February 2010

After a couple of days back in a school I realise how important working in the garden is to me. A few minutes here and there all day helps keep me sane and calm. (I have a 5 week contract of work holding a Head of Learning position in my old school starting the day after I officially resigned! Such is life!)
I have only taken it up as a favour to a friend who has to face some serious health challenges for the next couple of months and asked me to help him out.

So to get ready for this situation I have had to go flat out ripping out the old crops and getting the seedlings in and established before I start spending full days working away from home. Well I have done it and I am fairly sure the seedlings will survive without my regular checks next week – thankfully the weather this week is hovering around 30degrees instead of 40 degrees celcius!

Out With the Old and in with the New

I have removed the tired Zucchini, added a pile of compost and blood and bone to the bed – the seedlings are spring onions (two varieties) and some lettuce, beetroot and carrots.

The corn is in the compost heap and the bed has received a pile of compost and manures to get it ready for more seedlings next weekend. The mulch is Sugar Cane mulch that I buy in bulk – $20 a bale from Bunnings. I am undecided as to what to plant right now – so will think about it for a week!

The new cucumber are thriving and double in size every couple of days and should be bearing fruit very soon! We have started harvesting the lettuce.

On Sunday I harvested a feed of broccolini, eggplants and capsicum. We can possibly pick one or two capsicum every day now. The tomatoes have started ripening and we have had two lovely organic tomatoes in our sandwiches and some cherry toms on our plates so far this week.

The eggplant I left have already increased in size and should be suitable to eat any time we need them!

That’s it from me this week since I have a lot less time now with a day job to attend to!
The Organic Gardener.

Public holiday here in Perth and we are celebrating Australia Day. Watching the cricket, going to the beach, listening to the cricket on the radio and having a BBQ lunch are all traditional activities for today. Gardening will be low on the list for most people but I grab a little moment to harvest my dinner!

Clean Up Time

With the harvest of the corn over it is time to clean up a few beds in the garden and start preparing for the next round of plantings.

The compost heap is quite tall again and I may need to have a big turnover this week to get the heat going in the middle and check the moisture levels.

Veges To Eat This Week

Carrots, eggplant and broccolini are the main edibles this week. The carrots are just the thinnings from the carrot bed to encourage the growth of the larger carrots.

The bowl of fruit salad is for our breakfast!

Finally picked the grapes this week and they are so sweet.

The capsicum we pick as they ripen and we have had a few this week. The sunburnt ones are used for the dog – he loves capsicum with his dinner and has on occasion stolen them from the garden!

The eggplant are producing large numbers of fruit and even though I have picked 7 big eggs this week there are plenty more on the way!

Here are the cucumbers which are racing along now and should be producing fruit next week. We expect to pick some lettuce as well!

Apples and Pumpkins

The apples are progressing nicely and will have a good feed from the trees later in the year.

The pumpkin plant is sneaking around the garden and we look forward to some nice fruit.

Finally the Paw Paws are coming along nicely and it is quite impressive how quickly they can grow when the heat starts!

This plant is nearly 1.5metres tall having started at 15cm when planted from the pot.

The second one is rapidly out growing the pot and I will plant it at the end of the summer.

Anyway have a happy Australia Day my Aussie friends and may everyone else just have a great day as well!

The organic gardener.

In The Organic Garden This Hot Summer Week

Well here we are past the mid point of January and several weeks of very warm weather with today being the second day in a row over 42 degrees celcius. Tomorrow promises to be around 37 and it might even rain – the first time in 57 days!

We have broken some records this month on the summer temperatures and rainfall front. Normally this spells disaster for the vegetable garden but this year I seem to have had a win! My plans and preparations have saved the day and I have suffered minimal losses in the garden. A few lettuce plants got fried, a few capsicums burnt but generally all is well.

This zucchini plant has a little stress (as seen by the white fungal infection which I will treat with milk)

Beetroot and spring onion doing fine under the shade cloth. Oh yeah, that’s Dill growing in the front there!

Tomatoes doing fine, little sun damage and nice and plump.

The eggplant are thriving and we are enjoying them on and off the BBQ!

The next round of Cucumbers doing very well and a few lettuce in between them and the broccolini.

Will pick our first ever grapes tomorrow if it rains other wise the next day it cools down.
The cloth is to cover them on the hottest days, otherwise they are raisins!

Picking and Preserving the Corn Crop

Last week we picked the first of the corn to have cooked on the BBQ for Margit’s birthday. Today I picked half of the remaining crop to preserve for eating in the winter months. It seems so far away right now, but warm buttered corn on a cold winters day is some fine comfort food! The following photos demonstrate the procedure for preserving them in the deep freezer.

A very successful crop of corn this year it was 42degrees when I took this photo – corn was quite happy!

A sharp broad knife makes cutting the corn much easier.

Strip the cobs of the leaves and the filaments.

Cut into convenient bite sized cobs.

I had a big pan of water coming to the boil and ready to go as I finished chopping. The corn goes in for 5-6 minutes only to just partially cook them. (This stops freezer burn)

This bucket has a little ice and cold water ready to cool the blanched corn cobbettes.

The corn is bagged in lots of 6 for a dinner serve, dated and placed in the freezer. There is some lovely organic beef and free range pork sitting next to them!

That’s it, all ready for the coming winter. The rest of the crop we will eat raw and BBQ – and also give a few away to some lucky neighbours and friends!

I wish the best for the rest of the week – we expect more hot weather in the mid-30’s this weekend so the heat is on in Perth!

Take care,
The Organic Gardener

The organic home gardener is home after a nice break down south of the state.

Had lot’s of great food, most of it from my sisters garden. I have a few photos to share from the visit and these will show you some amazing results from her sunflower bed!
The other great opportunity was to eat lots of fresh apricots, peaches (white and orange flesh) and some plums (only managed to get one since they are a little later ripening).

Jon is around 6 foot so you can see how monstrous these flowers are!

Steve and Jon picking more ripe fruit.
The netting is to keep out the parrots and the odd green eye.

We are still eating the peaches here at home as well as some cherries I picked up at Mt Barker on the way back from the Albany holiday.

In the Organic Garden This Week

When I got home the garden was looking pretty good! The shade cloth covers had worked a treat and the plants were all very healthy and in fact very much bigger than before I left. The plants are thriving despite the many days over 35 degrees Celsius this month.

The corn is huge and the cobs are thickening up nicely and I check them every day just in case any are ready to eat!

There are tomatoes on the bushes now and so we can expect to start eating them next week. I thinned out the carrots and had a little feed – I cannot believe how well they are growing! The capsicums are doing well and the egg plants are very productive and I will soon be picking them daily.

Today I planted some more cucumber and lettuce which should be ready just as the other plants start to deteriorate.

Drive In Food Bars for Magpies

Lastly today I wish to share a video I took one day when we were admiring the sights from a look out in Albany. A family of Magpies was sitting on a rail in the car park and quite calmly inspected each car as it arrived and helped themselves to the bugs caught in the grilles of the cars.
What we most amazed by was that they al;ways walked to the front of the car each time – never the back of the car!

Anyway have a great week and happy new year!

The Organic Gardener

Well the end of the year is upon us and it is amazing to thinking that in a very short time it will be 2010.

The garden has been a wonderful supply of fresh organic food this year – I have learnt many new things about the management of a home garden to produce food!
I hope what I have shared has brought useful ideas and encouragement to the many organic home gardeners out there – my encouragement to you is to keep at it and you will succeed!

Growing our own food will have a big impact on our carbon footprint and it is a very efficient way to contribute to the improvement of the environment. Home grown food, especially organic food saves the planet on so many fronts.

This Week In the Garden

So much is happening this week as we prepare for Xmas. I have huge plants growing in all the beds and I am very excited to see corn towering nearly 2 meters high, tomato plants starting to bud up and the cucumbers zucchinis loving the new shade cloth.
Beetroot in my sandwiches, lots of lettuce and the broccolini has proved to be a real bonus – even on the hottest days it has shown no signs of bolting or wilting!

As for the fruit – over 20 apples on the two dwarf trees so far, apricots starting to ripen and figs just delicious!
The pawpaw has shot away and is now nearly a metre tall! Bags of mulberries in the deep freeze – ready for cold winter afternoons next year! The grapes are filling up and getting fatter everyday!

I could go on, but I won’t! Here are a few shots from the yard to give you a feel for the bounty we have out there this week!

Lettuce, Tomato, Coriander bed. Garlic Too!

Eggplant, Beetroot and Onion Bed

Carrot, Capsicum and Beetroot Bed

The Corn Forrest!

Eggplant, cucumber and zucchini bed.

Moon Flower

2 years ago I was given a cutting from a “Moon Flower” and last year we had 1 flower. I was in Adelaide or Melbourne at the time and missed it but this year we have three flowers that have budded up and burst into life. I have searched the web for a picture like this one but no luck so anyone who can give me a botanical name please live a message here on the site.

I have taken shots over the two days and you can see the progression – we went out last night and came home to find the house full of this cinnamon scent and three enormous and dazzling flowers!

After all that glorious scent and wonderful flowers this is the way they look the next morning!

Merry Xmas everyone!!

The Organic Gardener

Heating Up

The summer weather has been mixing it up a bit – cool days (24C) and hot days (38C) and lot’s of in between days as well!
I know that the summer is yet to really heat up so I am already seeing the problem of the high temperatures on the delicate plants. My umbrellas have been working but the winds are challenging some days so I have followed a friends example of building a shade over the top of the beds.

Shade Cloth

Today I have built my first shade over the two hottest beds – they get sun nearly all day so can get very dry unless I pour in more water. Water is restricted now in most cities and Perth is no different. The shading should cut down water loss and allow me to keep to my rostered days.

So here is the process I followed:

Some tall start pickets on the four corners and a brace across the ends and the middle.

I used old PVC to strut and support the posts and shade cloth. It’s light and cheap!

This is 50% shade cloth.

The cucumbers were a lot happier this afternoon so I believe we are on the right track!

Veges in the Garden This Week

Here is a quick update on the veges this week!

Apples are starting to grow!

Siamese Twin Cucumbers!

Eggplant

Zucchini

Spring Onion

The Corn Forest! Over 1.5m high now!

This weekend will be over 37C so that should a big test for my shades and I will let you know how it all performs!

Until next week, have a great week!

The Organic Gardener

This post may seem a little out of time! You see my last post was to be published at the start of November but I got sick and was too ill to publish on time!
I have just got back to the keyboard today to find the unpublished post! However, this is no drama since it shows the dramatic growth over the last 4 weeks. You won’t believe the way my seedlings and seeds have rocketed into the world!

Anyway, here is the update for the first week of December – weather has been strange – some very hot days now and then, rain and thunderstorms and then some very mild and thoroughly amazing days – 23-27 degrees with a cool breeze…. the best of Perth’s climate!

Let’s start with the corn –

It is so thick and lush and I am delighted with it’s progress – could be the best we have ever grown!

The cucumbers are just about to start their mad rush up the fence and supply us with a dozen or so fruits a week!

We should be able to pick 6-7 by the next weekend!

Oh yeah here is one of the lettuce I planted in the corn bed between the rows – it clearly loves this location.

Here is one of the 8 or so eggplant I planted!

The Zucchini are also near bursting with fruit and by the weekend we will be picking 5-6 of those as well!

This is our first bunch of grapes growing up over the patio!

Also let us not forget the carrot seeds and leeks I planted in the refreshed bed.

The board is for me to step on so I don’t compact the bed – each garden bed has something for me to stand on without compacting the soil to encourage good root growth and water absorption when it rains.

Beetroot, eggplant and onions here are doing very nicely indeed!

Let me finish off with one of the many delicate flowers growing around the yard right now!

Have a great week – I can feel a stirfry coming up this weekend – zucchini, coriander, spinach, carrots……..

Heritage

You may recall me speaking about the decision I made this year to grow tomatoes from seed and particularly sow heritage varieties. Well here they are and doing very well thankyou!

That is self sown lettuce in the background – it’s like weeds at the moment!

Spring Is Springing

Well not much happening in the organic garden this week, other than watching my seedlings grow. I have seen a surge in caterpillars so I have been picking them off and using a little pest oil as well.

Our weather is very spring! We have thunderstorms one day and then high temperatures the next! I have lost a couple of seedlings to the hot weather since I have been sick with the flu and so did not get out enough to check on the little ones!
This is why I usually plant more than I could hope to eat so no great problem so far with the losses.

The silverbeet is thriving and is soooo green!

The corn, cucumber, zucchini and eggplants are doing well – as are the onions!

I have planted lettuce between the corn rows since I will harvest them long before the corn block out the sunlight!

The tomato seedlings are coming along at last and I should be planting them out soon!

New Flowers

As the weeks move on into late spring the type of flowers around the yard starts to change some what. The bulbs are browning off now and the roses are racing ahead. A few of my newer plantings from last winter are now flowering and we are enjoying a few different splashes of colour.

Compost Heap

The compost heap has grown to huge proportions as I am pruning and thinning out all over the yard.

This is currently about 1.5m high and will settle down as the rot sets in! I will need to add some blood and bone and give it a good turnover when I feel better.

Meanwhile the sweet-potato are enjoying the boost of nutrients that they have access to near the base of the heap.

I also think that the mulberry tree is also benefiting from the heap since they are well know to seek out nutrition over quite large distances.

Fruit Trees Racing Along

My Pinkabelle Apple tree is flowering – exciting prospects of lot’s of apples this year!

Apricots are on the tree now! I will be watching keenly for any fruit fly – have found an organic bait to control them this year!

Still lot’s of mulberries!

My fig tree is loaded and carries so much fruit for such a young and little tree!

Fruit Fly Control

The organic bait and control is quite an easy product to use. I simply mix it as directed and spray over 1sm of fruit tree in the yard. This attracts and kills the fly for roughly 70sm of garden – so for me just one spray once a week or two should control all the fly problems – tomato to apricot tree!

A great way to control the pest without the toxic chemicals of the alternatives!

Of course basic garden hygiene is also important – all waste fruit should be composted quickly or given to the worms to reduce the chances of the fly getting into the yard. Infected fruit can infect the soil and then the fly is a major challenge for many years to come!

We are well into spring here in Perth and the organic garden is warming up and the soil is just right for preparation for summer crops.
Seeds are in the trays and germinating so the next step is to prepare the ground.

Step 1. Complete the Harvest of Winter Crops

I have picked the last of the turnips and onions and also found a few beetroot.
The organic Garlic are going well but no where near ready for harvest yet.

Step 2. Weed the Beds

With the extra rain this winter and spring I have actually had quite a lot of clover growing in the beds.

This has not been a problem since it fixes nitrogen in the soil and makes good compost too!
So I have weeded these all out and turned the soil over.

After all that the compost heap is looking huge.

Step 3. Add compost and Blood and Bone

Next is the addition of blood and bone and compost to revive the tired soils that have produced wonderful winter food like cauliflower and turnips.

I also add some germs – this are granulated bacteria that kick off the soil activity when you add them with the organic materials.

Step 4. Mulch the Beds

This year I am trying something new – cane sugar mulch!

Garden straw has become very expensive over the last few years so I have tried to find alternatives but most are just as expensive. I spotted this sugar cane mulch last week and though I would try it this summer. It comes in a compressed bale in a plastic bag so the bag covers 7 square meters at the depth I need. Very convenient and easy to handle.

We will see how this goes and I will report back next year.
I give it all a good watering – completely soaked and ready for the plants.

Step 5. Plant out the Seedlings

I have bought a few seedlings as well as grown my own to get things moving and to space out the plantings.
Today I have put in cucumber, yellow zucchini, egg plant (3 varieties), coriander (in tomato bed for pest control).

So there we go the crops are in and the only thing to do now is to keep an eye on the pests and keep the ground moist.

Now Keep that Dog Out

Now blood and bone has a nice smell if you are a dog and so if I don’t take precautions the red menace will be into the garden in a flash. This is why you can see the galvanised fence around each bed.

Here he is chewing his raw bone looking very happy. I can tell you he would also be thinking how that freshly dug garden bed will be a great place to bury this bone later today!

The black pipe is the recycled tyre material that I bury below the soil as an underground water system. The pipe weeps and effectively maintains good moisture levels with little evaporation.

Protect Seedlings From Heat

In Perth we can get some real scorchers even in spring so I prepare for the odd day by placing my beach umbrellas in each bed.
I have placed steel stakes deep in the bed and then tie the umbrella base to them. Top of the umbrella can be removed in very windy weather but usually I can just leave them down and tied.

This one is in the broccoli bed and last year enabled me to grow and pick the vegetable for almost the whole of summer!

Here it is in it’s full glory doing a great job protecting my dinner!

I actually have two stakes in some beds one for early summer and one for late summer. This can compensate for the changing tilt of the earth as the season moves on.

That’s it then all ready – now I just keep an eye out for bugs and deal with them as the weeks progress.

Have a great week and may you have success in your garden as well!

Record Temperature for October

This is today’s harvest of organic broccoli! Why so much? I think the 38degrees on Saturday had something to do with it!
I had put up the covers on the bed so that the veges would not burn and that seems to have worked well. However the high temperatures push the growth of the broccoli heads forward and we had 7 or more ready in one go. Normally we can pace our harvest over a week or two but the extreme conditions brought it all on at once!

Never mind a few friends will be happy tonight since they have my excess for dinner!
I picked 1.5 kilos of broccoli altogether.

Oh yeah, a few carrots as well!

Fruit Trees are loving the Sunshine

That is a 10 litre bucket about half full of mulberries that we picked this afternoon and are currently turning into jam!
My dear wife had been preparing them for jam this afternoon and I did the last kilo an hour ago. We cut the little stems off the fruit to improve the jam. If you don’t the jam is a little crunchy – I actually don’t mind that but it is very smooth without the stems.

Seed Collection

I let my Bok Choy go to seed this winter and collected the dry pods as the plants died off. Today I removed crushed the dried pods and separated them from the seeds and now have plenty of organic seed for the next 12 months. I will also share a few with some of my friends who like to grow their own as well.

Preparing Seedlings For Next Crop

Last week I planted some beetroot, spring onion and tomato seeds. The tomatoes are heritage varieties and were great value and I hope to have an excess of tomatoes – which we will turn into sauce or paste and deep freeze. I hope to try drying this year as well, since the few I did last year were very yummy.

This is the fresh bed for the tomatoes and is full of manure, blood and bone and wetting agent.

Dinner Time

Just before I finish up I have ducked out for dinner and thought you might like to see what I am having – pork spare ribs on rice with prune and apple sauce with organic broccolini of course!

Have a good week!
The Organic Gardener