Last Garden Log for 2009

Scarecrow's Log: 27:12:2009:

The Cherries have been eaten, dried
and frozen for future use!

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 8C
Lowest Max 26.2C
Highest Max 39C
0.5mm Rain

What's happening in the garden?

Feverfew Tanacetum parthenium is flowering. It's sad that it apparently repels bees. So I don't plant it where I want the bees to help with pollination!

Some of Doc's Gourds have been attacked by slaters! On a recent Gardening Australia Josh Byrne said to try putting pots (with the bottoms cut out) over the seedlings to protect them. So I did! It's working so far.

Read more hints from Josh in this Fact Sheet.

A few of the Blue Lake Beans
are climbing up the mesh cover on Bed 3
and are starting to flower!

Propagation:
Seeds:

• Cucumber Green Gem
• Tomato Burnley Bounty
• These went into small pots
• Gourds Dancing/Spinning (to replace the ones the slaters ate)
• Beans Purple King top up planting in Bed 1
• Zucchini Black (replacements for seedlings the grasshoppers ate!)
• Beans Soy Centaur
• Sweetcorn Anasazi
• These went into the Wicking beds in the Dog Pen Garden

Planting out:

• Alpine Strawberries Fragaria vesca
• Warrigal Greens Tetragonia tetragonoides
• Jerusalem Artichokes Helianthus tuberosus
• Nectarine tree (seedling)
• These went into the Almond area which has been tidied and mulched.
• Spinach - Ceylon/Malabar Basella rubra on the sides of the beds in the Main Veg Garden to allow it to climb up the arches
• Yacon Polymnia sonchifolia planted in the Kitchen Garden
• Silverbeet 'Rainbow Chard' and Lettuce 'Freckles' seedlings into topped up Wicking boxes on one of the propagation benches.

Cuttings:
Dusty Miller while I was hacking (ooops I mean pruning) it back!

New in the Garden This week:

Not in my garden but we had a surprise in the morning of Christmas Eve with a phone call to say the council would meet us at the Community Garden site to start the Earthworks! When Doc and I arrived we found a couple of visitors already there. Two ponies had escaped from the next paddock...just as well we haven't planted anything yet!

Mr Council Worker made a great start on levelling out and shaping the block!
Thank you!

While there we found a few critters in/on the soil nearby!
Please click on the photos to see
the spider (one of the many) and mantis we found.

The new chicks are growing fast
and still love their greens!

Weekly Harvest Tally:

Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.

• Carrot Chantenay Red-cored***129g
• Garlic***63g
• Parsnips Hollow Crown***164g
• Apricot***400g
• Cherries***5118g
• Fig***76g
• Peach***757g

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Lebanese Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Sea Parsley.

Eggs:

• 9 from the Farmyard Ferals
• 3 from the Ginger Girls
• 2 from Blackie

To see how the various Garden areas fit on our half acre block check out the newest Map of our place HERE

More Sunflowers Soon!

Scarecrow's Log: 20:12:2009:

Baby Sunflowers about to bloom!

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 4.4C
Lowest Max 23.6C
Highest Max 38.5C
No Recorded Rainfall

What's happening in the garden?

Yet more shade covers...
this one over the Bushfood Bed

and this over the Grosse Lisse
Tomato Tower in the Kitchen Garden

Since their tree blew over in the front garden
the Apostlebirds have taken to perching
on the main electricity wire to the house.

Propagation:
Seeds:

• Amaranth - Leaf Amaranthus gangeticus
• Amaranth - Grain Amaranthus hypochondriacus
• Basil - Lettuce Leaf Ocimum basilicum
• Basil Sweet - Genovese Ocimum basilicum 'Genovese'
• Celtuce - Lactuca sativa
• Chicory - Coffee Stetorium intybus magdeburg
• Cosmos - Sunny Yellow and mixed Cosmos bipinnatus
• Evening Primrose Oenothera biennis
• Kale - 'Squire' Brassica oleracea Acephala Group
• Kale - Moretons Mix Brassica oleracea Acephala Group
• Lettuce - Goldrush Lactuca sativa
• Mitsuba - Japanese wild parsley- Cryptotaenia japonica
• Nasturtiums Tropaeolum majus
• Parcel Apium graveolens var. Secalinum
• Silverbeet - 'Rainbow Chard' - Beta vulgaris
• Sunflower - Sun King Helianthus annuus

Potting up:
Plants were tidied and potted on for the market stall.

Planting out:
Tomatoes Yellow Baby Pear in the Dog Pen Garden

5 X Ginger plants in the first wicking bed I ever made (that was back in 2007 but it's has been re-vamped along the way) in the Dog Pen Garden. It's nice and shady there so they should appreciate that.

New in the Garden This week:
First flowers on the Eggplants (Casper) and Capsicums (Hungarian Yellow Wax Sweet )

First fruit set on the Roma Tomatoes

and Baby Blue Pumpkins.

That Jalapeno Chilli in the Dog Pen Garden
has re-sprouted for it's third year.

Weekly Harvest Tally:

Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.

• Beetroot Heirloom Mix***234g
• Carrot Chantenay Red-cored***122g
• Onion Red***90g
• Apricots***150g To test for ripeness!

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Chives, Lebanese Watercress, Onions Red Stemmed Welsh Bunching, Parsley, Shallots, Sea Parsley, Warrigal Greens (blanched).

Eggs

• 8 from the Farmyard Ferals
• 10 from the Ginger Girls
• 1 from Blackie

To see how the various Garden areas fit on our half acre block check out the newest Map of our place. Here.

Fruit, Shade and Straw.

Scarecrow's Log: 13:12:2009:

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 3.3C
Lowest Max 19C
Highest Max 32.5C
3.5mm Rain

What's happening in the garden?

Apricots are nearly ripe...time to net the tree!

Another shade structure
to cover the Wicking Beds in the Dog Pen
- 50% white shade cloth!

Tidied the Potato Wicking Bed in the Almond Area. There are small new potatoes in there so I've mounded up some composty soil from the bottom of the chooks pergola and they are ready for a heavy mulch!

Propagation:
Seeds:
Mangelwurzel in Bed 3

Potting up:

• Lettuce Freckles, Rouge de Hiver
• Parsley
• Lovage
• Valerian
• Basil
• Dyers Chamomile

Planting out:

• Sweet Potato
• Zucchini Black
• Watermelon Sugar Baby
• Into the Dog Pen Beds

Sweet Potatoes in the Dog Pen Garden Bed

New in the Garden This week:

We found a source of good straw. We bought 10 bales from a retired Organic Market Gardener. 2 bales are being scratched through by the chooks ready for mulching the garden, free of seed.

Weekly Harvest Tally:

Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.

• Carrot Chantenay Red-cored***100g

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Chives, Lebanese Watercress, Onions Red Stemmed Welsh Bunching, Parsley, Shallots, Sea Parsley, Warrigal Greens (blanched).

Eggs

• 9 from the Farmyard Ferals
• 12 from the Ginger Girls
• 2 from Blackie

New chookie update!

It must be their French ancestry,

the little Faverolles love posing for the camera!

The Barnevelders show off their beautiful feathers...

...and give themselves a good preening.

The Heat is GONE!

Scarecrow's Log: 22:11:2009:
This log covers the fortnight from 9 Nov 09 to 22 Nov 09.

The only relief to the heat last week
was a small cloud over the midday sun!

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 12C
Lowest Max 19C after the cool change
Highest Max 41.8C
37mm Rainfall

What's happening in the garden?

10 days of record (for November) heatwave (temps over 35C) conditions, where the main gardening activity was watering the thirsty plants in an effort to keep them alive.

Relief finally came with some rain!!!!

Last weekend we picked up the Trees For Life materials for this year.
First seeds are due in this week!

The Native Rosella Hibiscus heterophyllus
survived through the heat
and has now flowered.

The heat has made the cherries colour up so quickly
that we had to net the tree!

The Loganberries survived the heat well
in their wicking bed and are ripening nicely.

Propagation:
Seeds:

Popped in some Climbing Bean - Blue Lake and Red Lima - seeds to replace some the slaters and/or grasshoppers have stolen!

Planting out:

• Comfrey Symphytum officinale
• Lemongrass Cymbopogon citratus
• Queensland Arrowroot Canna edulis
• Into the bed in the compost area.

Eggplants - Long Purple and Casper
Capsicum - Hungarian Yellow Wax Sweet
Planted into Bed 1 in the Main Veg Garden

Cuttings:

• Pink Violets
• Loganberry (because a piece came off when I picked some )

New in the Garden This week:

Saturday morning we picked up the new chicks!

5 Faverolles

5 Barnevelders

It's good to see them get stuck into their work
at such a young age!



The Barnevelders love lucerne straight off the plant...
...this poor plant has been caged to re-grow!

They are around 10 weeks old, still chirping
and already more friendly
than those crazy Farmyard Feral chooks...
...who have now decided to go broody,
well 3 of them have!

Harvest Tally: 9/11 to 22/11:

Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.

• It was too hot to be picking much at all!
• Strawberries***125g
• Loganberries***Just for testing their ripeness Yummy!
• Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lebanese Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Sea Parsley.

Eggs for the fortnight:

• 30 from the Farmyard Ferals
• 7 from the Ginger Girls
• 2 from Blackie

The Heat is On...

Scarecrow's Log: 8:11:2009:

...and it isn't even summer yet!

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 3.4C
Lowest Max 19.8C
Highest Max 36.8C
No Recorded Rainfall

What's happening in the garden?

With the heat on it's way the shade covers are up, we use 50% white shade cloth on the vegetable beds as it allows enough light through for flowering but cuts the heat. We left the main cover loose so we can move it as the sun goes over. The newly planted seedlings will need all the help they can get this week.

Sugarcane mulch has been applied, now all we have to do is get through this week or as long as this heat lasts!

Propagation:
Seeds:

Kakai Pumpkin seeds saved from last year.
These are a hull-less seeded variety.
They germinated quickly in the hot weather.

Planting out:

Cucumber Marketmore seedlings in Tank Bed a

Seedlings of Basil Genovese planted on Bed 2
with the Roma tomatoes

Potting up:

Cuttings of Sage - Golden Salvia officinalis variegata and Purple Salvia officinalis 'Purpurea', Yellow Yarrow Achillea millefolium, Clove Pinks Dianthus caryophyllus, Mints - Moroccan Mentha spicata subsp. spicata and Egyptian Mentha niliaca

Cuttings/Division:
Plumbago auriculata

Around the Garden this week:

Red Drumhead Cabbages

Red Lima Beans slowly emerging in Tank Bed a

Blue Lake Climbing Beans in Bed 3

Mauve Pigface

Kamut wheat heads,
pity those farmyard ferals
didn't leave more than a few plants for us.

The Cherries are colouring up already!!

Weekly Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.

• Asparagus***150g
• Beetroot Detroit Red Globe***1249g
• Broad Beans Early Long Pods & Coles Early Dwarf***124g
• Onions Red***200g
• Strawberries***86g

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lebanese Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Sea Parsley.

Eggs

• 23 from the Farmyard Ferals
• 4 from the Ginger Girls
• 2 from Blackie