Leading up to this month of April I’ve been enjoying tidying up the summer garden and starting winter planting. Our leeks planted last month are coming along nicely, and it’s now time to plant onions. Last year you may remember we planted little onion (and leek for that matter) seedlings out in the garden in clumps to grow on, then lifted them from there to go to their final destination.  This year I sowed onion seed in a regular size punnet and once they’d germinated and were a decent size I put them outside for a good few weeks.  They have come on well, so that now that it’s t ..read more

A bit late getting this month’s post out, but that’s because we’re having days of glorious rain, it’s too wet to get out in the garden, and the garden couldn’t be happier. It’s time for the big changeover.  We’ve gone from abundant green in spring… to parched brown in autumn… So it’s out with the tomato and pumpkin vines – they go on the biomass pile for the next hot compost. And in with the new autumn/winter planting. I’m a bit boring in my love of buttercup pumpkins, but thrilled with this year’s haul.  I could have left them on the vines a bit longer (the longer you leave ..read more

How is everyone coping with the heat?  I have to say I’m not a heat-lover, so I do go out in the early morning, but my favourite time in the garden is 7-9pm.  There’s a cool breeze and a stillness which is a great time to be communing with nature. I saw Jenny Lux of Lux Organics calling her tomato crop this year a glut, and while it’s an ugly word, it describes our tomato beds too.  After the plants were looking all green and glorious, and the fruit plumping up but still green, a week later the tomatoes were all red and the plants were a mess.  This is one day’s haul ..read more

Happy New Year! Expecting dry times with El Niño and getting moderate rain is not a bad thing in the middle of summer for the food gardener. Zucchinis, cucumbers and lettuces are producing and beans are coming on stream.  Everything else is getting there.  Our tomatoes are formed and just waiting to ripen up.  To give them a boost I’m applying the liquid comfrey we made last month diluted.  Pour all over the leaves in the early morning.  It’s a stinky thing so be careful not to get it on your clothes. The dregs can go directly round your fruiting plants.  ..read more

The last blog of 2023.  I’ve been over at Rob’s place having a wander round his food garden.  Our notes compare favourably.  His indeterminate tomatoes look at much the same stage as mine.  Delateralled and tied up and awaiting fruit.  Rob has put horizontal stakes across his waratahs for extra stability and put a nice wool mulch from Kings Seeds round his plants. December is a good time to delateral tomatoes before fruit sets and to get rid of excess growth that will impede good air flow which in turn prevents fungal disease. Mine are not yet mulched but that ..read more

Just a quick note to talk about getting the last of the first round of the summer vegetables in. The First Quarter is a great time to do this. This is the bed we’re planting in and its contents are able to be harvested, in fact need harvesting.  In here still are the leeks that didn’t fatten up (the fat ones have been used already) but combined in the kitchen they’ll do the trick; carrots, some of which are going to seed (not good because they get a tough core), but plenty which are not; and cabbages that probably could get a bit bigger if left, but they’re in the minority and will stil ..read more

The weather is warming up and out of bare sticks emerge leaves and fruit. We got our tomatoes in during Labour Weekend.  Still not too late to plant tomatoes if you haven’t already.  The bed that had chopped lupins and chicken manure covered over with weed matting was easy to prepare.  Just forked it through and got the waratahs in.  Then into each individual hole went a handful of gypsum (for added calcium) and neem granules (to ward off psyllids) then the plant.  Around each plant went a handful of Morganics fertiliser and the plants were all watered in.  ..read more

I’m delighted to report that the onion and leek seedlings that I transplanted in clumps into the garden have, in spite of my scepticism, taken off and are ready to be planted out individually. You may have your onions in already, but if not, here’s how we do it.  Before we get started however, Rob has advised me to lime all our garden beds this year.  He says it’s good to do this every two years, so it’s high time for me.  We are on clay soil which is acidic and then rain, of which we’ve had plenty, is acidic. An acid soil can inhibit the uptake of nutrients, so it’s a good ..read more

Loads of rain around at the moment but the warmth we experienced in September has got things going in the garden. In this Full Moon phase we’re planting our Jersey Benne potatoes.  I have Swift and Cliffs Kidney seed potatoes too, but will put those in at the end of the month.  We’re not great potato eaters, so our early ones are destined for Christmas Day and the festive season. Give them a last soaking in liquid seaweed before planting out.  We’re pretty tight space-wise in the garden, as I sowed and planted more brassicas than usual, which means we’ve got plenty of vege ..read more

Well there’s definitely a tinge of autumn in the air now.  It’s a time of transition.  Our garden is messy as we take the last of the tomatoes off the vines, the sweetcorn has one cob left on it. The second zucchini and cucumber are pumping out the fruit.  Eggplants and capsicums are on stream. We’re sowing the first of our winter brassicas.  We’ll sow these in the New Moon phase again in October and November for a continuous harvest over winter. We wash our used punnets out in white vinegar to sterilise them, sieve potting mix to make seed-raising mix, create ..read more