What I did today - 2017

[lolie]

Dead-headed the carnations and picked a few to bring inside.

Put some tomato seedlings out in the morning sun to harden off.

There's not a lot to do in my garden at the moment other than wait for things to grow/fruit and check for problems each day (the zucchini has a nasty case of powdery mildew but that doesn't normally affect fruit).

I need to move the two raised beds I put out the back to the fence which faces east, but there's no hurry so I might wait until I have helpers available.

Repotted sage, chives and dill.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Checked on my broad bean seeds. I’m a bit impatient. They’ve only been in two weeks and seeing as it turned very cold around that time (10 max during the day, close to zero overnight) I’m guessing they just need a bit of extra time. One is just peeking through but no other signs of life yet. Is this normal?

I planted 9 indoors in modules as backup and I’ll probably end up with a load of extra plugs!

[veggiechicken]

Look under the modules for roots as they may appear before the top growth. Its early days yet - be patient!

[lolie]

Checked on my broad bean seeds. I’m a bit impatient. They’ve only been in two weeks and seeing as it turned very cold around that time (10 max during the day, close to zero overnight) I’m guessing they just need a bit of extra time. One is just peeking through but no other signs of life yet. Is this normal?

I planted 9 indoors in modules as backup and I’ll probably end up with a load of extra plugs!

Absolutely normal. Beans can take anywhere between 2 days and a month to show themselves here even when the temperature is consistently in the mid to high 20s. Mine always seem to appear after I've sown backups.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Look under the modules for roots as they may appear before the top growth. Its early days yet - be patient!

The ones in modules are recent plantings, but I did check a couple in the raised beds today. The two I checked did have small roots poking out so I guess they are on their way!

[lolie]

Gave the beds out the front a feed of liquid fertiliser. Sowed some lettuce which is indoors for now so the ants don't steal the seeds.

I'm not sure what to do with the back up cucumber and tomato seeds I sowed as the originals have now germinated (of course they have).

[KevinM67]

It's good to read stuff from our Antipodean folks - it sort of makes you forget that some of us are entering the winter time. I'm interested in what your successes (and failures) will be over the coming months.

Cheers.

[Baldy]

Watched England methaphorically slaughter some Antipodean folks in a game involving odd shaped balls

Beat the rain this morning and weeded a bed and planted out some supermarket garlic in a few buckets.
Plot actually looks fairly ship shape...

Will now pour a(nother) beer and listen to AC/DC for an hour or two...

[Chestnut]

Ate cloudberries for the first time
I wonder if I could grow them???

[lolie]

It's good to read stuff from our Antipodean folks - it sort of makes you forget that some of us are entering the winter time. I'm interested in what your successes (and failures) will be over the coming months.

Cheers.

The year is unusual in that we're actually getting something resembling a spring. The tomatoes, zucchini and cucumber are loving it. The capsicums, not so much.

If we do get La Niña event, then we'll likely have a lot of problems associated with damp until it passes at the end of January. We should still be able to get two crops, though. Some of my gardening buddies are reporting blight in their tomatoes, so I'm being watchful.

[Jay-ell]

The year is unusual in that we're actually getting something resembling a spring. The tomatoes, zucchini and cucumber are loving it. The capsicums, not so much.

If we do get La Niña event, then we'll likely have a lot of problems associated with damp until it passes at the end of January. We should still be able to get two crops, though. Some of my gardening buddies are reporting blight in their tomatoes, so I'm being watchful.

Remember to take photos for the vines veg show as by the time we send out reminders you'd have eater your entries.

[lolie]

Remember to take photos for the vines veg show as by the time we send out reminders you'd have eater your entries.

I will.

I should be able to start harvesting zucchini and cucumber this week and tomatoes by Christmas (assuming we don't get a sudden run of 35+ days, which would make the tomatoes abort their flowers).

[bario1]

Did some composting today. Basically I decanted one and a half 'finished' bins into three empty ones (the last half a bin is going on my asparagus bed). As I decanted, I added shredded paper and cardboard, rabbit hutch waste and spent coffee grounds that I'd been hoarding... these three new bins will now rot down again over winter.
It's amazing that there was almost nothing recognisable in the 'finished' compost bins beyond the top six inches, just this black fudge like stuff full of red worms... the only obvious raw ingredient was avocado skins and egg shells. Hopefully the injection of air and some new dry ingredients will result in a looser, crumblier compost come Spring.
Borin the robin had a field day!

[lolie]

Took some photos of the herbs and vegies. These are the highlights. The rest are in my Summer 2017/2018 album.

The strip in the middle of the first photo is the result of VC's "every seed deserves a chance" challenge. Not a lettuce in sight despite me including seeds of 4 different varieties.

[Jay-ell]

Took some stuff down for the compost - may need to build another bin if these ones don't settle and give more space. Today was a builders tonne bag worth of stuff.

Dug up the last of the Yacon today. Anyone have any recipies to use up the 7 stone 3 lbs of Yacon tubers I have?

Harvested some parsnips - these were a late sowing but are a decent size.

Dug up some carrots - the orange carrots hidden in a polyculture bed had been got at by the fly but thr purple and white carrots under the enviromesh were OK so it'll be the environmesh from now on.

Also harvested some golden beets from the same bed and cleared out most of the rest of the stuff.

Threw some oproe bulbs I found it the spare room that were starting to sprout into one of the beds.

Moved the Jerusalem Artichokes bed along a bit. All I had to do was drag a bath full of soil along the plot. Probably easier than if they were planted in a bed.

Just having a cup of chicory coffee - surprisingly nice. I'm going to have to grow alot of root chicory next year. Right next to the dandelion. Wonder if you can do the same with other roots like parsnip, carrot or turnip? Radish cappuccino anyone?