Gardening

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Tazmania said:
The girls love it. We did this in Canberra too and from when they could walk they've been helping. Sometimes not so well... last week the eldest one pulled up all the rocket thinking it was all weeds. Sigh....
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Looks something like corn, tomatoes and maybe capsicum in the picture?
 
6 multi coloured heirloom cherry tomatoes planted in the big red pot,half the mango is flowering.fed the herbs for stuffing for xmas day,thyme,sage,parsley etc,chillies kicking on!.......its amazing how much you can get done when the footys not on..Id still prefer the footy though! happy gardening campers.
 

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My daughter just threw around some old spring onion seed in the garden I've been doing. for 90% of their growing cycle they were just in sand...nothing else. I added some compost to the bed about 2 weeks ago.

There was only a few of them but they were sensational, picked some last night. Very crisp, very gentle flavour.
 
Update; the zucchini, capsicum and tomatoes are starting to come through. We've had a few radishes but the coddling moths or whatever they are are eating the hell out of them. The rocket and silverbeet haven't done much at all though. Beans and corn growing fast but a little yellow coloured so will be off to the garden centre this weekend to pick up some more manure. The soil probably lacks nitrogen. It was just a weed bed before we bought the place so quite depleted. Will get some Lucerne for mulch and as that rots will dig it in.
garden.jpg Update time... the veggies are starting to fruit, tomatoes, capsicum and zucchini
 
Will I be able to grow kale this time of year, anyone?

This suggests its a winter crop that isn't even sprouted until March, but I was at Bunnings this arvo and they had some nice healthy-looking seedlings, so I got some Curly Blue and Red Russian.

Will they survive the upcoming summer in the open or should I put them in pots in some shade somewhere?
 
Yeah my Woolies just started selling some Kale seedlings out the front too so I had to grab one. I plan on chucking it in a decent size pot and controlling it's environment over summer so it doesn't die in the arse like my planted seedlings did, lol.. Too hot outside? Bring it indoors for the day etc.
 
estibador said:
Will I be able to grow kale this time of year, anyone?

This suggests its a winter crop that isn't even sprouted until March, but I was at Bunnings this arvo and they had some nice healthy-looking seedlings, so I got some Curly Blue and Red Russian.

Will they survive the upcoming summer in the open or should I put them in pots in some shade somewhere?
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I was talking to one of the Bunnings workers about this. She told me in no uncertain terms that they only sell it out of season because people keep asking for it and that you shouldn't actually be growing it. Seemed like a strange thing to say but I guess she just wanted to be honest.

It will probably bolt to seed.

My Red Russian hasn't gone to seed yet but my Red Mustard just turned in the last couple of days and now has a flower stalk.

I don't see how you can trick it. It needs full sun and cold temperatures.
 
Reginald Perrin said:
Time to start dabbling in hydroponics. Control the environment, control the pests. Taste is usually the biggest drawback, has kale got any?
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Yeah I don't smoke the stuff anymore so 100% profit. Also as an electrician I could also look at circuit bypasses the meter.

Oh wait.
 

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Reginald Perrin said:
Time to start dabbling in hydroponics. Control the environment, control the pests. Taste is usually the biggest drawback, has kale got any?
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Grew some in Canberra in winter, and was very slow growing. Caterpillars love it! But for us it wasn't really worth growing as like spinach it wilts down a lot and you need to grow lots of it to make it worthwhile. Tastes like any other member of the brassicas like cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Better off growing broccoli I reckon.
 
Another question for anyone who knows.

The real reason I went to Bunnings was to get an asparagus fern and I found a nice one that looks at least a couple of years old.

From the reading I've done you're supposed to harvest the first few big stalks and then leave a few to grow into ferns to feed the root until they die off before the next season?

Well this plant already has a few fully developed ferns as well as a number of new stalks coming up, so should I:

a) leave the existing ferns and harvest all the stalks for the rest of the season?
or
b) cut the ferns off, harvest the first batch of stalks, then leave a few later ones to grow into new ferns?
 
Tazmania said:
Hopefully the corn will work out. I always have failed with corn when planted them in a row but have learnt that they have to be in a square as they are wind pollinated and in a row they are unlikely to pollinate each other. big box of 25 planted this time.
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Hope you don't mind me sharing my own experiences with corn - you've nailed it by planting them in blocks but also if you want an even higher yield, on a calm day I suggest you tap the stems so that the flowers at the top of the plant shed the (male) pollen on to the (female) silks below them. I tell the wife each year I'm heading out to facilitate 'pr0n amongst the corn' and the result is an abundance of sweet cobs. Good luck!
 
Juggalo Balla said:
I reckon chop it right back.

I'm a heavy pruner myself. Everything always grows back.
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Seems I've ended up with option c - pruned the ferns only for the new growth to shoot up into long skinny ferns within two days.

Looks like it's too young to harvest any stalks this year.
 
Since I've moved house my garden has been reduced to a series of pot plants.

I have spoken to my new landlord and we're going to transform an area along the side fence that has some old papaya trees into a vege garden.

The papaya trees are stuffed. I don't know what is wrong with them and I don't really care. There's some lavender and aloe in there off towards the back so the new garden will stop at the lavender bush which is looking really bad and needs a trim. Hopefully I can bring it back to life and it will attract some bees.

I've already started attacking the overgrowth but I've given up for now. There are some passionfruit vines growing along the fence behind the garden bed which the landlord has said he wants to save but I'm not going to be particularly careful with them as they're all over the place.

Once things are cleared we can get some sleepers and then go get a load of dirt.

I know I want to grow tomatoes. Haven't even been buying them at the shop. Once you've had your own home grown there's no going back.

So anyway that's my story. I can't help myself, I see much potential in this neglected garden.
 
Lach72 said:
It's most likely diamond back moth.

You can spray with dipel which will take care of the grub that's causing the damage.
They like anything brassica.

you do need some compost in that soil.
It's largely sand
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took your advice and picked up a few bags which I've spread all over and dug in. This was on top of the 5 bags of manure that went in back in Sept. So 200 litres of stuff added to the area so far... lets see how it goes now.
 
Tazmania said:
took your advice and picked up a few bags which I've spread all over and dug in. This was on top of the 5 bags of manure that went in back in Sept. So 200 litres of stuff added to the area so far... lets see how it goes now.
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Update;

I have to report that I gave up on this crops of veggies. There was even less nutrient in the soil than I had thought. All the leaves on every plant went yellow and any fruits that did come up were stunted and small.

So I bit the bullet on the weekend and ripped the whole lot up, mulched it all and have dug that back into the beds. Off to buy some more compost and poo this weekend and dig that all in. Lucky the growing season here is fairly long so I'll plant again just before Christmas and see how we go.
 
Has anyone had much luck sowing carrots at this time of the year?

Some websites (and the seed packets) say you can sow them all year round, but I notice Gardening Australia has a 3 month blank spot over summer for Perth conditions.

I sowed some a couple of weeks ago and they all sprouted and were looking good, but after the hot day yesterday 90% of the seedlings have suddenly disappeared. I don't want to keep wasting seed if they're all just going to die.
 
estibador said:
Has anyone had much luck sowing carrots at this time of the year?

Some websites (and the seed packets) say you can sow them all year round, but I notice Gardening Australia has a 3 month blank spot over summer for Perth conditions.

I sowed some a couple of weeks ago and they all sprouted and were looking good, but after the hot day yesterday 90% of the seedlings have suddenly disappeared. I don't want to keep wasting seed if they're all just going to die.
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If you sow them now, you will need to shade them and water them daily. Better to wait for about March.
 
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