End of October Sow

I pulled out the old cabbage and brocolli. I actually harvested one cabage with K used in her cooking tonight. All the brocolli and cabbage went to yellow flower. In this area, I sowed Basil, four Pumpkin plants (two seeds per hole), eight Roma tomato plants, eight Grosse Lisse tomato plants. Put tomato stakes in too. These sixteen plants I purchased from a Canberra nursery. I put the pumpkins on the outside edge so when they grow I will encourage them the grow outside the patch. Last year the pumpkins filled the vegie patch up and over took the area. I will put the old cabbage and brocolli plants in the compost when I have the chance.

In with the climbing beans I sowed four pumpkin plants also on the outer edge. I will force them to grow outside.

I had saved some seeds of some mixed tomatoe plants last season so I sowed them all today in a small spot and put pea straw mulch over the top. Sowing the tomatoe plants I think is abit late but who cares, I have done it anyway. Also in the same format I sowed parsley seeds from a commercial packet also under mulch. This in the bed with the already growing red onions. The red onions should be ready to harvest before Christmas.

In the old orange carrot bed I sowed red capsicum seeds from last season which I saved. Just a note, there are two lots of seeds. One lot which I sowed in the bed furthest from my house were collected on the 18 July 2010, and the lot sowed closest to my house were collected on the 5 June 2010. They are sowed beside each other yet separate. I would like to find out how each grows and if one is better than the other. So more on this later.

Pulled out quite abit of weeds from the patch. The normal thing. Also mulched with pea straw the lettuce plants which I must say are growing well. I separated the lettuce plants a couple of weeks back I think. Putting mulch around the lettuce does three things; 1. keeps the ground warm, 2. keeps the ground moist, 3. keeps the lettuce leafs clean. I have never put mulch around lettuce like this before, but I only see great benefits.

I sowed Asparagus seeds months and months ago and they are growing very nicely indeed. I will give them away to my friends, if wanted. Nice little ferns. Also the Sage and Dill plants are growing well and NOW ready to be harvested. I keep putting it off and need to do it shortly.

Please see the photos below that were taken today:

Early Spring Activities

At the moment I have lots of dill. Last season the dill plants went to seed and that seed spread in that little area and this year (season) and now I have dill plants everywhere. Plenty of them. So in the coming week or two at most, I need to harvest most of this dill and store it away. The way I plan to do this is pick them, then straight away place them into the microwave for 3 minutes on high and that will dry the dill out. Then it can be stored in containers. This should keep the colour and flavour of the dill for later use in cooking.

In the last 1-2 weeks:

I planted Thyme, and Corriander. Because each needs to stay moist, I sowed the seeds with pea straw over the top to help keep that moisture in the soil.

Also planted a new generation of silver beet, purple carrots, red onions, and four plants of climbing beans. At the time of writing this entry into my blog, the silver beet and purple carrots are starting to show through. In regards to the the herbs sowed, can't see much because of the pea straw.

See picture below (shows sage too growing well from same plant as last season and the asparagus):

In other news, put cow manure around each asparagus crown. The shoots are growing well and fast! Strong looking shoots too! Also dug in more manure into the ground where the potatoes are. Pulled out weeds from the patch. Day temperatures are starting to become warmer in the early 20's. Just perfect for this time of the year. Afew weeks back we had quite abit of local rain, so that was great. Paddock grass the other week grew fast at 4 inches (100mm) in one week. With warm weather and decent rain, the vegetable garden is growing well too. Just afew days back sowed black russian tomatoe seeds in my little green house. Still too early for putting tomotoes out in the open. Sowed Desiree and Pontiac seed potatoes. Put them in rather deep becuase I thought it would be very helpfull for a longer protection because we can get a late frost in October. Dug up the last spring onions which were not harvested. More later! Steve the Vegygardener.