Mid-Winter Update

It's about time to give a quick update on some of the progress being made with the garden.

In the Vegetable Patches:
The first Snow Peas have started to set some pods, and in fact we had a small serve of them with lunch a couple of days ago. There are lots of flowers and little pods setting on the plants. Another small patch of Snow Peas has been planted, after I scrounged some old cyclone fencing and posts, to make their climbing frame.

The Asparagus crown that were split up and transplanted several weeks ago have sent up their first spear, so they have been covered with some more compost and soil to encourage longer spears. We may not get much from them this year as they establish themselves after transplanting. Hopefully those that were not moved will provide us with some good spears.

A perennials vegetable patch has been started, with Aparagus, Jerusalem Artichokes and Rhubarb being planted there. Some Globe Artichokes have also been planted near the Broad Bean patch. The Beans are continuing to grow well, and look like they will be in flower soon.

Some more Broccoli seedlings have been planted, this time in the wicking bed that has just had the Lettuce removed. I am hoping that this might make it easier to keep pests like earwigs (I think it was them than that wreaked havoc with the first young seedlings that went in) and cabbage moth caterpillars at bay.

The Spring Onion seedlings are growing well and some more seeds have been sown. One lot has been transplanted and another lot is being kept in the large planter box where they were sown.

To get an early start with some of the summer veggies we have bought a cheap and small greenhouse to help with propogation.

We met another gardener at the Port Augusta today, and he asked if we had Tomatos started yet. He said that he plants out his seedlings on 1st August, with plastic protection, and starts harvesting in November, with plants about 2m tall. That supplies him and neighbours with plenty of Tomatos. I planted some seeds a couple of days ago in the little greenhouse, so they won't be ready by 1st August, but hopefully I'll get some to plant out soon after that, and get an early start. Just have to keep the frost away.

I also have some Capsicum and Coriander seeds in the greenhouse. Hoping to get the same thing as the Tomatoes going with them.

Picked up more Australian Native Shrubs at the market, from the gardener mentioned above. And some chook, sheep and pig manure (from another seller) to help add nutrients to the compost and garden beds.

Some people think that Winter is a time to catch up on some of the maintenance jobs, but I'm finding that it can also be a busy time getting things started for Spring and Summer. There's still lots to do, like finishing pruning the Grape Vines that haven't been pruned in years.

And I haven't mentioned the weeds that are growing centimetres each day!!! Well I have now! But that won't help get rid of them.

eBay action resumed

The past 2 weeks has been a time for listing and managing items on eBay.

It's been the usual hassle trying to find the best way to save up a series of listings so that they can be fed on soon after each other, and in groups of similar items.

We've tried scheduling the listings but that increases the cost of each listing, or editing them at the time of listing. It is also easy to forget to reschedule some items and they get started when we don't want them to go.

Using Selling Manager Pro has helped a bit, but the Inventory system on there does not really suit sellers like us who have lots of slightly different items, and that requires a lot of editing. It also seems difficult to locate items already prepared.

So now it's time to try out

Fast, Simple, Reliable eBay Auction Tools

to see if that's going to work.

Will keep you posted!

Lost To Frost

We returned from a weekend away to find that there must have been at least one night of frost as some of our plants were damaged.
The most affected were a Salvia, the poor Chokos (that we are having trouble establishing) and some recently germinated Nasturtiums.
To help prevent any further damage and to protect some other possibly frost tender plants I put some covers over them.
When I inspected the back garden this morning this is what I found.

This scene was possibly devastating, as everything was covered in thick white frost, and many of the plants might just be destroyed.

Even the Broad Beans were covered with ice and limp. They soon recovered, but not before they caused me some concern.

Ice was everywhere this morning, on the car, over the ground, on leaves of plants and also over the top of water that has been collected from a leaking downpipe. That water is in a wheelbarrow, and the ice was a couple of millimetres thick over the top.

It looks like the action of covering the affected plants was worthwhile as they don't seem to have been further affected. And those plants that did get a coating of frost this morning have all bounced back, without apparent damage. Time will tell.

To help with recovery for some plants I splashed them with some water to wash off the frost. For the Loquat trees, that seemed to have worked as the leaves don't appear to have any damage. I did notice that the water on those leaves did freeze over again, but that was just on the surface, hopefully preventing any freezing of the cells in the leaves.

In some future posts I hope to outline what has been planted, and how they are going.

Winter Is On The Way

I spent Sunday at home, tending to the wood fire in the kitchen stove, stirring the soup on the stove and enjoying the smell of freshly baking bread in the breadmaker.
All that and listening to the rain on the roof, and the rainwater tank overflowing.

There was very little happening in the garden for me, but it seems like there of plenty of action going on there.

The little broad bean plants seem to have grown a couple centimetres overnight, the peas have started to cling onto their framework by their tendrils and everything looks damp and clean.

In The Garden Part 2

Since the previous post there has been a lot happening in the garden, and that's why there haven't been too many additions to this blog. The additions have been happening in the garden.

And the work that takes me away from messing around in the garden has started to come in with last week using up 4 days. With beautiful weather for pottering around too. Oh well at least those plants already started had some time to establish.

I must get around to some more photos and a list of what's been added.

In The Garden Part 1

It's now 4 months since we made the big move, and summer has gone to give some great days for getting out in the garden.

The size of the new garden is taking a bit of getting used to as it is 1200 square metres, compared with the 300 square meters of the last house, and it had been let go for some time.

Summer was a time for assessing what to do in the garden because

• It was too hot to do much.



• The ground was too dry and hard.



• Renovations to the house were a higher priority.



• and what little time was left had to be used keeping the plants we brought with us alive.

The inspiration for getting in the garden comes from many sources, with one of them being the quality of the fruit and vegetables that comes from freshly grown produce. This is evident in the goodies that we have been able to buy at the local Farmer's Markets (at Wirrabara and Port Pirie.) I have never seen better looking organic fruit and vegetables. Nothing like the small, shrivelled and bug eaten stuff you find in the city and suburbs.

In the past few days (and weeks) there has been some activity in both the flower and the vegetable parts of the garden.

The small area at the front of the house has been cleared and several small shrubs and perennials planted. Over time these should grow and cover the area at the front of the house. In a later post I will provide a list of the plants used, and hopefully provide some more photos.

The vegetable garden has been started, with some seedlings being germinated and a few seeds being directly planted.

Snow Peas (also know as Sugar or Snap Peas) have been directly planted under the trellis over which they will grow. The germination rate was great, and the young plants are contunuing to develop. Their tendrils will soon be able to reach the bottom of the trellis.

Similarly some Telephone Peas and Broad Bean seeds have been planted, but that was just last week so I am waiting for the seedlings to appear.

In the seed raising box I have some broccoli, radishes, leeks and chives that have all germinated and are waiting to grow before planting out.

I have also make a Wicking Box to grow some Pick and Come Again Lettuces, and they are growing well, and needing thinning out.

Welcome

After a break from blogging it's time to get back to it.

Since I stopped blogging at my own website there have been a few changes, the major one being a complete relocation from the suburbs to the idyllic life of a small country town.

That provides opportunities to do some of those things that have been put off by the relative hectic life and more crowded nature of city living, while still being able to keep up with those aspects of life that continue to be interesting.

Not everything is made easier by the change, but small inconveniences are outweighed by the positives, which I will discuss in posts on this blog.

I now have time to smell the roses.