Autumn plantings

Clancy and I planted some Autumn vegie seeds this week.

We started with seeds from our Okra plant. Clancy potted them by herself and we are hoping to see some green shoots in the next week or so! We are experimenting to see how/if the Okra grow well this time of year - they seem fast growing and produce lovely lady's fingers so hoping they will be a good quick Autumn crop amongst the longer term vegies.



Next we planted some dwarf peas together with turnips - good companions apparently. The peas have already surfaced - a sign that the warmth is still around! The turnip seeds are much like caulie seeds so we mixed them with some sand to spread them evenly in the bed (especially as it is a no-dig bed).





Then we planted out a line of baby beetroot. They too have sprung up quickly. The trick I've found with beetroot (and carrots too) is to keep the water on them in the early stages so they continue to mature at a consistent rate (as we noted back in October last year). We also put in two lines of baby carrots. Again we will see how they fair this time of year - they seem to handle the cool a bit as long as they get a bit of a warm start I reckon.

Now to the beans - we did in fact plant out some dwarf beans as we've done previously, so we haven't yet got the cubby concept going! May as well use what we have to start with! We planted out the beans into pots and put these around the garden bed and the sandpit for a bit of greenery. No doubt once they start producing the kids will be picking and eating them like nothing else! Just the ticket :o)

Now the weather is cooler, we've been refreshing our potted plants. I repotted a fig into a larger pot and topped up the herbs with a bit of fresh potting mix and blended manure.

Ah, Autumn, I just love this time of year!

Happy gardening!

The great corn race

Our corn has come good! However, we are racing aginst some hungry rats too!

The score so far: Rats: 3, Us: 4





Happy gardening!

Goodbye winter, hello spring

With barely two weeks left of Winter, I'm quite excited to spring into spring! Recently I visited the Mt Claremont markets and grabbed some hydroponically grown tomatoes, a green striped 'zebra' variety. They were so full of flavour too. I scooped the seeds out of one and have saved them to plant in a few weeks, once I kick some spring seedlings off.


Have to say that the broccoli and cauliflowers did better than I expected - both small varieties. Of the 6 cauliflower seedlings we got 4 decent heads. And of the brocolli (about 10 plants we got about 5 small heads and perhaps no more than a 1kg of smaller bits - not as productive overall, but lovely and very green! :o)




The peas and beans are starting to move as the weather feels slightly warmer, although we've had such a lot of rain, I've been worried they'd get mildew - so far all is OK. Hoping the white moths won't monster them either!

I have some coriander seedlings to go in, some beetroot - a striped variety called "Target" and a baby beet variety (beta vulgaris). And will put some carrots in as well (we had sown carrot seeds in a large planter, but Clancy keeps "digging for worms" there!).

We have an extra bed now that Simon lined up some limestone blocks in the corner of the yard and cleaned out the grass there. It is quite a large-ish corner, so will terrace it to have two levels. We will put the more permanent things there like galangal, lemongrass, rhubarb and I'd like to also try some raspberry canes along the western lattice fence. Be interested to see how they go in Perth's mild climate. Given they need protection from the afternoon sun, the small shed on the western side should provide some well-needed protection, especially in the hot summer.

Until then, happy gardening!