planning, propogation and patience ...

first of all .... apologies for not having written any updates for a while.  it's been the first week of winter school holidays here "down under" which means with my three munchkins ... chaos ensues .... you get the picture!

but we finished the week in style.  chooks are laying 2-3 eggs a day now, rather than 1-2 .... i think even they are trying to will spring to get here!  we found ourselves in a position of doing some fun planning, wrapping up propagating and seeing our patience beginning to pay off!

we've been wanting to modify our side beds for a while.  when we built them we were eager and ignorant.  we had six 1.5 x 1.5 semi attached beds  that were far too deep.  this meant i had to use valuable bed space to make a walking path.  we have severely modified the size of the beds with a bit of a keyhole design, allowing me to have access to all sides of the beds without stepping into them.  there is one "almost dead spot" that i can't reach .... for this we will be placing a worm tower .... and bob's your uncle.  scott got this all finished today .... with a little help from the kids as well!

i've also been working on the back crescent bed.  i have a dream to have trellis's running on one side (beans on the trellis, strawberries and asparagus for ground cover), with giant sunflowers and corn on the other (with beans running up this, and probably early zucchini as a ground cover too) ... .this will be my high growing bed.  today, i installed the trellis .... happy girl!

i've been madly propagating as well.  felt a bit bad when i realised that i could use chopped up willow leaves as the propagation medium.  but i can't worry too much as we don't have a willow!  so i am using the packet propagation mix.  currently have pineapple sage, lavender and two kinds of wattle that i've put in pots.  i'm looking forward to seeing how that works out.

in my green house i have heaps growing!  (in spite of an errant child going in and up-ending a grow shelf!  grrrrr!) the kohlrabi is coming on well, as is the celeriac .... and i've even got some celtuce in .... these are my ugly veg!  the beetroot, cauliflower, kavelo nero and cabbage are looking great.   i've even taken the plunge and have a few beans in as well.  and yes!  we have tomato's seeds in that are my early season mix.

the disappointment remains .... <sigh>  leeks.  a whole pallet of 24 spots with 2-3 seeds in each in wonderful seed raising mix and what do i have to show?  well ... two little spikes ..... <sigh>  what am i doing wrong?

two leeks out of this whole pallet!
what am i doing wrong!!!!!

my macrame pea climbing
wall!

and patience .... i am thrilled to say that we have pea's a plenty!  my fence in the front is FULL.  but the river cottage inspired macrame mesh that i did is finally coming good!  i wasn't sure at first .... but the pea's have finally gotten big enough that they are above the lip of the bed and are catching heaps more sun and are starting to take off now too .... i have high hopes that they will go ballistic and cover the entire macrame by spring!

ah spring .... it's in the air .... i can feel it .... with the great sunshine we had today, how could you not?  i know it's still a bit away ... but each day is just that much closer to my spring happy dance!

o u lovely tomato!

ok ... so it's time to start thinking about the spring planting .... and i'm determined to get it right -- especially with tomato's .... because they have so much to offer!  it was important to have a really clear idea for what i wanted to grow.  here were my criteria.

• being able to harvest fruit for as long as possible!  so i had to choose different varieties for different seasons
• fruit that was full of flavour and versatile.  need to be able to use it for salads and passatta and sauce.
• size matters as well as i  can't have all small or all staked.  so i have chosen a mixture of small and tall, bush and vine.  only a few require serious staking.... but knowing me, i'll end up staking them all anyway, just because it helps.
• and fun, colourful stuff.  so i chose one that even fruits a light pink, and another that has red and yellow stripes!  different shapes too ... from small cherry, to large flat and squishy. 

so, here is my plan of attack.

i've also ordered one that i haven't listed simply because it's too funny and i'm not quite sure where to put it .... it's called Mr Ugly ... can you believe it!  supposed to grow huge vines with huge fruit that is really tasty.

All fruit ordered through Garden World, Eden Seeds and Diggers.


Resource:
http://www.greenfingers.com.au/services/digging_deeper/tomatoes_want_to_grow/4.htm#Tomato
http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=73
http://www.tomato.com.au/index.html
http://www.mr-ugly.com/index.html

winter time blues

... it's been raining since saturday afternoon.  thursday now.  i'm about to go stir crazy .... this is cabin fever and it is driving me insane!  with a sick family .... the coughs and hacks and sniffles abound, it is only the rare dash for this or that supply that takes me away from home.

i keep trying to remind myself that this is good for the new no-dig beds we just put in.  they are well and truly starting the decomposition process.

but impatient me would rather be planting those beds than watching them settle.  <sigh>

so i have to think of those things that will keep me inspired ... to see winter as a time of bedding in and preparing, rather than twiddling my thumbs.

• there are seedlings to tend -- cabbage, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, and yes, i am daring to get into bean territory already.
• placed an order with Diggers the other day ... ahhh .... that felt good.  ordered comfrey, chives, sorrel, amaranth, broccoli romanesco, capsicum, eggplant, sweet corn, kohlrabi, cavolo nero black tuscan kale, deer tongue lettuce, malabar climbing spinach, purple tomatillo and new water bottle tops.  
• my Gardenate reminder came.  if you don't belong to this, you should.  a global site that allows you to enter your location and it sends you monthly reminders of what should be planted that month (and also sends you what to prep for the following month).
• the peas (both green feast and snow) are looking fantastic, not to mention the scarlet broad beans!  this dead branch idea from hugh of River Cottage has worked a treat as something to grow the peas on.  
• went to the nursery yesterday to pick up some rooting medium to encourage bare roots for my lavender propagation.  and saw a few acacia's and trees i wanted.  come next pay day i think i'll have to get a kafir lime and a fig tree .... 
• perfect weather to plan an attack on slugs.  turn a bucket or two upside down in the garden bed and they'll congregate inside the warm, dark dampness and make a great treat for the chooks.
• hubby is going to an DIY aquaponics course this weekend.... way cool  (i can taste the smoked trout already!).  and next weekend i will be attending a mushroom workshop .... how to grow exotics, use them for composting and decomposing in the yard.  who would've thot that mushrooms were such a versatile food!

... in the midst of these winter blues i look at the weather forecast.  says it's supposed to be sunny today ... oh cool.  i'll be able to get that laundry on the line.  but then i look outside .... and, well .... it's still raining .... 

here in australia we are one week away from the shortest day of the year ... june 23rd.  it only gets better after that, right?