast as well being transplanted out and having no immediate competition. Keep the supply going by planting smaller amounts often.

I have planted out quite a number of lettuce plants. I still have a leaning to the quicker varieties, the Coral and Oak leaf variety and the Butter crunch. I did plant out a row of Great lakes (which is an old variety that does handle the heat better than some of the newer varieties). These are growing well at the moment.

The humidity and rain here plays havoc with the larger variety and brown rot develops. There are different varieties for coming into the winter/spring season. There is such a wonderful selection of seeds available now on the market, pick the variety that does best for the season in your area.

The corn that we planted is growing well and one bed has started to develop cobs. It should have been hilled before this but I have not got round to it yet. I will have to attack the weeds that have decided to grow in between the rows and in so doing will try and hill the corn a little when I do this. The reason for hilling corn is that being a heavy feeder it produces a lot of roots. Most of these appear on top of the ground. Hilling the corn places soil up higher on the root system and anchors the plant better, needs this during heavy winds as the plants can blow over also gets rid of the weeds that have grown along with he corn. The results are better for doing this rather than just letting the plant just grow. To make hilling easier plant the corn in a deepish furrow and cover the seed with soil. When grown to about 10cm high fill in the furrow around the growing corn. . A good side dressing before hilling keeps the plant happier too.

I have another small bed with corn plants that are about 15 cm high. This I weeded and hilled this week. (Nothing like picking easier jobs) Keeping up the water up to the corn has been an effort, it likes water. The rain we had this week has made such a difference to the overall look of the plants. We may be lucky and get ripe cobs on it but I fear they may be smaller. The later in the season the riskier it is to get cobs also some of the flavour is lost growing into the cooler weather. It pays to plant earlier in season with successive planting up to early February.

The pumpkins and squash have been growing steadily for the past couple of months have produced good fruit on the vines. We did have rain at the right time with these, just when they were starting to run has helped the growth. (Weeds included). To procure more fruit just pinch the growing tip of the runners when these are about 3 metres long. Make sure that each runner has set 3 or 4 pumpkins on each runner that you cut back. This will encourage more side shoots and that will produce more flowers and fruit. Keep the water up well while the pumpkin is growing then back off when they get closer to maturity, leaving them to suck up all the moisture from the vines before the vines eventually finish. Having a frost on matured fruit is not detrimental to the fruit but the vines themselves are frost sensitive and it will burn the vines if they are still green.

Only one draw back with pumpkins, I find they have the tendency to climb over everything within sight if grown in a confined area yet the end result is always great with a nice tasting pumpkin. I try to keep mine isolated from the other part of the garden but room is not always available to small home gardens.

Another vegetable in this category is the lowly choko. It needs space to grow. It takes over everything, shed, fence, trellis, anywhere it can climb. I lost my vine last year and have not replaced it. Spring is the time to plant these though. It does not like frost either.

I have planted some more cucumbers where they can climb up a frame and zucchini to keep the supply going with these. The cucumber plants have only started to bear again - the zucchini are just growing and have not flowered yet. Hopefully these will keep going for another couple of months.

The late tomatoes I planted are still growing nicely. Not as well as the earlier ones but I should be able to pick some of these in a few weeks. This too is a bit of a gamble, they are very frost sensitive. A lot of the varieties are also governed by the temperature with regards to setting fruit. I only planted about 12 plants and have really looked after these. Every year I say I should have put a late crop in - have not done it and consequently have not had late tomatoes. This year we will see..

We have done really well out of the tomatoes this year. I have included a few ideas how to use these in the preserving segment if you care to check this out.

I have a bed for potatoes nearly ready for planting. I wasn't going to bother again with these but I find that the new potatoes from the garden are so much nicer than the bought ones. We could never plant enough to keep ourselves in potatoes year round but the small crop we grow we do appreciate. Watch where you plant them. Do not plant them after tomatoes. Diseases from the tomatoes can be transferred to the potatoes and vice versa. Don't plant potatoes after tomatoes.

To get good results from the potatoes make a deep trench and place lots of compost and manure in the bottom and then plant sets (potatoes about 5cm size with plenty of eyes) in the bottom of the trench and then cover in with the soil from on top. Water well, when the plants come through (about 4 weeks) let them grow until they are about to flower and then hill the soil up around them to keep the fruit from greening. Keep well watered. Dig when the plants have died down.

I have not yet got the peas in but they can be planted now, both climbing and bedding varieties. I plant Massy Gem and Green Feast peas at the same time. Different beds of course. The Massy Gem produces peas much earlier than the Green Feast, which is a larger pod and therefore takes longer to mature. The Climbing varieties I plant are Snow peas and Sugar snap and sometimes Telephone Peas. If you have too many peas, freeze the shelled peas for later use.

If you have a bed that you do not want to use for a while, just plant a crop of peas for a green crop and dig in when flowering. This is a good way to get the soil enriched with nitrogen for later plantings. Adding other compost and manure and lime if necessary will help build up the soil for the next growing season. Leaving the beds to fallow for a time gives the soil time to re-cooperate.

If you want, another crop of bush beans could be planted. If it is not too cool they should produce a crop of beans. The beans I have in are flowering and have started to set fruit. The climbing beans are producing beans and we will be picking these in another few days.

With the weeds that have grown well in our garden, John has just hoed them out and left them lying on top of the soil. With the heat and humidity they will die reasonably quickly. This keeps the moisture that is there in the soil and makes for easier digging later on. The weeds that have died off add extra nutrients to the soil when they are eventually dug in. If doing this make sure the weeds do not have seeds on them or it will defeat the purpose of this exercise and only plant the seeds for later growing.

We have had a lot of rain the past week. The rain does something to the garden; all the water in the world does not do what the rain does. This has made the garden look great. The colour of the plants and the freshness that it has put back into the garden is good. With the ground moist again it is a pleasure to get out and do a bit in the garden and even do the mundane jobs like pulling weeds.

The next few weeks will be busy ones tidying up the summer mess and getting the winter vegies on the way. Quite an exciting time really. Remember to keep the compost heap going. No use making a heap if you do not use it though. With the extra growth on the lawns and weeds, this material will help the heap grow. Add blood & bone and a little lime and any manure that is available. This should be ready for the spring garden.

This March is a month that I would like to forget as a lot of other folk around this area would also. Our area have had the worst floods for 40/50 years which has meant that lots of homes and farms and towns were flooded. We had a sea of water for miles around about when the river broke its banks. Not only the river where we live but all the rivers up the North Coast. It has caused much destruction to the farming areas with loss of crops and animals and property and is so heart breaking. But as true Aussies the spirit is get up and have another go. It is surprising just how quickly people rallied to help at the beginning of the flood and with the clean up. The town is nearly back to normal again and looks like it never happened. Of course there are signs around like shrubs that have high water marks up over the foliage.

So saying, I feel reluctant to say much about my garden, which like a lot of others round the district felt the effect of the torrential rain. We did not have a problem with flooding but too much rain and lack of sunshine made for bad conditions in the garden. The lawns did not mind - they grew and grew and grew.

I was pleasantly surprised that the seeds that I planted (carrots and Chinese greens, lettuce and spinach) came up and struggled valiantly on. I felt sure that I would have lost all the seeds I planted with the torrential rain. It was constant and heavy. Just shows how little seeds are survivors.

Some of the potatoes (should have known better) got waterlogged as did the bean plants that were in the same area and came to nothing. I had planted a bed of potatoes in the garden area - the soil was better drained - and these plants are poking their heads through and looks like I should get a few growing.

Weeds have grown strongly in the rest of the beds and it is going to take a mammoth effort to clear these out to get the garden up and running again. It is surprising just how quickly they grow. Best of conditions only, manure and moisture and heat - three elements that make weeds grow well.

I planted out some seedlings of caulies (did not like the wet conditions and many of these keeled over with stem rot), the cabbage are powering away as are the broccoli. This I again put down to soil conditions. Better drainage helped a lot.

I also planted out some Chinese cabbage and silver beet seedlings. Amongst the jungle that I call garden I have a few cucumber vines that have taken off by themselves. So much for getting a trellis up for these but they are growing happily and climbing all over the garden. The cucumber supply has also increased.

The last of the coral and oakleaf lettuce plants have grown tall and are starting to go to seed. These have been great for salads and have stood up to the conditions much better than the hearting varieties.

The zucchini plants are doing well. I noticed this morning they have a few flowers on them. I should get a few zucchinis before it gets too cold.

The pumpkins are still growing well. I have picked quite a few of the butternut variety and the larger varieties are still growing well. The weeds are in amongst them but this won't be too much of a problem now. Makes it hard to find the fruit though. A little mildew is just starting to get a few of the plants. With the weather conditions the way they have been it is no wonder that it did not strike earlier.

The bed of corn has matured - the crows have found it and taunt me every morning at about 6 a.m. The later lot have started to tassel and silk has formed. I am still hopeful with this lot.

The rain has all but put paid to the late tomato plants. Maybe I will get enough to make some green tomato pickles.

I just cannot seem to get my act together as with gardening over the past few weeks. Everything is just growing by itself without too much attention from me, yet I know that I have to get in and do some serious weeding.

I did do some chipping around the plants after it stopped raining. It is surprising just how the little plants love getting some air to their roots. The ground had packed hard and was bordering going green. This loosening of the soil makes it easier for the water to go to the roots too. A good dose of chook manure would help the greens along as I am sure all the rain would have depleted the nutrient supply.

I noticed the difference in the beds that I put mulch on before it rained. When I plant seedlings out I sprinkle a moderate amount over the top of the bed. These beds kept loose on top - the ones that had no mulch packed down tight and the plants looked terrible. This mulching greatly improves the soil and gives the plants a continuous supply of nutrient. I find that it is rather a slow process and the beds that have had more of the mulching are better than the ones that have not had the same attention.

The fruit trees have appreciated the constant supply of water. The citrus fruit have developed well and the trees themselves have put on a lot of new growth and are a lovely dark green. I have some guavas that are fruiting at the moment and are ready to pick - both the cherry guava and the yellow one, the birds love this fruit as well as the soft stone fruit. We are sharing the spoils at the moment.

When I get myself mobile again and into the garden this coming week or so I will need to plant some peas (these fortunately I did not plant earlier or that would have been a wasted exercise). The sooner the better as they should have been in before this. The climbing beans have nearly finished so I will be able to plant some climbing peas on the trellises. They are portable so I shift these around the garden to rotate the different sowings.

I need to plant out some lettuce and beetroot seedlings that have grown up large enough to transplant. I am having no success in getting turnip/swede seedlings up. Second attempt planted the other day. These usually are the easiest things to get up. As I tell the kids, I must have put them in upside down for them not to have shown through.

Another row or two of carrots would not go astray.

English Spinach has a short growing time here so a row of these would be a good addition to the garden. They like the cooler months to grow and drop off very quickly as it warms up.

Broad Beans can be planted from April onwards. Good for a green crop even if you do not use all the beans. Great for the soil when chopped in.

I am planning on just leaving a couple of the beds unplanted. This is mainly due to having too much ground dug up and not needing it for winter vegies. A green crop would help add fibre back to the ground as well - or I could add some compost and manure and lime and start getting it ready for spring planting.

The weather is cooling down considerably which is great. I just love Autumn and the Autumn leaves it is so good to be able to get outside in the garden.

Happy gardening

Well April has all but gone and with it the heat. The mornings and nights are decidedly cooler and the days delightful. Autumn has arrived. The plants are appreciating the cooler weather as well.

My garden is not as well cared for as I would have liked but the vegies that I have planted are doing well even though they are competing with the weeds that have decided to grow in profusion. I have not had the time to be as particular as I would like in removing them all, it seems a losing battle. The manure mulch has improved the soil and all the seeds that were in it have decided to come up.

I have been otherwise occupied in the kitchen the past weeks. I have made pickles, relish and pickled onions, chilis and cucumbers with much of the produce out of the garden and have just finished bottling some olives. I have a batch of jam on the way as well that needs to be finished off. All time consuming but just an extension of the garden. Great for the coming months ahead.

The seedlings of caulies, cabbage and broccoli have grown well and the cabbage are on the way to forming good hearts . The caulies of course taking longer as they seem to grow bigger leaves and then form a flower. I have been surprised that the moths have not attacked these plants - I did debug the plants when they were first growing and since then they have been quite clean. I won’t use any spray on them as we have too many little birds and lizards and frogs in the garden. To keep the supply going another planting of seedlings would help with these vegetables.

The carrots have grown great tops and I am hoping for a good supply of juicy carrots in a few weeks. March is definitely the best time to plant these seeds in this area. I will plant another bed later this month.

The parsnip seed I planted did not come up. I am having trouble getting this seed up. The Swedes came up in profusion and were promptly eaten off by the army worm grubs much to my husband’s horror. Fortunately I had transplanted a couple of rows of Swedes out into another bed where fortunately the grubs did not find them.

I had most of one bed of cauli plants eaten off just above ground level. Very disheartening.

The Asian greens have been great. I try to keep the supply going as they are so quick to grow. Keeping up the water and the extra feeding helps them grow quicker. These along with the silver beet and spinach are a great standby for greens for the coming months.

The climbing beans (Hawksby Wonder) that I put in earlier in the season (September) and did not get any beans off the bushes then, have surprisingly since the weather has become cooler, produced flowers and beans. Not in profusion but enough to keep us in beans. The bushes do not look what you would call lush bean plants but they are hanging in and producing which is the main thing. The Blue Lake climbers have long since been pulled out. I still have not planted the climbing peas or snow peas yet.

I have picked most of the pumpkins and squash. What a job! The farmer’s friends (weeds with spiky seeds that cling to clothing for those who do not know the little beasties) have grown up and make the going hard. These pumpkins, stored, will be great over winter and hopefully will last till I plant again in Spring. We have a
supply of butternut pumpkins (not good keepers) which we will use first. Some of the larger pumpkins will be great in pumpkin soup. I can hardly wait.

My zucchini plants are holding in and still producing zucchinis. Not in profusion this year as I cut down on the number of plants. The cucumbers have kept producing after their second growth. The rain we had started them off growing again and a few extra plants that were self sown from cucumbers that I must have
missed picking. Finding something to do with the excess been an interesting exercise.

The coral and oakleaf lettuce have been growing well. I have again planted out more seedlings and sown another lot of seeds. These I have severe doubts about leaving them to my husband’s tender mercy as I am going away for a couple of weeks. They need constant water as they dry out fairly quickly in the seedraising
mixture I have them in.

The broad beans have grown to about 10 cm. and the bed of peas are growing well. Broad beans can still be planted and so can peas. I like using broad beans as a green crop. They like most legumes produce nitrogen and also being a succulent plant add lots of fibre back into the soil. The beans themselves are a bonus. Picked young instead of leaving them until the pods and beans are well formed makes a nice change. I like them when they have large full pods - the beans themselves are quite floury when cooked. Like any vegetable use it at whatever stage you like -

The potato bed is doing well and the plants have flowered and have received a good hilling. They look like they could do well this year. Nothing like having home grown new potatoes on the menu. The only trouble with growing these is having enough room. They definitely improve the soil. Maybe it is the deep digging
that is required when harvesting the crop.

I put some shot onions and garlic in a bed in the garden some time back. These have started to grow.

I find the onions are useful when you are short of an onion in the kitchen. I use the tops and all. The garlic grows OK. I also have some leeks growing – they take quite a time to grow but are worth the wait. The two capsicum bushes are now producing well. Thought it would never happen but we are appreciating the fruit
that has at long last developed.

This year my garden has not got as many varieties of vegetables in it as previous years. I have a few beds left vacant for green crops - the main reason is shading. I would like to remove a couple of trees that shade the vegetable garden at this time of the year. Lack of sunshine for a good portion of the day does hamper the
growing of the plants. Spring /summer in that corner of the garden is OK. Chopping in the green crops will be a great way to improve the soil for later sowings so all is not really lost.

We have had a wonderful crop of yellow guavas. For some reason the fly has not invaded them this year and the birds have left them alone (well almost). The fruit of these is an acquired taste and I have just stewed these with a little sugar. Great with ice-cream, cream or custard. The Cherry guava (our tree has just finished
fruiting) is also a delicious fruit. Makes a lovely ornamental shrub as well in the garden. When the fruit are on the bush they look lovely. The deep red berries against the dark foliage. They are good eating raw and make lovely guava jelly.

The citrus fruit is slowly changing colour -- I can hardly wait for the first ripe orange and mandarin. Tastes so different from the shop bought fruit. The citrus also means we can have a supply of marmalade again. Thought I had made enough last year….

We have a pear tree that for the first time has flowered and got fruit on it. I can hardly wait. It is only a very young tree so I cannot expect too much of it. I may have to take a few of the fruit off as they grow.

May has come and gone and with it two weeks away visiting the colder climes of Australia. Made me appreciate just what I am able to grow in this part of Australia. I liked Melbourne - very cool at this time of the year and the autumn leaves there dropping onto the lawns and streets. The gardens had a very sad wintry look about them. I did notice the bulbs starting to poke their heads up in the gardens. Just letting you know there is life after the cold. Goulburn near the highlands of New South Wales was very cold. The cold weather had really set in there. Nothing grows very much in winter down there. I was glad to come back to the Coast where the weather was warmer and I have been able to get outside into the garden. Our growing season is definitely extended here for which I am very thankful. My garden after my time away was a surprise. Of course the weeds that I had neglected to dig out before I left (I must have left a lot of small ones in my effort to tidy up before leaving) were growing well along with the vegies. My chooks the first couple of days I was home appreciated the work I did in the garden as I am
sure no greens were thrown in to them whilst I was away. I have picked broccoli, Chinese greens, lettuce, cabbage, carrots and herbs. We dug a bed of potatoes well before they were fully matured. They were growing in soil that I felt was a little too wet as we had quite a lot of rain. With the threatening clouds that were about I thought it prudent to dig them. No rain fell for the past few days so I could have saved myself the trouble and let the plants die down a little more. New potatoes are great eating anyway and the family has profited. I thought that the garden would have been picked out by the time I got home but I found that nothing much was taken out of it. Left me to dispose of a lot of the vegies that had grown and were in need of picking.

Growing strongly are broad beans and peas. These have started to come into flower. The broad beans seem to take forever to fruit as they are temperature governed so will be late September no doubt that we pick these. The peas of course will be quicker.

This week I have planted out more broccoli, cabbage, cauli, leeks and lettuce seedlings in the ground that the potatoes vacated. I managed to get in some English spinach and celery which should have been planted earlier. I added more compost and manure to the soil before I planted the seedlings and when they get up a bit I will add more compost/manure to keep them going. All of these plants love lime so adding a little at planting keeps the soil sweet. I have even tried my hand at salad onion seedlings this year and planted chives for my herb collection. I find that onions do not do very well in this area . They always seem to get a fungus as the weather is not right when they are to be picked. Too humid. I have had a bandicoot eating the carrots and swede-turnips which had just started to fill out. I am not at all happy about that. Never a shortage of wildlife around here, some good some bad but we love having them around so can't complain too much.

My citrus trees are looking a picture. The fruit of the oranges, grapefruit and lemons have coloured up well. A frost will make the fruit sweeter, if I can wait that long before picking some of them. The kumquat and mandarin fruit are still quite green and will take a little longer to ripen. I have started picking the tangelo for
juice. Great eating when fully ripe - September or even later. I have been amazed just how much juice is in each fruit compared to an orange of the same size. The tree is loaded. Two years ago John had to make a support around the tree for the branches to drape over to take the weight . This year it is again needed to support the limbs and the tree is still growing bigger.

The other fruit trees have got a real wintry feel to them. The peaches, plums and figs look sad without their lovely summer leaves.

Things to do: I still have a couple of beds to plant with a green crop. The broad-beans previously planted have grown well and are up about 1/2 metre. Some of these will be chopped in early for green manure. I still have a shade problem in one section of the garden. This has been dug over and left. This is where I intend to plant a green crop. If it does not grow too well it will not be a problem. It is too shaded for vegies. Great Spring/summer position though so the richer I can get the soil the better.

I intend to plant some more carrots and chinese greens. Wong Bok should be OK now along with Pak Choy. It is funny how tastes change, I seem to prefer these greens now instead of silver beet or spinach. Grows quicker too which is a plus.

I am glad the grass has slowed down a bit. Saves on the mowing. Gives me more time to do other things around the place.

Till next time,

Good gardening.

Betty

The weather here has decided to cool down at last. We have had a some good frosts this month. Getting up early in the morning and seeing everything blanketed in white is a lovely site.

My garden seems to be a mixture of vegetables that are just about finished or very young seedlings that are growing strongly. These will of course grow over the next couple of weeks to months and produce good vegies in the long run. I am planting each spare bed as it comes vacant. Intensive farming I think it is called.

My cabbage bed produced lovely heads of cabbage and unfortunately I should have had more coming on at a closer stage than the plants I have in. The caulies came to a bad end. Never got a one out of the first bed I put in. I had a residential rodent who decided he needed a feed every night. On the menu were the carrots and the caulies which had started to heart. The chooks fed well on the leaves which was all that was left. I do hope the next bed are allowed to grow to maturity. They look fine at the moment. He needs dealing with my husband said.

It is surprising just how well some plants manage with frost. The really frost sensitive plants (tomatoes, zucchini and fortunately some of the weeds) have blackened and curled up and died. I have a row or two of potatoes (frost susceptible of course) these are late good bushes that are about to flower. I thought the frost would have knocked them about but they are still growing well I am so surprised how they have stood up to the cold. The potatoes will have to
be dug in the next week or so, so the frost won’t matter anyway. We are enjoying some of the potatoes that I have already dug from some of the bushes that had not finished dying off.

The broccoli, cauli, and cabbage and chinese greens are growing well and love the cooler weather. The broadbeans are enjoying the cool and have started to flower. These won’t be picking for another month or two yet. We have just about finished picking the turnips that survived to onslaught of the army grubs. I managed to transplant a couple of rows out to grow on. John, my husband, was horrified when I first did this until he saw the results of the thinnings as he called them. They grow into large bulbs and mature faster than the seedlings.

The lettuce seedlings have taken off and are growing well. One thing about the coral and non hearting varieties is that they can be leaf harvested like spinach and left to grow on. I let a couple of older plants go to seed head and had lots of self sown seedlings growing strongly in the bed. I have planted a few rows of these out in another bed . The hearting varieties are longer growing and are susceptible to the weather conditions. Good for winter spring plantings.

The onion and leek seedlings are at a stand still. They look like this it seems for ages and then decide to take off. Taking a long time to grow they need a separate bed where they can just do their own thing when they are ready. Keeping the weeds out is always a problem I find.

The celery and English spinach plants are growing at long last. I have just given them another dose of manure and compost to boost them along.

I planted another couple of rows of carrots and more turnips this month. Every last seed has come up. When will I learn that every seed is a potential plant instead of planting so many seeds. Not much harm done except that I will have to thin the seedlings out very hard as they grow. My philosophy is that maybe they will not germinate and if I put more in I am sure to get some up. Great if the seeds are old and the packet already opened. New packets of seeds have a greater germination rate.

I have at last planted the bed of green manure - the seeds are up and hopefully they will grow. I broadcasted the seeds over the couple of beds that I dug up. Nothing formal about it. I just want growth in the plants. The shade in the top corner of the garden has not lessened and this makes it very cold and damp, not ideal conditions for growing anything. I have my eye on a certain tree that will definitely have to go……One thing that may save it is that we have now reached the shortest day of the year and the sun should be on its way back south again which will mean that the sun will start being on the garden more and more. It is a lovely spring summer part of the garden and the soil is great. Having worked that area for a number of years the soil has become tops. I still have a couple of beds in this section that need a lot more work done on them - more manure and compost and lime. It is surprising just how the soil responds to treatment. Each time a bed is dug and planted the better it gets. Potatoes are a good conditioner for the soil. The deep digging that is required when they need harvesting helps the soil more so than the potatoes themselves. Whatever the reason they are good.

I am already looking forward to spring and being able to plant out tomatoes and beans in this area. Just getting the soil ready is a good start….

The citrus trees are a picture. We have so much fruit on the trees – and I am picking it by the bucketful each day and giving lots away to the family. I have been juicing the tangelos each morning, the navels are starting to sweeten up now and the lemonade tree has born fruit this year in good numbers. The mandarin tree has a couple of dozen fruit on it this year. Not bad for a first crop. The fruit have so far escaped the eyes of the grandkids who just l o v e mandarins. At long last the nagarmi cumquats have started to colour. All the kids when they are near this tree pick a handful and put in their pockets and have a supply to chew on - the rind is very sweet and the juice sweetens as they ripen. The tree is absolutely loaded again. Great for cumquat preserves. Fiddly though but worth the effort.

I have just finished making a batch of marmalade today with oranges and grapefruit and lemons. First year that my cupboard has not had any marmalade left in it at all from last season. I have too many people around who like Nan’s marmalade and consequently when I make some they smell it out. I sometimes wonder what I have started……after tasting the home made preserves and the bought ones I know which I prefer though and the result is well worth the effort.

It is a great time of the year. Cool nights but the days have been gorgeous. Not like winter at all. Next month with the winds could be different. The peach trees have started to blossom already - false alarm again most probably as we can still get a few more frosts. Lulled the trees into thinking spring is on the way. It is lovely to see the peach blossom on the trees though - could mean that we will not get much fruit as they could still drop off with the cold if they actually form. We will see.

My garden is high maintenance at the moment due to the fact we have not had rain for some time. Mostly greens which need regular water and feeding. They have been great and we are having a constant supply every night. Found a use for all the turnips I planted as well. The rows were grossly over seeded and of course every seed came up. I have been thinning the plants out (from about 6" high and still very tender and young and not started to bulb as yet) and cooking the greens with some other green like silver beet or chinese greens. (You have to eat your greens - so I was taught as a child.) The lettuce and chinese greens are growing well and I have been using them as soon as they become large enough to handle. Small pak choi and wong bok are great - the Senposia (Japanese green) has a different growing pattern and I usually just pick the leaves off these instead of taking the whole plant, I save that for later when they get ahead of me.

The carrots and parsnips (actually managed to get the parsnips up after many attempts) are growing well - so are the weeds and I have had to let them grow together so I could see what is what and have only started to weed them. I can actually now see a distinct row of parsnip and carrot seedlings. These are going to take a while to grow and I am sure the last of the bed of carrots I had is not going to see me through for much longer. Looks like I will have to buy some at the green grocers for a change. The caulies, cabbage and broccoli have been great. Caulies all seem to come on at the same time unfortunately. Just as well we all like cauliflower in this house. The family has benefited from the over abundance. Nothing like fresh caulie with a white sauce with cheese or parsley in it.. YUM...
I have another bed of broccoli, cabbage and cauli growing on well, these will take another month or so to grow to maturity. I am keeping them growing well with compost and watering constantly. I am really surprised just how well they have grown as the place in the garden that I have them is shaded a fair bit of the day. They must be getting enough sunlight to be as good as they are. The celery and english spinach I planted are growing steadily at the moment. I gave them both a side dressing of manure and have watered it in. Should see the results of this treatment soon. The english spinach is a contrary vegetable to grow. It has only a short span here before the warmer weather comes and finishes it off. I plant it each year and enjoy the vegetable while it is around. I often wondered why it bolted to seed quickly - my thoughts were weather controlled. I read that transplanting seedlings is a no-no as they do not like being disturbed. Planting seeds where they are to grow is a good idea to avoid this , bearing in mind the weather factor. They are definately a cool climate vegetable.

I am watching the peas I planted earlier. Some of the pods are frost affected but the peas will be fine. The bushes are still producing flowers and have lots of pods on just filling out. Home grown peas are so nice provided they are picked before they get too old - no chance here as everyone seems to gravitate to the bushes and pick a handful to eat raw. The climbing snow peas and sugar snap peas are taking their time getting a move on. Once they start climbing they will be on their way. I am so impatient wanting things to grow faster instead of waiting till they are ready.

I have dug all the potatoes that I planted. They have been great eating. The best crop I have grown for ages. We have had potatoes nearly every night one way or another and I have found the Sebago potato has fitted the bill for most ways of cooking. Pontiac potatoes (red variety) are also a good one to grow here. It is
nearly time, if you can spare a row or two, to plant again. Sweet potato are also another vegie that can be planted, they are very frost sensitive and need a good 4 to 5 months to grow. If you plant them make sure the tops are chopped back quite hard so that the plant can fruit and not go to runners. To start the plants off pick a tuber with some shoots on it and put it in some soil. Keep covered in case of frost and when the runners grow these can be again planted out in smaller pieces as every section will make roots and thus make a plant.

It is getting time to start thinking of a spring garden. Collecting mulch material and getting the soil richened up and starting seeds off. I had great success last year with cherry tomatoes as well as the egg tomatoes and the larger variety, grosse lisse and marmande. I bottled, froze, made jam and chutney , and dried quite a lot of the excess last year and this has been a good standby over the winter months.
Start the seeds off in a tray and then transplanting them on into a pot and letting them grown on till the weather is warm enough to plant out. Keep out of harms way and in a warm spot and keep well watered of course. If you have not tried growing your own seedlings give it a go. Use a good seed raising mix is half of
the battle. Garden soil can pack down hard and results can be disappointing.

I find the cucumbers and zucchini and again pumpkin and melons can all be potted individually and then planted straight into the soil. This saves a bit on the weed problem. These can be started this month to be planted out when the weather stays warmer and the soil warms up a bit.

I love planting seeds and watching them emerge and grow. Saves on buying ready grown seedlings from the nursery or supermarket. I do buy a few seedlings - mainly when mine have come to grief usually through inattention or neglect or that I want some at a certain stage to grow. My grandchildren have all taken an interest in the garden and help me with the seed growing. They detoured with me via the garden the other evening. I had to pick peas, carrots and broccoli just for them to
munch on as well as vegies for dinner. Can't complain as they are healthier for them instead of sweets.

The broad beans are growing well and flowering. I noticed a few beans starting to develop. Not a lot as it is still a touch too cold for them to produce in profusion like they usually do later on but it was a taste of what is to come. These will be great chopped back into the bed when they are finished.

The swedes and turnips I planted this year have all but come to an end. Usually we are using them until well into September/October as I cannot help myself and alway put too many in. I still have a few plants growing well to tide me over for the next couple of weeks. These have been great in soups and stews. This year I planted swedes and a mammoth purple top turnip - farmers grow these for the cattle and sheep feed and they grow humungus. Size is not important as they are sweet and very tender and can be used at any stage of growth. I threw all the remaining seeds into the garden a few weeks ago to grow on to a green crop. They
all came up thickly and with the amount of leaf foliage will be great to dig in for green manure.

This month is a good time to fertilize the citrus trees. Mine have been loaded with fruit and are in need of a good manuring and watering for the coming fruit year. The navel oranges are lovely and sweet now and I have a later valencia to follow on. The tangelo tree still seems to have too much fruit on it even though I am
giving it away and juicing lots myself. The later in the season the sweeter the fruit becomes so we will be eating these as well. The mandarins have all gone - like strawberries - too many eyes watching them. I am at a loss as what to do with all the Seville oranges. Great for marmalade but you only need so many - not a tree full. Juicing them is fine but I have yet to convince the family that they are OK for this. Too many varieties to choose from I feel.

My chooks have been munching their way through all the weeds and vegetable leaves from the garden and doing fine. They are paying their way at the moment with producing eggs - so they should as that is what I have them for along with producing manure for the garden. Keeping up a supply of grass and mulch material
is a full time job but the end result is great. I keep them working well for me. I have taken loads of the composted material out of their pens. It has built up my garden well. Worms love it too and they do their job in finishing it off. These are my workers along with the little birds that frequent the garden.

Well I have rambled on enough about by garden. As you can see it is quite a passion with me and I would be lost without being able to get out in it.

Till next time - Good gardening.

Betty

I cannot believe just how quickly this year has flown. Spring is here again. The garden is starting to appreciate the warmer weather and the fruit trees are in full blossom and the bulbs have been flowering happily. There are other signs spring is on the way as well like self sown pumpkins coming up along with the odd bean seed that has wintered in the garden. Most of these have come to grief as we had had a few frosts last week. Just letting us know that winter is not really gone properly.

I have been trying to be patient and not plant the spring crops just yet as I am sure that there will be another late frost or two which will slow things down considerably. I have found that waiting the couple of weeks can make all the difference of getting a good germination or a failure. I have had lots to do in preparation of the garden beds to keep me occupied.

We (both my husband and myself) have been busy the past couple of weeks cleaning out the chook pens of the manure and have managed to put quite a few barrows full on the garden in readiness for planting for spring / summer . We replenished the chook pen with more grass and sawdust. Can't let them be idle.. have to keep them working. The bed of green manure has been turned in. This will take a couple of weeks to break down before we turn it over again. It is a great way to enrich the soil.

The seeds that I planted out in trays have started to germinate and these will be another few weeks before I can plant them out. I am going to plant the pumpkin, cucumber and zucchini seeds in pots and then transplant them out when large enough. I have found this very successful in past years. Corn can be planted the same way and transplants easily. I find this does at least save on the weeding problem.

Last week I went to the nursery and got another supply of cabbage, broccoli and cauli. Maybe a little late for the broccoli and cauli but we will see. The earlier crop is growing steadily and I will be able to pick the broccoli very soon. The cabbage are starting to heart well. They will be a good change from the other greens that I have growing. Being a smaller variety they will the great for coleslaw and in salads.

I have picked most of the peas (one job I really detest is shelling peas) The pea vines have been composted . They do break down well. The climbing peas have decided to flower at long last. I have planted snow peas and sugar snap peas. I use these fresh in salads or steamed or in Chinese cooking. I also manage to share these with the parrots that frequent my garden.

I noticed the broad beans have started to produce pods at long last. Another week or two and these will be good eating. I had to tie them up securely from all the heavy winds that we have been having. Should have done it earlier as they grew instead of leaving them. August winds can be very fierce and unrelenting on plants.

Most of the Chinese vegies have been picked out - great it will give me room to start preparing for the spring/ summer vegies when these are eventually pulled out. I can hardly wait for a decent tasting tomato. The shop bought ones are so tasteless. I often wonder why I bother yet they do look colourful in a salad. This will have to wait for a while yet as they really like warm weather to get growth in them. I have planted about 4 plants out but these have been very slow in getting ahead. Patience……My son in law and myself each year have a competition to see who can grow the best and earliest tomato. We try to be picking fruit before Christmas. He often wins I must say but I keep on trying.

I have given up on eating turnip tops as greens and have left the rows to mature. They are growing at a very steady rate and I am using them in soups and stews as they grow large enough to use. I have managed to do it again I have over planted. What odds, the chooks manage to scoff what is not used by us. They do have their favourite vegies as well.

The celery, spinach and silver beet are starting to come away well and I am picking these now. These have responded very well to the side dressing of manure and the constant watering. I put leeks and onions in a garden bed and these are still growing slowly. The onions have started to bulb but will still take another couple of months to fully mature. I have tried to keep these weed free but find it is a never ending battle.

The rows of carrots and parsnips are growing well and last week I decided to plant another row of carrots, beetroot and radish. I am wondering if I can contain myself long enough to leave the ground free that I want to plant tomatoes in. I get accused of planting any free spot of ground. I do want to enrich it more though with some more compost and manure before I plant out the tomatoes.

I planted a few climbing bean seeds in a tray and these have a good growth on them. I planted these out yesterday. I am hoping for an early crop of beans. The dwarf beans can go in anytime now as soon as the soil warms up…. I find the really early ones do not germinate too well as the soil can be too cold and damp and therefore germination does not take place. The seeds often rot in the ground. Don't plant the first ones too deep and do not water after moistening the soil after sowing the seeds. I have a bed dug up to plant a couple of rows of beans - maybe next week.

The sweet potato cuttings I planted came to grief. They are very frost sensitive and with the frost we had a couple of weeks ago looks like I have only one surviving cutting left. I should have known it could happen. Usually I cover the cuttings with grass - this year I didn't. We planted a couple of rows of potatoes. The last lot we grew were very nice and these are all but finished. This time I planted some Pontiac potatoes and some Sebago. The trouble with potatoes they restrict the ground as to where tomatoes can be planted. One crop cannot follow the other. I did find though that where I planted the potatoes this year the soil has greatly benefited from having them grow in it. Of course the deep digging could be the reason for the soil change.

The fruit trees in the orchard are looking a picture. The plum trees have been a ball of white and the peach trees a delightful pink all but finished now with a tinge of green coming on the branches. We fertilized and watered our citrus trees last week just before they come into bud and new leaf. With the crops of fruit that we had off them they certainly needed a boost along for the next season as they look decidedly yellowish. I can hardly wait till they all break out in full blossom.

Our grape vines - really do not know why I persist with these as we do not get any fruit for ourselves due to the birds again - need to be pruned. I am a little late this year. Fortunately they have not shot yet but with the warmer weather they will soon break into leaf and fruit.

It must be getting warmer as the mulberry tree has flowered and got new leaves and fruit on it. The birds are watching these as well and I am afraid to say they get the lion share of these. The fig trees are just starting to make green tips which is an early sign of growth. The guava tree still has signs of the effects of winter with the leaves still a reddish brown but on closer examination there are new shoots coming on the branches. It is so nice to be able to pick the fresh fruit from the trees.

Coming into Spring is such a lovely time. There is so much that can be done in the garden and the weather is delightful. It is such a joy to be outside.

Where has the month gone… Spring is truly here and the garden is just jumping away. So are the weeds. I have been really enjoying getting up early now and spending a bit of time in the garden before breakfast. I hate daylight saving when it comes in. I am usually just getting into a routine of rising early and being outside for a bit and then the time changes and so does everything else. It would be great if we did not have to follow the clock. The late afternoons are great for gardening too as they are decidedly cooler.

The warm weather has caused quite a number of vegetables start to go to seed but that is only telling me that they are growing slightly out of season and should have been used before this or that I may have been tempting fate by trying to get another crop in before the weather really warmed up. The chooks have fared well with the plants that have really gone to seed but they do not mind. I have a job ahead of me clearing out the old plants and redigging ready to plant something else. Keeps the garden going around and around.

The spring vegies have started well. the late broccoli, cabbage and cauli that I planted early in September are growing well. Having these late in the season makes for a short crop and they do not hold well because of the warm weather and may run to seed so I only have a few of each of these. I just had to plant something in the freshly dug beds. Can’t help myself. See a patch and have to plant it.

I have not been able to contain myself as per usual. The ground we dug up for tomatoes is slowly disappearing. I have still one bed that is free and ready to plant after we spent some time digging and manuring it some time back. The tomato plants are growing well in the pots and will be ready to put out this week. I have already a small bed of tomatoes in and these have grown well and are near the flowering stage. A good feed and a small hill will kick these along well.

The climbing beans, lettuce, cucumbers, and zucchini are growing strongly. All the lettuce have just about hearted at the same time. I will have to plant out some more seedlings to keep the supply going. Coming on warmer weather salads are a great stand by.

I planted out some of the pumpkin seedlings and these are just coming into their true leaf since I planted them out. They are on their way. I hope the bees keep hanging around to pollinate them. Hopefully by the time they flower and the corn is tasselling there will be another influx of them. It is great to see the little workers going strongly on the plants. The clover that we have in the lawn is flowering too at the moment so they are in great numbers in this as well. Bare feet beware.

Keeping up the water has been a problem here as we have had very little rain over the past few months and the ground is so dry. We did have a nice shower or two last week and the difference that this made to the plants was very evident even thought it did not really saturate the soil . There is just something in the rain that hand watering cannot do. We could still do with a couple of inches of rain just the same.

I planted a couple of rows of corn and these with the warm weather have started to come up well. I have found that planting this too early in the season does not really help. The ground temperature is not quite right and even though it germinates does so does so rather spasmodically and will just sit waiting for the warmer days and nights to get a move on.

The carrots, radish and beetroot that I planted very early spring are growing well and the radish are nearly large enough to pick. I tried planting radish seed along with carrot seed in the same row. The radish come up very quickly (2 –3 days) and show the row and then the carrots germinate later. The radish have grown happily along with the carrots and are bulbing well on top of the ground. I did not put a lot of radish in but these will make a nice addition to the salad. They are such quick growers.

I have planted kohl rabi and this is now starting to slightly bulb. This is a great vegetable. I use it in lots of things either cooked or raw. Great in cole-slaw, patties, steamed with other vegies or served with cheese sauce. If you have not tried it, it is very similar to turnip in texture only milder taste. More like a cross between cabbage and celery. I have found it quite easy to grow.

The English spinach is definitely not liking the warmer weather and looks like it will go to seed very soon. Still a few more picks on the plants yet so looks like I make the most of that. The Silver beet is growing strongly and I have given it a couple of side dresses of chook manure to keep it growing. Keeping it well watered has helped. The celery is of the same nature, given plenty of water and food and it grows well. This has been a welcome vegetable for soups and stews and now for salads.

We have been using the broad beans which seemed to be forever coming and now the bushes are quite laden with pods. The plants have grown very tall and have flowered right to the top. Could have taken the tips out which would have helped them fruit sooner but didn’t. These will be great for composting when they are finished growing or we get sick of eating all the beans whichever is the first. I cannot convince all the family that they are good eating so looks like we are stuck with them ourselves, I actually gave some away to a friend the other day to help ease the situation.. According to the kids they fall in the same category as Brussels sprouts.

The snow peas and sugar snap peas have come on now the weather has decided to warm up. I started cooking sugar snap peas and the broad beans together when I did not have enough of either for a meal. The snow peas are great in stir fries or even sliced up and put in salads. The peas are still growing quite well as yet, another couple of months and the mildew could set in so I am still tossing whether to try another crop or put another trellis of beans in.

I have managed to get some more sweet potato shoots and will retry these again. Hopefully all the cold weather is behind us. All I have to do is find a corner that can be devoted to these plants for about 4 or 5 months. Corners are fast running out in my garden as there is always something there to fill it up.

I have planted some watermelon seeds and rockmelon seeds. Nothing nicer than being able to pick your own fruit. I hope I have left enough room for these to run well.

We planted a couple of rows of red potatoes (pontiac) and some Sebago potatoes. These are near the hilling stage. I am going to have to keep the water up to these this time to get them to fill out if we are to get any sort of a crop off them.

I have run out of room very quickly in the garden - never enough room to grow everything I want. My herbs have been shifted from the garden into pots (nearer the house too) to make room for other things in the garden.

The citrus trees have picked up the manure that we gave them last month and the blossoms are a treat. They are just laden. Poor tree if they have to carry all that amount of fruit. A lot of these will drop off - more if they are not watered well as the fruit develops . The trees have all new growth starting which is very encouraging. The plums and peach trees have all started to produce fruit albeit little at the moment but looks like a bumper crop. I sometimes wonder just who gets the most, the birds, flying foxes, grubs or us. Nothing like sharing I suppose.
We have a Nashi pear tree as well and these have just started to produce blossoms. The figs have started to produce the first crop of fruit and the leaves have grown in the last week. I am definitely going to net these trees to keep the birds out.
Our mulberry tree after we chopped a few limbs off it, has grown to the sky and of course all the fruit is way up high. Good for the birds to get - I will need a good ladder and/or a couple of kids to help if we are to get any. I am sure it has its feet in a good paddock, well, chook pen to be exact. No wonder it is growing at such knots and to think I only put it there as a cutting a few years ago. It was never intended to grow permanently there and somehow did not get transplanted out at an earlier age. John has threatened it with the chain saw.. maybe that is why it was not planted out. They can be very invasive root wise.

I have actually managed to pick some strawberries this week. Wonders never cease. Usually the kids manage to find them as they ripen, or if not them the birds or some other fruit loving eater.

I do hope you are all enjoying the Spring gardening in Australia and in the other countries enjoying gardening. There is always something that can be done to enjoy in the garden.

The last month is a month that I could have well done without. It has been so dry which has made gardening a real challenge. We have not had rain for a couple of months. All the hose watering of the garden just does not do the same at a good shower of rain.

A lot of the vegies that I have planted are really enjoying the dry heat. The pumpkins, cucumbers and melons are growing well. The pumpkins have started to flower and run this week. We have mulched around most of the plants in the garden to keep in the soil moisture and this has helped considerably. I have been trying to give them all a good soaking once a week or so.

I have a bed of tomatoes growing strongly. These have been hilled and a dose of manure around the plants when they started to flower and after a thorough watering we grassed all the bed. I spent a bit of time this week tying the plants up again and pruning them. They were a bit neglected in this area but I noticed when I took a lot of the foliage off that there were nice hands of tomatoes formed already. Looks like we could have some before Christmas this year. Of course I could not help myself as per usual when I found a few stray plants in the garden - I had to plant these out and of course they are cherry tomatoes. Never fails at our place. The kids do like the little tomatoes and they are great for salads as well. A tomato is a tomato at our house and being home grown tastes great. I have far too many in of course but will manage to dry some, freeze and bottle a few more and of course give lots away as well as eating them fresh. A few bottles of relish or pickles will help use a few more.

We put more manure on the corn this week and hilled them as well. I have mulched all over the beds and the corn plants look as if they are relishing this. I am endeavouring to plant another bed of corn this week. It can be planted at intervals up to February the latest before the frosts set in. The first crop has started to come into tassel and looks good. The wind blew it over sideways - well I should say the plants that I put in and did not hill the ones John hilled stayed upright. They eventually straightened up again and I have since put a lot of soil up around them to steady them. Goes to show it pays to do things properly in the first place when they are smaller.

The beans are doing well, we have been picking the climbers - these I planted really early and have a couple of rows of dwarf beans that are now flowering. These too benefit from hilling around the plants. Protects them from falling over and keeps the fly out of the stems.

The late caulies, broccoli and cabbage are suffering with the effects of the white butterfly grubs – I have never seen so many grubs. The humid weather has made them hatch out in great numbers. I hate sprays and I have done a patrol for grubs every time I am in the garden. It does help a bit but the butterflies keep hovering in ever increasing numbers they will have to stop soon.

The caulies have been a smaller variety and have hearted well. The broccoli is just coming to head and along with the cabbage are ready for picking. Great for coleslaw this weather. Just as well I only have a few of these and they will not stay around too long.

I have a bed of chinese greens - it is a little bit late or too early for these but we have been using them before they go to seed. They manage to self-seed themselves now in the garden and I transplant some of these plants out quite often. They are such prolific growers that I plant them most of the year round here. What we don’t eat the chooks manage to scoff.

We have all but used up the salad onions that I planted what seems to be ages ago. These have been worth the effort of trying to keep the weeds out and the water up to them. The leeks are still growing steadily but I am using them occasionally in some dishes. The beetroot I planted seems to be taking forever to form bulbs. Terrible to be impatient. I was so amazed when I bought a packet of seed to find the tiny amount of seeds inside. Fortunately these all came up and I transplanted out the seedlings from the row I had planted. I am looking forward to beetroot with our salads.

I have been thinning the carrots and parsnips that have started to grow at long last. These smaller carrots I steam and toss in a little butter and pepper when cooked. Thinning out the carrots makes for bigger later carrots. Keeping up the deep water is a good tip with these and they follow the water down. I plant a couple of varieties - all depends on the type of soil I have. I have found Chantenay carrots are great for soil that is not very deep. The larger varieties are great for soil that is more friable and deep. I have an additional trouble with carrots. The kids love eating them fresh out of the garden as they do lots of other vegies like beans and broccoli and radish. Good for them as well and saves cooking. I have had a little visitor in the garden, maybe a hare as it has attacked the tops of the young carrots and the tiny shoots of the tomatoes. Has stopped now that they have grown up a bit.

My garden has been neglected quite a bit this month as we have had more pressing jobs to be done. We had a bush fire in this area – too close for comfort I may add and we decided to do some serious clearing of our property. We cut down quite a lot of trees that were close to the house and side boundary. It is surprising just how quickly they grew up. The grass (could not call it lawn) needed a good mow and under the trees where the grass was dead this was cut as well. It had some advantage as we collected a lot of the grass and used it on the beds for mulch and put a number of loads into the chooks. It was all time consuming but we are seeing an advantage as well.

Since the fires we have had gale force winds and storms. The winds helped blow over a few more trees that we had not got round to cutting out – yes we had to clean these up as well and fortunately they were far enough away from the house as to cause no bad damage - fell all over on the back lawn and garden but this will recover. The rain has been a blessing as I have not had to water the garden quite so intensely. We could do with the rain as our water tank was getting down as well as the dam – not that there has been much water put in the dam yet as there has been little run off as the ground is so dry.

My garden is full of growing vegies again . I hate not having any room left to plant things in the garden – as soon as it is dug I plant it again.

The fruit trees has started to grow well again. The citrus has tiny fruit set on them and the trees have grown well again this year. Must have been all the attention that I gave them earlier in the season. The pear trees have fruit on them and the plums and peaches have started to fill out. All we have to do now is keep the water up to these and keep the birds and flying foxes off them…….

I planted a passion fruit vine along the fence and noticed that we have a few passion fruit on it this year. The vine is not very big yet so I suppose I am expecting a lot of the little thing.

It is nearly Christmas again and I wonder where the year has gone - we have been kept rather busy all the year I suppose which help.

Well winter is at last here. I have all but given up on it but when the first of the frosts hit last week I wondered why I wanted it to come at all. The days are still nice and sunny though.

It is good to have the really cold weather as it does put paid to a lot of the grubs and things that love to eat the vegetables. I have had a lot of trouble with the white cabbage moth and grubs on the cabbages and caulies and broccoli up till this month. Thought they would never end but am pleasantly surprised that they have left the newer plants alone well at least for the next couple of months anyway.

My garden has been sadly neglected over the past couple of months and has been left to grow by itself without much attention. I have been disgusted with myself as to just how over run it all is with weeds - mainly chick weed which is not too bad but it manages to grow well. Fortunately it is easy to pull out and the chooks are liking the green pick - the trouble is that it is everywhere.

The garden has been producing vegetables and these have grown well even with the neglect - the first caulies and cabbages and broccoli I planted have all headed and mostly eaten. I have been usuing the celery in soups and stews. The broccoli is a fantasatic vegetable to grow - I am still picking lots of side shoots from these and have many more pickings ahead. Keeping these plant growing with extra nutrients seems to work well - Liquid fertilizer is great. I have placed more manure/compost from the chook run around the plants and this gets watered in regularly. Adding a little more blood and bone helps too.

I am sure this is part of my problem with the weeds - the soil is getting too good and grows weeds well. By not composting the weeds and destroying the seeds I am compounding the situation. I have always said if you can't grow weeds you can't grow vegetables.

The weather here has been so warm of late that I am surprised just how long the beans and tomatoes have hung in and grown. Picking these at this time of year us quite a plus. Normally these have been frosted long before this. The whole garden has been out of whack with the weather. Strangely I could not get swedes or turnips to germinate properly this year. Usually I have a good couple of rows of both of these. I have only got a few plants of swedes and no turnips.

I have been picking some good lettuce and carrots - these were planted in March and the onions seeds that I planted have come up - this I do know, but have to find them again as they are completely covered with weeds. I have a good row of leeks that are growing steadily - they seem to take a long time to do anything but I like using them. I have a trellis of snow peas and sugar snap peas which are growing strongly - this is a second crop I planted. The first ones have fruited and look a bit sad on it but will hang in a bit longer I hope. I do like the snow peas in stir fries and salads as well.

We have a good standby vegetable in the silverbeet. It is a great vegie to grow as it is pick and come again type and if grown in good rich soil and watered well keeps coming for a long time. I have a few plants of the english spinach in - as I have found most years it is a short term grower and likes the colder weather. Once it warms up it starts to go off. We appreciate its lovely tender leaves when it is at its best. We do like our greens and with the chinese greens that grow well have quite a variety to choose from.

We had a section that needed a spell so I planted some broadbeans and peas in this area. These we will chop in for a green crop when they grow. We have added to the viability of the soil by doing this to one or two sections of the garden each year. Helps with the spring garden when it is chopped in and broken down. We add lime and a dose of blood and bone and extra compost when we dig it over before planting.

The last few days John and I have concentrated on a part of the garden that has been left unplanted. This section should have been done about 6 or 8 weeks ago. We put about 3 barrows of compost out of the chook pens on it then and just left it. We dug, manured and planted this section with new lettuce, spinach, cabbage, cauli and broccoli plants. These should follow on when the other ones have just about finished growing.

July is the time to plant potatoes again in this area. We have been growing quite a few and can plant 2 crops a year here. I find it is getting harder to find ground for them as they have to be rotated with other crops and take up a considerable amount of room. Tomatoes cannot grow after them nor can potatoes grow after tomatoes (they transfer soil born disease) and we do seem to grow a lot of tomatoes which is making it difficult. I sometimes wonder if they are really worth it until I cook the ones we grow and then I know the difference to shop bought ones.

Our citrus trees this year have had a hard time with the dry spell - they dropped a lot of the small fruit and then when we got rain they set another crop which will ripen later in the season. I have noticed the fruits themselves are smaller as well. This is due to not getting the right amount of water when they were growing.

I am keen to make some marmalade - usually by this time I have a couple of batches made. We have been using the citrus for juice each morning which has been very nice. The mandarins have not really ripened yet - another few weeks but then they should be great. I am sure the frosts sweeten the fruit. We have good crop of lemonades this year - it is only a small tree but is loaded. I did not think it would do well but as the fruit are ripening I can see there is a lot on it. It has really surprised me.

I am really looking forward to spring. A winter garden seems to be very hohum and restrictive in what can be grown. In a few weeks it will be time to start planting the early spring seeds. Tomatoe seeds can be planted in August and kept in a warm position. Early cucumbers and zucchini can also be started early.

Today was a beautiful day, warm, sun shining and no cold wind that we have been having for the past week or so. Last month we had some very heavy frosts - heavier than I have seen here for a few years. It put paid to all the plants that should not have been growing at the time but on a whole it did not do too much damage in the veggie garden.

I decided to get out in the garden today and enjoyed the sunshine. I planted out some lettuce and parsley seedlings and some beetroot seeds. I like to keep the lettuce coming along at regular intervals instead of planting a large bed and then having nothing to follow on. I plant a couple of different varieties – the loose-leaf variety (mignonette or butter crunch type) and the hearting variety as well.

I bought a dozen tomato plants (Grosse Lisse) and planted these on in a couple of pots. These I will have to keep warm to get some growth in them before planting them out when the weather warms up more. The nights here are still quite cold even though the days are warm. It is a good time to plant some seeds if you want other varieties that the nursery does not have.

The chooks were the receivers of all the weeds that seem to be in endless supply in my garden and the rest of the morning was spent watering and giving the beds the fruit trees a good soaking.

The garden is in need of a lot of work and we are trying to get a few beds ready for the spring planting. Last week we picked up a couple of truck loads of grass, some of it was well composted and this we have placed around the plants and on top of that placed a barrow or two of chook manure/compost. Two reasons why I am doing this - one is to improve the soil eventually, the other to conserve the moisture that we put on the garden as it has been so dry. I replaced the manure we took from the chooks with a lot of grass. Nothing like keeping them working happily, they do such a great job of composting for me.

My theory is that when the broccoli and caulie come out, the mulch will be well rotted and will be a good start for the tomatoes that hopefully will go in in September/October, (that is if they have finished producing.)

I cleared out a lot of the old broccoli plants out of one bed and finished digging the end of the carrots in another today so have this to work on with mulch and manure in readiness for the next planting as well.

It is a lovely feeling to be able to go into the garden and pick your own supply of vegies. We have been picking spinach, carrots, lettuce and peas along with Chinese greens and broccoli and cabbage for a few weeks now. The caulies have just started to heart and I will be able to pick one in a day or so - I almost gave up on them heading. Maybe the warm weather has spurred them on a bit.

The bed I planted with broadbeans and peas for a green crop has been a bit of a failure. The seeds have only come up sporadically. Some of the peas shot and others did not. The broad beans are still in the ground untouched. I should have watered it more consistently to get them all up. I thought we would get some rain but this did not eventuate. I gave the bed a good watering today and now I will have to have a bit more patience and wait till the seeds germinate and let them grow. It will be worth the wait in the end, as it will improve the soil a lot when I dig the plants in.

The potatoes I planted have just poked their heads up out of the ground. Hopefully we will not have another frost before they get a go on. We often get another sharp cold snap before spring actually comes.

The climbing peas and bedding peas I planted last month have started to flower. These will be a treat if the birds leave them alone.

It is nearly time to put sweet potato plants in. I have a sweet potato put aside and this has got some shoots coming out of the top. We did rather well with these last year and I intend to plant another bed as soon as I get some plants going. We put runners in last year to make up the bed and these shot well and grew. It is an idea to get these going as soon as possible as they have a longer growing time than the ordinary potato. They detest frost though.

The weather at the moment is confusing the fruit trees again. The peach tree is in blossom and one of the orange trees has started sending out new shoots. Another job to be done this month – fertilizing the citrus trees again before they flower in Spring. I looked at the plum tree and noticed the first sign of it flowering. It should not be long before it shows blossoms.

The heavy frosts last month did a lot of damage to the citrus trees. The second crop of fruit was at a critical stage, just tiny fruit, and these were burnt black. Needless to say they dropped off. Some of the fruit that has stayed on is a little bit larger and not yet coloured so they may develop more yet. We have been enjoying the oranges,lemonades, mandarins, grapefruit and tangelos. The nagarmi cumquat is sweetening up now and I have a tree of Valencia oranges, which will ripen later in the year.

I am about to make some more marmalade before all the fruit goes – they have eaten all the first lot I made. The cumquats make a delicious marmalade as well.

I feel slack when it comes to plants. I should plant seeds and get my own seedlings instead of visiting the nursery to buy them. Good excuse to go there though and it is one place I do like to go to and have a little wander around.

I am thinking about planting cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin seeds in punnets again this month to get an early start and then plant them out in September/October. Corn can also be planted later but needs a lot more warmth to get anywhere; October is a good month to start. Sometimes an early crop of beans can be achieved but these prefer to wait till the soil has warmed up somewhat.

I am looking forward to Spring and being able to plant all the lovely vegies and herbs and spending lots of time in the garden.

Well Spring has arrived…The weather has warmed up considerably and the garden is looking better for it. We could do with some more rain which seems to be in scarce supply here and in many other parts of the country.

Our vegetable patch is starting to take shape for spring planting. We have done a lot of work in it over the past few weeks We have added compost to most of the beds as they have become empty of vegetables. I have about 4 beds that are ready to be planted. A final dig over just before planting is needed. Strange for me to have space left and nothing in it – usually it is dug and planted in the same day. Deciding what to plant is the question. No shortage of ideas as to what to put in.

I am intending to get a supply of grass for mulching. We have a ready supply on the property - John has slashed it so we only have to pick it up and pile it up. We have mulched quite a few of the wattle trees that have sprung up around the place with our new mulcher. This I have put in the chook pens along with some grass and the chooks have been quietly doing their work on it breaking it down into lovely mulch for the garden. I have been pleasantly surprised just how quickly it has broken down to a stage where I can then put it on the garden.

The weather has been so warm that I could not contain my eagerness to start the spring vegies going. I planted a row of climbing beans and bought a punnet of cucumber seedlings, I could not wait for seeds to come up. I did put in some zucchinis seeds in though. I should have planted in punnets some pumpkin, watermelon, rockmelon and corn before this to get them started. Looks like they will be planted in the beds this year instead.

I planted out our first tomatoes last week and have mulched these very heavily with grass – just in case we get another sneaky frost which can happen in September. These were the ones I had potted on last month. They were doing so well that I decided to plant them in the garden. John wants to try the egg tomato again this year – great for sauces and not bad either for salads. Of course we will have a few of the smaller varieties – The cherry tomatoes - the kids love eating these and they do make a salad look great. I still prefer the Grosse Lisse, Apolo and Marmande myself. There are so many different varieties available and these can be worth trying in the home garden if you have the space. I dried quite a lot of tomatoes last year and along with the frozen and bottled ones have been able to keep the supply of tomatoes going well over the winter months. Had to buy some fresh for salads though - I should have been keener and planted a few in pots and placed them on the north wall of the house – a few of our friends did this and kept a supply of tomatoes going over winter.

The beetroot seeds I planted have come up and are large enough to plant out in rows. I managed to plant a small row out this morning to get them started and will plant some more in a few days. I have also planted some more celery seedlings and another row of carrot seeds a couple of capsicum plants and Chinese greens. The chinese radish have come up well and I intend to thin these out a bit and plant the thinnings into another bed. These are a great vegetable. I use them in nearly everything - great for adding to salads, chopped up in soup, used as another vegetable in stir fry, grated and added to patties or rissoles along with carrot and onion. The lettuce seeds I planted have come up and these will be able to be planted out in a couple of weeks. These are a mixture of salad greens, and are useful as they seem to grow rather quickly.

Our garden has produced well over the past months with carrots, cauli, broccoli, cabbage, spinach and lettuce. I have had a row of celery which I have been using well over winter in soups and stews. II blanched a couple of the plants - put an oil tin with the top and bottom cut out over the top and left it for a few weeks – they blanched well and it was nicer in salads. I use the green stalks mostly other times. The Swedes have at last decided to grow and I have picked a few for stews. We also like them as a vegetable – just steamed along with the other vegies. The peas are doing well and have put out a lot of flowers. Amongst the bushes there are a few peas to be picked which makes for a pleasant change.

The Chinese Snow peas have now developed a bit of mildew this week. This is due mainly to the rain we have had and the warm weather. I have had a regular supply of these up to now. We should be picking broad beans very soon they are a mass of flowers and I noticed a few small pods developing. Our potatoes which were planted earlier have come up well and I noticed that a few of the plants have started to flower, we will hill these to make for better potatoes. We planted out another bed of potatoes last week. These should take off well now with the warmer weather and produce a later crop.

The peas and beans I planted for a green crop are growing very nicely now. As soon as they start to flower I intend to dig them in. Where I planted them the soil is not very good and is in need of a lot of humus to loosen it up and I thought this would help as well by adding nitrogen to the soil for the next planting, maybe corn. A few loads of compost on it as well would do wonders.

Our plum trees are a mass of white blossoms and the peach trees are now also in full blossom they look quite stunning together. We found our China Pear tree when we did a bit of clearing (it ws well overgrown by other trees - It has not produced fruit even though it has been in since we came here 15 years ago. It has grown very tall and of course you can guess where I spotted the flowers - yes right up the centre stem near the top well out of reach. Should mean that next year we may get some pears off it.

Our citrus trees have started to bud this week and one of the earliest oranges the blossoms are well on the way to coming out. I have given all the trees some fertiliser and topped them with the mulch from the chook pen and given them a thorough watering. They should appreciate the attention I have given them. I even managed to do a little pruning on the citrus - well I cut back some of the dead wood that seem to have developed this year.

With Spring here already and so much to do and look forward to in the garden I trust that you spend the coming weeks enjoying outside and working in your garden as much as we do here.

January is here and my garden is looking very neglected and overgrown with weeds and pumpkin vines taking over. So much for my mulching with the compost from the chook pen. There must have been lots of weed seeds and pumpkin seeds in the material I put on the garden.

My garden over the past few months has been a challenge just keeping it going. We have been fortunate that it produced anything at all. We have been having trouble with the drought here and water has been in short supply so we cut the area back that was planted. Water seems to be only part of the equation. The natural rain does more good than all the water that you can put on the garden. The plants seem to respond better to it.

The tomatoes took a beating with the birds who thought our place was a free for all. I have not seen so many birds at any one time here. I do hope they decide to go away when conditions improve.

I tried a number of times to get lettuce to grow. Usually at this time of the year I have a lot of lettuce growing at different stages. The weather was terrible and with each lot I planted out I lost the majority of the seedlings. Those that took and grew I had to make sure they were well watered. Going to seed was another problem.

I have a lot of self sown tomatoes growing well - you guessed it - yes they are cherry tomatoes not the larger variety. At least they are not being eaten by the birds so readily and we have quite a lot. The kids love them to eat and they are great in salads.

I planted quite a lot of beans - both dwarf and climbers and these have loved the warmer weather. I had to make sure they were well watered to keep them growing.

We have had quite a lot of carrots over the past few weeks. These have grown exceptionally well. At least our resident hare has left these alone this time in favour of the sweet potato tops which have copped the onslaught from him this time for a change. They must have been sweeter. I noticed this week that the plants have grown larger leaves and are not chewed so he must have given up. Saved me pruning.

The zucchini and pumpkins have grown rather well. We only put in about 12 pumpkin hills and have a number of pumpkins maturing, the zucchini plants have all but died off with mildew which has occurred with the humid weather. The cucumbers had a hard time getting going but we managed to pick a few.

This year has been a year when we have not had an abundance of any produce to freeze or bottle. I did manage to make some pickled zucchini though. These are plants that seem to grow regardless of the conditions. The tomatoes have just kept us going with no excess. I still have about 12 bushes that are growing strongly and hope these produce good tomatoes.

The next few weeks will be taken up with finding the beds and redigging and getting ready for the autumn winter crops. This is going to be a mammoth job with all the weeds that have grown up -it always amazes me how well they can grow. Other years I have had follow on plantings of most of the vegies. This year I have just let some of the beds remain empty after putting lots of mulch on them - so much for the mulch though as weeds have grown well in it. Dug in the weeds will be good green manure.

February/March is a good time to put potatoes in. Carrots also do well planted also around March. Cabbage, broccoli, cauli and turnips can also be planted out now. These are all heavy feeders and love manure and a good dose of lime helps them along as well. Beans could still be planted out this month if you have the room.

I have not planted corn this year - not really true. We put two rows in and promptly lost the lot to birds. We can plant another crop this month but I think I will give it a miss.

My fruit trees have had a very hard time. We had severe frosts in winter and this threw them all out of whack - not knowing what season was what and damaging the fruit that was growing. . I have fertilized and mulched the trees in spring and kept the water up to them and they have again produced some fruit
The frost damaged quite a lot of the plants that we have growing around the place and they have taken a long while to recover.

The peach and plum trees had fruit on them but the birds have been having a wonderful time amongst them. I am glad that I am not a farmer trying to make a living off the land. On a smaller scale we can always grow something and anyway it is fun trying. The garden is always a challenge and is always different.

My garden has never looked as terrible. The weeds have taken over along with the pumpkin vine that thinks it is allowed to ramble just where it wants. Over the weeds, and corn stalks that survived, over the fence and along the path. I hope it has some pumpkins on it for me letting it grow where it wanted without being disturbed. It is a typical summer garden that has been left to its own devices unattended and uncared for. There is not much growing apart from a few capsicum and chillies. The beans have all but finished and the new dwarf beans are struggling along with the cabbages and parsley. I have a few cherry tomatoes that have survived and need picking. They are great survivors and produce well under even bad conditions. They at least survived the onslaught of the birds who nearly decimated the larger varieties. I hate to think of the tomatoe plants that will come up next year.

I am looking forward to being able to spend a lot of time out in the vegie patch and get it back to some semblance of order which I fear may take some time. We have not had any rain to speak of for weeks and every bed has dried out. It has also been quite hot as well but it is summer after all. I feel there is not much use in trying to grow anything much at the moment unless we get some rain to help put some moisture back in the soil. Restricted water is not helping much. Our dam is going down so we have cut back once again on the use. I have been keeping our fruit trees alive with what water we can spare. I have even taken to putting the washing rinse water on the citrus and some of the other plants to keep them alive. It has helped a bit. Mulching has helped a good deal with keeping the moisture in around the trees.

February/March is a good time to start planting carrots, turnips and chinese greens along with cabbage, broccoli and cauli. and also starting with the other winter vegies.

I have about a dozen tomato plants which have grown exceptionally well and have been producing for weeks. These I planted along side the chook pen in a freshly dug bed. Into this I put plenty of chook manure and compost under them as well. The new rich ground was just what they needed to grow well plus the fact that I did manage to keep a bit more water on them as well. These are a larger cherry tomato which is an exceptional good bearer and a Russian Black cross. It was from some seeds I saved. It is a large tomato - mishapen like a marmande but with the Russian Black colouring. Along with these I have another sort which I think is a College Challenger. I was given some plants and put them in. People give me plants and I just put them in to grow and then prommptly forget what they are or from whom. I am going to be sorry when these tomatoes stop bearing. We have not had the crop of tomatoes this year that we usually have and have not had enough to bottle or freeze let along dry. I am going to miss this come winter time as I found it a great help with the grocery bill.

We have been picking beans and pumpkins. The zuchinni gave up when they got mildew. We picked and picked off them. I dug our potatoes last month, not that we had a lot but they were nice being able to have new potatoes again. There is something about a freshly dug potato that shop bought ones do not have.

February is a good time to put a few in if you can get the seed potatoes. I sometimes cheat and put the potato peels in. Just cut the piece a little bit thicker with the eyes in, or if they have gone like some of mine do in the box, started to shoot, cut a good piece off and plant that. It is surprising just what a few plants will produce. We often share the potatoes with the garden. John is the one who likes to buy the seed potatoes and put a few rows in. I must admit with the attention he gives them they usually are quite good.

I also plant the shot onions in the garden as well. These produce a green onion which will slightly develop a few smaller bulbs over time. Great for stir fries or when you have not got an onion. They do not take as long as onion seeds or seedlings to grow and do not take up a lot of room. I manage to tuck them in wherever I have a space. Much to my husbands horror. He likes everything in nice neat beds in straight rows. I was wondering when I went through the garden today whether I would get some chinese cabbage seedlings come up self sown as they usually do. I will have to wait and see after we get rain. That usually helps bring them up. I have had lots of plants that I let go to seed so something should eventuate hopefully. They are a good weed and keep coming and coming. I guess I should also try and get some spinach on the way again. It is usually a good standby.

We have been picking figs, These again I have been sharing with the birds. They do like getting amongst the fruit. Just on daylight I hear them at the tree or later in the afternoon. I picked quite a few that the birds did not get and am going to make some fig jam. I will have to hide it and not let the kids know I have made it. It is popular with them all. The plums made into some good jam as it usually does and I also managed to make some plum sauce. I did not get many peaches off the trees. The birds and flying foxes claimed most of these. We did get a few which I stewed up. This I did before they got completely ripe and added some sugar to sweeten.

I do hope your gardening ventures have been more heartening than mine of late. I do not stay down too long as there are always better days ahead and with garding it is always new. There is always something that can be done around the place.

Enough of my ramblings. Until next time

Good Gardening.

Betty.

I have been tardy in not keeping in touch earlier this month. Trying to cope with all the things that I am trying to do at the moment has relegated writing into the background somewhat.

Well firstly, we have had rain, glorious rain. I was beginning to think it had really forgotten how to rain. Of course the grass has appreciated it and has grown out of sight and had needed attention regularly the last couple of weeks. It is surprising just how quickly plants respond to rain. Of course the ride on mower did not want to start after being out of action for so long. The weeds in my vegie patch have grown enormous with the good soil, rain and heat. Great for the compost. Bulks it up plenty. We have only managed, so far, to work our way through half our patch. The other, as I said has weeds aplenty growing well. Just have to pull them all out before they manage to seed or I will be in trouble later. It is easier at the moment with the soil moist.

The rain enthused us with planting our garden again. We had been holding off because of the water situation. I have been buying vegetables and not liking it one bit. Apart from the price of bought produce, home grown ones always managed to taste that much nicer.

I went to the nursery the end of last month and bought a few punets of seedlings. I have planted lettuce, spinach (silver beet) cabbage, cauli and broccoli. These have grown in the last couple of weeks. The chinese bok choy seeds that I planted came up within a few days and have now started to grow. I am always amazed just how quickly these little seeds can produce plants so quickly. We use these a lot when I have them growing either by themselves or mixed in with spinach or cabbage for a change, great in stir fries.

I have ground ready to plant some carrots this week. March is a great month for carrots in this area and I seem to have my best crop of these when planted this month. I find that the depth of soil decides which carrots I plant. If I have a shallower soil I plant Chantenays. These are chunkier and not as long as the Western Red or All seasons which I plant. These like deep friable soil. I still have one row of carrots that have survived all the dry weather and a few beans that have now decided to flower. They will have to get a wriggle on as the weather can cool down soon.

I have been kind to the pumpkin vine that has taken over some of my vegie patch and the fence. The rain has given it new life and it has flowered again and has grown bigger. I will want some pumpkins off it for my allowing it to invade my space. It is taking up a good quarter of the vegie patch and has rambled over everything. Good excuse not to have to weed that area isn’t it?

The chile bushes that I planted have fruited and have quite a lot of chilies on them, I am just waiting for them to colour up a bit more. John is hanging out for some chile relish and preserved chilies. Who started him on liking that. I was given a couple of different kinds of chile plants this year and these have produced tiny red and yellow chilies. They look as if they could be HOT and I have not done anything with these as yet but will have to get round to it soon. There seem to be lots of varieties around.

It is time to plant winter root vegies now. Have you tried kohl rabi? I like it myself and use it as a filler in patties, soups and the like. It is great steamed with other vegies and a cheese sauce over it is also nice. It has to be grown in reasonably good soil and the water kept up to it or it can go stringy and not nice. Use it when they are not really large is a good idea.

Turnips and Swedes and parsnips seeds can also be planted and celery too. Broad beans can go in next month so if you plant these get the ground ready for them. A good dose of lime and manure in the ground makes for better beans. I like planting them each year and often use them as a green crop to chop in as they grow such heavy foliage. Breaks down well in the soil.

Thought of planting onions. I find they take up the ground for so long and they need constant attention with weeds that I do not put many in, but it is nice to have a row or two of fresh onions to pick from. The onions I use most come from those recycled from the kitchen. Those onions that have been missed in the basket and have shot I plant in the garden. These grow into green onions and can be used in salads, stir fries etc.

It is still OK to plant a few potatoes now. I have not got our supply in yet, bit tardy this year but will have to get a move on with it this week or so.

Our citrus trees have weathered the dry spell well. I have endeavoured to keep the water up to them during the period they were fruiting and managed to keep a good lot on. Mulching has helped these a lot and the extra compost I put out of the chook pens help them I am sure. They look quite OK and have grown this year which is great. There is nothing nicer than a freshly picked piece of citrus fruit from the garden. I have quite a variety of citrus. I have oranges (navels and valencia), lemons, grapefuit, mandarines, Ngarmi cumquat, lemonade and a Seville orange (great for marmalade) and a tangelo (great for juice). I have always planted a lemon tree at each place we lived. Sometimes I did not get much benefit from it because we often left before it got growing. They are such a handy fruit to have growing.

My cherry guava trees is a mass of red and green berries. I am looking forward to making some cherry guava jelly if we don’t eat them all first. Hardly as the tree is loaded. I am surprised that the birds have left this tree alone and the fruit fly also. The other trees were decimated earlier with the birds. My pear trees actually bore fruit this year. It was nice to pick a basket full. Some of these we ate some fresh and I cooked a few as well. I was looking at the common guava tree the other day and this has shot again with the rain. It will be a little while before it fruits this year. With the size of the tree we will have to have lots of friends to get rid of all the fruit. It makes lovely jam as well.

I have rambled on again this month. Can’t seem to help myself. I do hope you have a wonderful time with your garden and enjoy it as much as I do mine.

I can hardly believe it is April. It is a great time in the garden and I love getting up early in the morning and spending a little time outside in the garden before breakfast.

We have had some glorious rain which has made all the difference to the place. Of course the grass and weeds have appreciated the extra moisture and have gone rampant. It is so different to a couple of months ago when we were in drought. The lawn mower has come out of wraps again and seems to be working overtime.

We have been trying to get the vegie garden into some kind of order again. It looked like wall to wall weeds, but by doing a bed at the time we have managed to dig and plant about 6 beds. Today we found ( found being the operative word as it was completely hidden with tall weeds) the bed that we grew tomatoes in last year. The soil was better than I could have ever imagined. This bed when we had the tomatoes in it was composted heavily a number of times during the growth of the tomatoes, and after they were finished we just let the bed sit. All the compost had broken down and has formed a rich soil full of fibre and worms galore just the thing for growing cabbages or caulies. I will have to visit the friendly nursery this week for some more plants.

I have been very kind to my renegade pumpkin vine and left it alone, it has taken some self control as it is just growing every where. Since the rain it has got a new lease on life and has grown and grown and wandered over more of the garden and over the fence uncontrolled. I know now why I plant the pumpkins well away from my vegie patch. It is a bit disconcerting that I have (or seem to have) only male flowers at this late stage. Maybe I will get some pumpkins yet but the weather is cooling down somewhat. Once they form they only take a little time to grow fortunately and once formed frost does not seem to hurt them too much. We will see…. In the mean time it is taking over about a quarter of the ground plus..

On Sunday we had the biggest hailstorm that I have seen for many years. Not long in duration but quite damaging. The hail was like golf balls and hard and all I could think of was my poor lettuce and little seedlings that I have planted in the garden. Fortunately it did not do too much damage - some of the pumpkin leaves ended up with damage and some of the fruit on the fruit trees was knocked off all the rest had minimal damage. The rain that followed the hail was great even though it only lasted for about 10 minutes, and then we had the most glorious sunny afternoon leaving everything looking nice and clean.

In my vegie garden the seedlings I planted last month have grown well. The grubs have been having a great time in the bok choi and the broccoli have a bit of infestation. To be expected this time of year and as we have had some rain the conditions are at their best for the grubs. I am just waiting for the cooler weather to hopefully slow them down somewhat. I have been going over the plants by hand removing all the little beasties that I see but they have done quite a bit of damage by the time I find them. The grubs are only tiny and hide right down in the centre of the plant surrounded by a web and then proceed to go further out on the leaves and chew these as they get larger. The culprit is a tiny grey moth, between this one and the white butterfly it is a constant battle to keep the grubs off the cabbages and broccoli. I don't like using spray in the garden if I can help it.

The bok choi is ready to pick and we have been using it for greens constantly. I will have to get another bed of this planted to keep the supply going. The silver beet I planted is slow compared to this as a green. These have been growing but the leaves are still quite small and need a bit more time to grow before I pick them. A dose of liquid manure would help these along a bit faster. I have not planted the English spinach yet. I have a bed dug and ready to put the seeds in. I will have to do it this week. I like English spinach as well but it has only a very short growing time here and drops off very quickly after winter.

Wonders never cease. I planted parsnip seeds and I managed to get a full row up - we just love parsnip. I find they are quite hard to get up as they take so long to germinate.
Keeping the seeds constantly damp till they germinate is the secret. John often soaks the seed for a while in water and then plants them - he manages to get a good strike this way I am not so organised and just throw them in.

We had ideal weather when I planted the carrots, parsnip and turnips. We had rain every couple of days and the soil I planted the seeds in was full of lovely broken down compost so kept the moisture even. The turnips came up very quickly as they always do and the carrots followed within a week and now the parsnip. Of course I have planted these much too thickly. I transplanted some of the turnips out into another row and left the remainder growing happily. Looks like we will be eating turnip greens to thin out the others. I do not mind though as it gives a variety in the greens. I often cook a mixture of cabbage, bok choi and spinach together or in varying combinations.

We are picking beans - these are self sown from the beans I planted in spring. I found them growing happily under the weeds and cleaned round them and watered the plants and they have produced quite a few beans. Really I should have planted some beans earlier but did not get round to it. I have a lot of self sown Chinese cabbage starting to mature in the garden. It is a good vegie to have in the garden as it comes up readily by itself.

April/May is time to plant broad beans. We put a bed of these in every year. They help the soil, as they are a nitrogen setting plant. The stalks break down well after the beans are finished and make good compost. John often digs a trench in the garden and lays the stalks in it and roughly chops them and then covers the trench in. They break down quite readily there if given a bit of moisture as well.

Onion seeds can go in this month also. I plan to grow a row or two of these. These take quite a few months to mature. Keeping them weed free and growing steadily is a challenge. Leeks are a good to plant also. These take some time to grow but are nice in cooking. Celery can also be planted. This likes a good well manured bed and appreciates lots of water when growing.

With the rain we have had the fruit trees are starting to put on some growth at long last. I noticed the citrus have a second flush of flowers. I hope a few of these stay on, as the first crop is not as good as it could have been.

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Last Updated 12 May, 2003

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