It's a great feeling, giving away fruit and veg you have grown, isn't it. Well done GKW.
Starting the journey..........
- Thread starter GKW
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- #22
Just harvested my first few corn cobs. A tad under sized cos I think I over planted the bed (rookie mistake) but damn those little cobs taste good. I nibbled on one straight from the garden to see what it would be like and damn it tasted great. Seems a shame to cook the others up.
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- #23
Just a quick update from the slippery slope. Post Xmas, and some well received Bunnings gift vouchers, I got a few more raised beds and converted a pretty unloved part of the backyard into something a tad more productive and fun to be in.
In the beds are small to medium tom varieties that are going nuts at present, carrots, lettuce, zuc's leeks, various herbs and some asparagus plants (hopefully producing next year), plus the bed (one of two) of rockmelons that has done okay. Got about 6 coming to maturity and maybe a few more to kick on before the warm weather recedes....fingers crossed.
Spent a fun afternoon, carting 1.5 cubic meters of small mulch tan bark the other weekend to stop soil erosion and help with weed suppression. Also, much nicer to walk on than dirt and mud (so my wife says) and does look quite tidy and nice.
In the beds are small to medium tom varieties that are going nuts at present, carrots, lettuce, zuc's leeks, various herbs and some asparagus plants (hopefully producing next year), plus the bed (one of two) of rockmelons that has done okay. Got about 6 coming to maturity and maybe a few more to kick on before the warm weather recedes....fingers crossed.
Spent a fun afternoon, carting 1.5 cubic meters of small mulch tan bark the other weekend to stop soil erosion and help with weed suppression. Also, much nicer to walk on than dirt and mud (so my wife says) and does look quite tidy and nice.
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- #25
Cheers Matthew.
I'm a bit OCD on such things. When I decide to do it properly I'm going to make it functional and tidy etc.
The tan bark was just the boring old ANL natural mulch. Not sure if ANL treat it with anything but product description fails to mention same.
I'm a bit OCD on such things. When I decide to do it properly I'm going to make it functional and tidy etc.
The tan bark was just the boring old ANL natural mulch. Not sure if ANL treat it with anything but product description fails to mention same.
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Are they neighborhood cats Greg if the are I good give you some tips . People that let their cats roam is one of my pet hates I have seen cat lovers who made a large outdoor aviary with tunnels connecting to their house so the cats could come and go as they pleased with no harm to the environment so it's not that big of a task. Cheers Dave
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- #29
There are our own cats, which means they are the wifes fur babies. Lucky for us they are adorable cats and just roam around the back yard with no interest in going further afield. We do get the neigbours cats in for a free feed but they wouldn't dare take a dump in our yard.....Our cats are whimps....the birds that come to our yard show contempt for our cats and will fly down and eat right next to them. Their biggest kill was a tiny frog and even then one of them just bought it inside, unharmed and let it go....fun to catch that one.
Great work, Greg.
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- #33
It sure is an addictive passion
My oath. Spent the arvo clearing a eye sore spot in the backyard that gets decent winter sun and potted up a range of winter veg, converted an old clothes airer into a trellis for the peas and beans to climb and picked my first "Alpine Strawberrys".....now they are num num. Worth adding to the patch if you see the plant or seeds.
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- #34
Decided to give garlic a chance going into winter. As this is first time out, I bought the garlic bulbs from Bunnings and whacked them in a week ago. Looks like a 100% strike rate in coming up, now to see if I can get them to maturity and harvest something of editable quality. Till then, at least I'll have some tender garlic shoots to put in the salad / stir fry.
I'm no garlic expert by far, but I do believe I watched one of Marks video's advising against mulching directly around the garlic as it is prone to disease or something. Or I've completely dreamt it up and gone mulch less on my own. Yours are looking great so far!
Hmm seems I must've mixed something up - https://selfsufficientme.com/fruit-vegetables/growing-garlic-in-a-subtropical-climate - mulch deeply. Please disregard my above comment, my mistake.
Now, what have I mulched that I shouldn't have....
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JoshW
You are fine either way. I do both if I feel it needs mulching. You see we are coming into winter and you don't need to mulch as you do in spring or summer. Most do it in winter to suppress the weeds. Mulch in summer is for the same reason and to retain moisture or to cover the ground. Every time I mow, I put the clippings in the middle of the rows and not so much under the plants. I try and cover the ground around my plants. If you have too much rain, you move the mulch away from the plants.
You are fine either way. I do both if I feel it needs mulching. You see we are coming into winter and you don't need to mulch as you do in spring or summer. Most do it in winter to suppress the weeds. Mulch in summer is for the same reason and to retain moisture or to cover the ground. Every time I mow, I put the clippings in the middle of the rows and not so much under the plants. I try and cover the ground around my plants. If you have too much rain, you move the mulch away from the plants.
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- #37
With the weather in Sydney forecast to be dry the next 5-7 days and temps in high teens /20c area, I've taken the plunge and planted my first crop of spuds.
Purchased some seed Kipflers the other month, got them to chit okay so have planted some in a raised bed by themselves, some in another raised bed that is growing snow peas and some in a grow bag I had lying around. Will be interested to see how each bed / bag turns out come summer. All have been planted in the same compost, moo poo and blood and bone combo so fingers crossed.
Got some King Edward and White Star seed potatoes chitting away nicely and will go in in a week or so.
Purchased some seed Kipflers the other month, got them to chit okay so have planted some in a raised bed by themselves, some in another raised bed that is growing snow peas and some in a grow bag I had lying around. Will be interested to see how each bed / bag turns out come summer. All have been planted in the same compost, moo poo and blood and bone combo so fingers crossed.
Got some King Edward and White Star seed potatoes chitting away nicely and will go in in a week or so.
Always wise to take advantage of the good weather, considering you guys have just had that miserable weather last week.
In case you don't already know this, can I just point out to you about pH levels when combining plants in one bed?
Kipflers like pH of 5-6 whereas peas like 6-7.
So make sure your bed sticks around 6 or both crops might suffer.
Garden Lime (with 10% potassium) is the fastest acting but can induce pH issues as it goes up and down too fast for the plants to adjust to.
Gypsum is much slower acting, requiring a year. They say it doesn't change the pH but that hasn't been my experience.
Egg shell fines in the compost you use as soil amendment in your garden beds will also work quite quickly.
My natural soil shows it's a bit alkaline(due to the amount of iron) but still requires the addition of more alkaline inducing elements for plant health.
So I have found it best to crush my egg shells and add to the compost which makes that very alkaline.
Then when added to the soil, the soil is far more usable.
The egg shell fines are really good for the worm's guts too.
In case you don't already know this, can I just point out to you about pH levels when combining plants in one bed?
Kipflers like pH of 5-6 whereas peas like 6-7.
So make sure your bed sticks around 6 or both crops might suffer.
Garden Lime (with 10% potassium) is the fastest acting but can induce pH issues as it goes up and down too fast for the plants to adjust to.
Gypsum is much slower acting, requiring a year. They say it doesn't change the pH but that hasn't been my experience.
Egg shell fines in the compost you use as soil amendment in your garden beds will also work quite quickly.
My natural soil shows it's a bit alkaline(due to the amount of iron) but still requires the addition of more alkaline inducing elements for plant health.
So I have found it best to crush my egg shells and add to the compost which makes that very alkaline.
Then when added to the soil, the soil is far more usable.
The egg shell fines are really good for the worm's guts too.
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- #39
Cheers for the heads up ClissAT. Love this forum for these kind of tips and advice.
Have been meaning to get a test kit / meter etc. Gives me another excuse to go to Bunnings this week.
Don't bother getting a meter.
Just get a simple test kit.
Just get a simple test kit.
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