I have just moved house and have a good spot to start a new garden. A big open space with a few old fruit trees gives me a lot of options.
As I will be busy managing home improvements, this season the garden will only have a reduced range of vegetable varieties going in.
A Cranky Willow, a lot of rain, and a fresh back yard to shape anew
I brought many herbs and perennials with me from my old garden, so I have plenty to start herbaceious borders. It looks like it will be an excellent season with good rain already, unlike the last two years which were in drought and too hot.
There will be giant garlic, endive, coriander, red stem chard, comfrey and an old variety of zucchini, Virginia White, going in straight away.
Unfortunately, marrows will have to wait until next year, and probably peas. But I hope to get quite a few beans going later in Spring, also pickling cucumbers, long green Thai eggplants, Palermo capsicums, tomatillos and Turks Cap pumpkins, as I have more space for them here than in my old garden.
I will keep stock updated on the website as things come along.
Come and learn about seed saving with Rosemary Stevenson from Rare Green Seeds.
Saving seed from your veggie garden saves money, helps reduce food miles and means what you grow is better adapted to your local conditions. In this hour-long workshop, Rosemary will teach basic skills in seed saving, explain different techniques for different plants and share resources to start you off on your own seed saving journey!
Rosemary will have available for purchase organically grown, non-hybrid, heirloom seed varieties locally adapted to the Wimmera. Cash only – $4.50 per packet, please bring exact change if you wish to purchase seeds.
This event will be indoors in the Salvation Army Hall, Horsham VIC, after the Horsham Urban Landcare Produce Swap, held monthly on the 3rd Saturday, 10am at The Patch Community Garden. All welcome to the Produce Swap – bring veggies, seeds, seedlings, homemade goods etc. to swap with others and share a chat over morning tea (supplied). Parking available in the Salvation Army carpark on Lynott St. If you like, bring along your seeds and plants to exchange at the seed saving workshop too.
This event is hosted by The Patch Community Garden and Horsham Urban Landcare with support from Victorian Landcare Grants.
Tickets are free for Horsham Urban Landcare and The Patch members, $10 for non-members. To purchase membership of Horsham Urban Landcare follow this link: www.trybooking.com/CTXJG
Easy to assemble raised garden beds saved the day last spring and early summer when half the garden was flooded and strong winds destroyed the hot house. This one is on the side of the drive way, and is one of several, in which cucumbers, parsnips, silver beet, capsicums, peas and beetroot have been grown in the last six months. Filled with plenty of compost and topped up occasionally, the plants can reach down into a medium of gravel and wood chips which make the surface of the driveway. The raised beds really give good drainage, but did not save me from the rust which came with the rain and in was in the farm fields all around where fava beans were growing. The farmers lost those crops and had to dig them in. I took my rust affected broad beans to the local tip, where there was an ever growing mountain of garden waste as every one’s garden had turned into a jungle.
While some plants could not cope with the weather, others did better than ever, especially the flowers; poppies, nigella, sweet peas and honesty in particular, made spectacular colour, colonising every corner with self sown surprises. And the garlic did not seem to mind, it did not rot and the soil was so soft it was easy to pull up. Although I think it was just good luck they were growing in a very well drained spot.
Capsicums doing well
Summer has been cool and nights not really hot enough for growth of some plants. The zucchinis and pumpkins, eggplants and some tomatoes just failed to thrive at all. On the other hand, one tomato variety was a star, Costoluto Fiorentino, which is a strangely ribbed fruit, bright red, slightly flattened and makes excellent pasta sauce. It was amazingly vigorous, climbing up to 3 meters, and totally loaded with fruit. It was not fazed by whatever the weather. Surprisingly too, the Italian Capsicum, Palermo has made a bonza crop. This is a very crisp and sweet capsicum that lends itself to many culinary uses, raw in salads, pickled in chutney and complimenting casseroles.
Snake Beans and Rhubarb
Seed availability for peas and beans is low, in winter I struggled to keep some peas alive and could not start beans until well into January as it was too damp and cold till then. So yields are low this year. Still, as a seed saver, I always keep a few seeds aside , never sow every last seed, and even if I only get a handful of good quality fresh seed, that is enough to try again next season. In times like this I may not get to eat any of the produce myself, especially if the seeds are of a particularly rare variety.
Am just starting winter vegetables now, parsnips and turnips are up, garlic and bunching onions are planted, and the re-erected hot house has several shelves of Chinese broccoli slowly coming along. Time to get more silver beet started and coriander and corn salad. Always the hope for the next season keeps us growing. Always time to plan for the next season. Hope you have good luck and good weather ahead!!
Although it is still cold and soggy in most areas, it’s time to think of spring sprouting. I now have fresh seed of the Australian White Bush Marrow, but only one packet per order, please. Plenty of Virginia White Zucchini available, Joe E Parker Chilli, and delicious Bulls Blood Beetroot seed. Still managing to keep Uncle Dick’s Turnip going, but I have decided to change the sowing schedule for both Beetroots and Turnips from Autumn to Spring. Our winters seem colder and frostier lately, and both of those vegetable have stopped growing late autumn, just sat through winter, and then bolted in spring, for the last few years.
If supermarket lettuce prices are too much for you, try using young Kale leaves and the very tender Lucullus Silverbeet, or the mini Cos Lettuce, Parris Island instead . More raised garden beds are my answer to lack of space: they come flat packed from the hardware shop, and II now have another compost bin to make more soil to fill them. No digging is great, and you can place them in driveways, on paths and lawns, just using the cardboard packaging as a base. Dealing with birds ,including my own ducks, is a constant problem, and the raised beds are easy to cover with domes of netting or cloth. Wishing everyone a successful growing season ahead. Rose
After wonderful spring rain, it was a dry hot summer. This was generally good for plants that love the heat, although the pumpkins struggled and produced poorly. Fortunately, the Marrows did well and a small crop has been harvested and is drying now. I hope there are good seeds inside those Marrows!! The Year of the Tomato resulted in a massive crop, enough to share with the ducks. The Chilli, Joe E Parker, Capsicum, Italian Long Red, and National Pickling Cucumber, have done very well.
Marrows, garlic and cucumbers
Beans were all sowed very late, in early January, after we had some summer thunderstorm rain, and it looks like a good harvest will come in around Easter. The Burgundy Snake beans are a real winner, for growing fast and producing well, and the Rattlesnakes have proved again, to be very reliable. The Zagreb Soldier bush beans are just starting to flower now. After several years of disappointment with Beetroots, I have finally harvested Bulls Blood variety seed, and tested it for germination, which is good. Suddenly the demand for Russian Garlic has picked up: there was a very nice crop of huge heads. Interest in gardening has not waned, demand for seeds remains strong. However, my back yard limits the quantity I can produce, but more raised garden beds are being added. And more grass being converted to vegetable beds. Parsnip seed has been unavailable, so people were telling me, so after trying several brands, I finally got a good germination and am hoping to have fresh seed by the spring. Parsnip seeds are only viable for 12 months, so plan ahead and save your own regularly. Still lots of bees on the garden flowers, many daisies, different sages, sedums and chrysanthemums bring them in to fertilise autumn crops.
Here is a group of herbs and vegetables going to seed. The pink radish flowers are over 2 meters tall, the bright yellow turnip flowers about 1½ meters high and the blue borage is the front row.
self-sown herbs
Broad beans and climbing peas will soon be ready to pick. Borage and calendula are self sown everywhere, they bring the bees to the yellow flowers of Uncle Dick’s turnips and to the pink flowers of the Fire Candle radishes.
blueberry in pot
The blueberry in the pot is covered with fruit. Capsicums, chillies and tomatoes in the greenhouse are ready to plant out.
herbs and perennials
Crowded in the garden and in pots around the water tank, curry plant, sages, lemon balm, oregano and thyme. Pretty with various flowers, colours and textures and close to the kitchen.
The dry inland of Australia covers a vast landscape. Here in The Wimmera, our rains come in winter, usually, and after a long dry summer and autumn, the garden responds as it would to the coming of spring in more temperate and coastal climates.
The grass grows again, and so-called weeds, which make good foraging for salads and medicinal teas. Lettuces, silverbeet, broccoli, kales get going , and beetroot and turnips begin to form nice bulbs.
Nettle, dandelion, rocket, self sown parsley, dill, coriander and fresh garlic shoots like spring onions, all add to the menu for both people and poultry.
The fruit trees are bare, but the wattles are about to burst into colour. Sparrows and blackbirds raid the garden for feed, but avoid all the plants mentioned above, and greedily eat the new pea plants, to the point that they have to be covered with cages to protect them.
Foraging includes olives from wayside trees and big bags of fallen leaves , to supplement the straw in the duck yard, which eventually turns into lovely compost and mulch. More lawn is turned into no dig gardens and small circular gardens are made on the Nature Strip as ever more space is needed.
Yacón tubers
Yacón is this year’s discovery. A tuber from a friend turned into a tall plant with large leaves. When the frost hit it, it was pulled up and yielded a good kilo of tubers, about 4 very large and some smaller ones. The Seed Savers’ Handbook gives information about propagation but a search on the Internet was needed to learn how to cook and eat it. They look a bit like potatoes, but are very juicy and crunchy, texture like water chestnut, mildly sweet and not unlike a Nashi Pear. They can be eaten cooked or raw. In a casserole, the Yacon took on the flavours of the stock and herbs and eventually softened to a texture like Choko. Chopped up raw, they go well in a fruit salad.
Pumpkins did not give a good yield this year. We had a cool wet summer and only got a couple of decent fruit. Here is a wonderful recipe for a Pumpkin Custard which can be eaten as a custard or used as a filling for a pie. It comes from a little recipe book that was originally sold at Aunt Emily’s Craft shop in Bowraville in NSW. It was contributed by Eva Spring
Pumpkin Pie made with Burgess Buttercup Pumpkin
PUMPKIN CUSTARD
1 1/2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin, 3 eggs beaten well , 1/2 cup brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and ground ginger to taste, 2 teaspoons grated orange rind, 1/2 cup light cream.
Mix together and pour into a pie shell or dish. Bake in a moderate over 30-35 minutes or till set. Goes well with yogurt , cream or ice-cream.
Keep warm and stay well till spring.
Pumpkins, zucchinis and cucumbers drying out over Easter time
