Well, the warm weather is starting to slide away from us, & we start to prepare for another long, cold Winter. The summer growth frenzy is nearly at an end, so here is a Marquee walk through - the 1st year we have had the bird netting in place.
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| the garlic |
I wanted to show you how easy it is to set up a workable vegie patch. As you can see from the photos, we struggle with lack of sun due to the surrounding trees.
Of course its easy for me living in the bush, as I'm always able to rig together beds using old logs, old bricks, tyres, rocks & anything else I can get my hands on. On the left is the beginnings of what we call "The Marquee", before the netting went up.
At this stage we had a few baby dwarf fruit trees in. I'd also established strawberries on the old horse poo pile.
Above: Early Spring, the garlic was going great guns, looking very healthy.
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| Some of the garlic after harvest. |
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| spring 2012 |
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| apricot tree |
Above & Below: a before & after shot of a bed I threw together . Lots of good soil, manure, worm poo, plus mulching of sugarcane straw. You will see a vegie foam box of tansy I planted because a) the flowers attract bees b) tansy is a companion plant for apples. The zucchinis were so good this year that noone was allowed to leave our property without taking at least one mammoth zucc home.
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| Zucczilla |
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| The raspberries - late summer |
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| the raspberries in spring |
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| Raspberries, cherries & blueberries |
Above: I have set up an old sofa bed frame to train the raspberries though, to make it easier to pick when ripe. Unfortunately, this year, I should've been more diligent in pulling out suckers & keeping the big thick new growth. Instead of a well trained vine, I had a bushy mess. I've since brushed up on my berry pruning skills. Never underestimate the value of You Tube for these lessons. There is always some expert who has posted a great training video.
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| Tub fulla mint |
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silverbeet & strawberries
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Right: a mammoth tomato. Thanks heirloom seeds.
Below: Another hastily thrown together garden bed. As it's April, I still haven't harvested my pumpkins. Always wait until the plant dies off. They keep better if you do. Once the plants are established, if the vines keep growing - squeeze the tips of new growth off, so the energy goes to the fruit, not to an ever increasing plant.
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| The Pumpkin Patch |
Above: Ive placed rio over the cucumbers so I can train the vine over. Great idea if you are short of space - train it up a wall. It also keeps the fruit off the ground. Notice the tyres - not pretty but brilliant strawberry pots, or compost bins. I chuck my weeds in them, cover & let them do their thing.
Below: the various stages of cucumbers. It is April now & they're still producing, much to my surprise.
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| Cucumbers trained across the wire |
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| Cucumbers |
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| Allowing fruit to hang down & not rot. |
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| 3 beautiful organic apples |
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| baby dwarf apple |
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| a huge apple - only 1 produced on this tree, thanks wind. |
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| Broadbeans popping up. |
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| some of the produce |
Above: My young apples produced their 1st decent crop this year. The apples are now stewed & in my freezer. I don't spray them, so we put up with a few munch holes in them but most were superficial, & well worth it for the taste. I tried 2 tricks this year for keeping pests at bay. One was nasturtians & chives planted around the base, to deter the bugs. The theory with the nasturtians is that they are sacrificial lambs. The bugs will munch on the nasturtians instead of your fruit. And, of course, they are bee attracters.The chives act as a deterrent. I also hung moth balls on all the fruit trees as this is supposed to deter possums, parrots AND pests. This one came from my Dutch Mother-in-law. I'll try anything, so I did it all, with great success.
Planting guide for Autumn: We are in a cold temperate zone. The days are still warm, so now is the time to put in lettuce, silverbeet, beetroot, garlic, leeks, onions, spring onions, cabbage, cauliflower, peas & snow peas - just to name a few. Or, you can rest your beds for next Spring. You could plant a green crop to add nutrients to the soil. It's time to add compost to the soil to prepare for Spring - dig & turn the soil well.
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/vegieguide/
http://www.grow-n-eat.com/companion-planting-australia.html
MULCH MULCH MULCH - if planting vegies in Autumn, always mulch well to protect the plants from frost. Make your own igloos out of polypipe & plastic or you can buy them from good nurseries.
Happy Grubbing - if you have any questions, please feel free to post them.
Tamara
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