Last Day of Autumn Downunder

Scarecrow's Log: 31:05:2009:

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min -0.4C
Lowest Max 11C
Highest Max 15.2C
9mm Rain

What's happening in the garden?

Apium prostratum Native Sea Parsley (or Sea Celery)
has survived the summer
and seems to be enjoying the cooler weather too.

The Broccoli and Lettuce in the old spudz bin has settled in well.

Even with the cold temps this little Cosmos is flowering!

Propagation:
Seeds:
A test planting of some seeds saved from an apple we bought at a market...

Potting up and Planting out:
From my Cutting homework last month I've potted up the resulting plants:
Euryops pectinatus - Yellow Daisy 8
Helichrysum italicum - Curry Bush 10
Artemisia pontica - Roman Wormwood 8
Correa alba - White Correa 10*
Tanacetum parthenium - Feverfew 10
Cistus ladanifer - White Rock Rose 4 outside... 6*
Salvia officinalis - Sage 10
Convolvulus cneorum - Silverbush 10*
Rosmarinus officinalis 'Pink' - Pink Rosemary 10
Coleonema pulchrum 'Aurea' - Golden Diosma 10*

The numbers indicate the successfully rooted cuttings...those marked with * have been put back into the hot house because they did not have strong root growth yet and will benefit from the extra warmth for a while longer. The rest have been put on the growing bench that is quite sheltered. Wasn't a bad result...96% strike rate.

Also potted up:
Silverbeet and Rainbow Chard into 10 mixed punnets and 3 pots.
Lettuce Marvel of 4 Seasons into 4 punnets.

Planting out:

6 Well grown Butternut Lettuce seedlings
into a wicking tub in the Kitchen Garden.

Cuttings/Division:

Divided up some Society Garlic and popped it in the edge bed in the main Veg garden. I'd noticed a predominance of yellow and orange and not a lot of blues and pinks. For beneficial creature attraction you need as many different colours flowering year round. This Society Garlic is a tough little plant that flowers at this time of the year.

New in the Garden This week:
Our first morning (this season) under zero! Brrr!

I've removed the shadecloth from the Northern (sunny) end of the propagation area. The sun is at a low angle at the moment and the plants will appreciate the extra warmth. These areas are still sheltered from the cold South wind that is of concern at the moment.

Weekly Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Peas Blue Bantam Dwarf***143g
Lemons***1698g

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lettuce, Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Sea Parsley, Soup Celery, Beetroot, Turnip and Swede Greens.

Still no Eggs from the girls.
We've bought some from our friends who we know look after their chooks well!

Trees For Life - Ordering Season

Trees For Life adverts are appearing in the local papers right now!

This scheme is for landholders in South Australia.
Through this scheme volunteers (like us)
will grow up to 500 indigenous plant seedlings for you
or you may grow your own (up to 1000) for your own use.

Help Re-Vegetate SA Now...
...only we can do it!

Phone now to join (08) 8406 0500
or email: info@treesforlife.org.au

Contact Trees For Life on the same number
if you'd like to become a volunteer grower!

Food Gardening for Beginners

Please click on the links to read the information:

Part 1 Basics

Part 2 Planning It Out

Part 3 Improve Your Soil

Part 4 Fast Food Growing

Part 5 Keeping Records

Part 6 Growing From Seed

Part 7 Taking Cuttings

Part 8 Fruit Tree Companions

Part 9 Compost Making

Part 10 Tea For Plants

Part 11 Planting Bare Rooted Fruit Trees

I have been through these and checked all the links...

...removed the links no longer working.

Autumn's Mosaic

Scarecrow's Log: 24:05:2009:

Winter is an etching,
spring a watercolor,
summer an oil painting
and autumn a mosaic of them all.
~Stanley Horowitz~

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 3.9C
Lowest Max 15C
Highest Max 21C
1mm Rain

What's happening in the garden?


We have cleaned out one of the garden sheds for a new home for The Black Ninja...I'll be using her old shed as a garden shed for me as it already contains all the garden tools.

We have harvested all the Golden Delicious Apples and removed the netting. Many trays of apples have been dried and Doc was busy making Apple Crumbles and Pudding Cakes on the weekend to put in the freezer.

I dug up the Spudz in a Bin...well at least they didn't rot in the wicking style bin.
Considering it was way out of their season the 625g that I harvested will provide a few meals of new potatoes.
The compost and soil that was left will make a great bed for some broccoli and lettuce.
I shall be trying this method again in spring for potatoes.

Propagation:
Potting up and Planting out:
Planted Broccoli Green Goliath and Butternut Lettuce seedlings into the bin that held the spudz!

Spotted in the Garden This Week!

The saga of Doc's escapee chicken continues. (see his comment on last week's Garden Log)
She will visit by sneaking in over the fence but she would rather spend her time roaming the nearby street, much to the amusement of the neighbours!
You will have to look closely at the photo to see her sitting on the fence behind the tree.

Autumn is mushroom season...but I won't be tasting this one.

The growth on Bed 3
has just about reached the limits of the curtain
and it looks like the Violet Sicilian Cauliflowers
are well on their way!

Bed 1 Greens are powering away too.

Even the last of the King of the North Capsicums
are producing, sheltered in their little plastic enclosure.

The tree in the kitchen garden is loaded with lemons.

The Pink Rosemary in the Dog Pen gardens
keeps the bees visiting.

Weekly Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Carrots Atomic Red***140g
Celery Kintsai (Soup Celery)***125g
Potato Red Star***625g
Pumpkin Butterbone***4153g
Snow Peas Roi de Carouby***60g
Turnip Golden***283g
Apples Golden Delicious***9844g
Lemons***500g

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lettuce, Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Soup Celery, Beetroot, Turnip and Swede Greens.

Plus (or not!) 0 Eggs from any of the girls.

Planting-up and New Chookies!

Scarecrow's Log: 17:05:2009:

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
~Albert Camus~

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 1C With ice on the car!
Lowest Max 14.4C
Highest Max 18.7C
1.5mm Rain

The ice on the car!

What's happening in the garden?

The Trees For Life have been picked up and are on their way to a re-veg project in a nearby town! I hope my baby trees get lots of rain for this their first season.

Doc and I have been doing some soil tests around the place.
We've also did a pH test on just about every different soil mix (and more) in the garden with some very interesting results.

Of course The Black Ninja Cat had to help out!

Propagation:
Potting up and Planting out:
Potted up 150 plants of all sorts as an exercise for my course.
50 from punnets
50 from tubes
50 from other pots

Some of those potted up plants!

Planted seedlings of Red Cabbage, Celery, Coriander, Squire Kale, Kinstai Soup Celery into the Wicking Beds in the Dog Pen Garden. There was misty rain falling most of the weekend, so they should settle in well...they were watered in with Worm-cast tea.
I haven't covered these new plants yet and hope the cooler weather will keep the Cabbage Moth numbers down.

I built up and planted 3 new Wicking Boxes.
These boxes each have a Celery
and Mini Cauliflower seedling in them.
They have a net curtain over them.

New in the Garden This week:

We have picked up some new little chookies...but they are Farmyard Ferals and as a result extremely timid... I'll let them settle down before annoying them with the camera at closer range.

Meanwhile the 6 remaining Ginger Girls have moved back to their old run near the Dog Pen. They seem very happy there and are busy building nests in their new nest box but so far no sign of any eggs!
I've put a fake egg in the nest box as a gentle hint!

Weekly Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Carrots Atomic Red***90g
Jerusalem Artichokes***1124g
Peas Blue Bantam Dwarf***265g
Apples Golden Delicious***1718g

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lettuce, Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Soup Celery, Beetroot, Turnip and Swede Greens.

Plus 1 Egg from the Ginger Girl(s).

Seed Germination Rate Trial Results

I recently had to do a trial for a course I'm doing. I had to:

• collect seed from five lots of different plants
• clean it
• dry it
  
• test germination rates

I had to use 2 different seed raising media. I chose a retail mix, I hadn't used before. The other one was my home made mix of coir and sandy loam.

Sowing the seeds

For three of the seed lots there was no difference in the germination rate at all and the other two results won't convince me to pay $5+ for a tiny bag of commercial mix that I have little knowledge of it's contents.
I would need to buy it in bulk for all the seeds I sow anyway.

Seedlings during growth

I find it's most important to have fresh seed. For this years onions I've planted some of the red onions that went to seed. I collected the seed from the garden one week and sowed them the next and had at least 100% germination...there are millions of them (well it seems like it ). The others I purchased as a fresh packet and have barely had 40% germination with!

Another thing is the water you use on them. After reading in the Trees For Life handbook that if your water supply is good enough to grow vegetable seedling successfully then use it for these native seeds otherwise use rainwater.
I have always used rainwater since first reading that about 10 years ago.

I have also found Moon Planting to be an advantage with seed germination. See Cosmic's May Guide here on her blog. She has a link in her side panel for the current guide.

Temperature at time of sowing is important too...however most of the seeds I chose to sow were summer crops and I planted them in Autumn...I still had good rates of germination in my unheated greenhouse (that was featured in this post).

64kg of Pumpkins!

Scarecrow's Log: 10:05:2009:

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 4.1C
Lowest Max 14C
Highest Max 18.5C
No Recorded Rainfall

What's happening in the garden?

The Black Ninja helped with the Pumpkin harvest!

With the threat of frosts looming fast we have harvested the rest of the pumpkin (etc.) crop. Of course the Black Ninja had to help...we weighed the pumpkins...they totalled 64kgs all grown in Wicking Beds.
That should keep us in pumpkin soup, scones, fruit cake/muffins/rock cakes for a while not to mention roast pumpkin...Doc's talking about drying some too.

In the Main Veg Garden

Peas and Swedes

Salad Greens

The brassica bed had a quick tidy up

and some greens went to the chookies!

Propagation:
Seeds:
Cleared and roughly hoed some patches around the garden for a few small grain beds.

• Kamut Wheat Triticum persicum went into a fenced area in the chook run. This wheat is described as "Very large kernel, 2 to 3 times the size of modern wheat. Ancient grain thought to have originated in the fertile crescent." by Eden Seeds

• Spelt Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta was planted in the unused chook run on the Northern side of the block.

• Some Barley Hordeum vulgare was planted at the back of the old chicken house in the same run, this will get water runoff from a neighbour's shed roof (that has no gutters) and also from the chook house roof.

• Over in the Almond area chook run (but out of any chookies reach!) I've planted some Oats Avena sativa.

While I was in the Almond area the pumpkin Wicking Worm Bed was cleared and topped up with soaked coir, old sheep manure, bagged compost and mineral mix. I also popped in some new worms from the worm farm as I didn't notice many when I cleared the bed. The bed still worked well producing over 40kgs of pumpkins over the summer. This bed was not protected from birds during summer...maybe they stole some of my wormies.

I have planted Broad Beans in this bed Early Long Pods and Coles Early Dwarf. As they grow the bed will be mulched.

Potting up and Planting out:

Planted out some Red Onion seedlings (sown at the end of February). These went into the Wicking Worm Bed by the chicken house where the Jumbo Pink Banana pumpkins grew. The area where they were planted in did not have anything added to the soil as the soil is rich enough for onions. As this bed isn't in full sun during winter we removed the shadecloth cover and I've planted some Celery and Silverbeet seedlings along the shady side with some added compost there.

I planted the onions as Peter Cundall (ABC's Gardening Australia past presenter) recommends by laying them flat on the surface of a trench and just covered their roots with soil.
"Just bury the roots with a little soil and, believe it or not, within a week the whole lot are standing up. That's how simple it is." so Pete says.

Last week's seeds have germinated
and will soon be potted up.

New or Found in the Garden This week:

One Perpetual Spinach plant
left to go to seed last year
has re-sprouted with some lovely baby spinach
leaves for eating!

The Water Chestnuts in the shadehouse
are starting to yellow off,
nearly ready to harvest.

Weekly Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Carrots Atomic Red***120g
Pumpkin Queensland Blue***13115g
Pumpkin Sampson***38671g
Pumpkin Jumbo Pink Banana***11339g
Zucchini Tromboncino***1495g
Tomato Ida Gold***100g
Apples Golden Delicious***2906g

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lettuce, Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Soup Celery, Beetroot, Turnip and Swede Greens.

Plus 2 Eggs from the girls. I think we need some new girls!!

Thank you Doc for the yummy Mother's Day Roast and Cheesecake and for making the porridge this morning...

Worm Farms

Ninja...Worm Farm Cat

Scubagran from The Bay Of Islands 'over the ditch' in NZ emailed me recently about some info on veg growing and I noticed on her blog post Here that she is also after an easy worm farm.

As it just happens to be Compost Week this week I thought it time to pop a post up about our home made worm farms.
I have avoided those 'Tower systems' as they seem to get too hot in summer and we regularly have temps over 40C here that tend to cook the worms in those bins. Plus I didn't think they were worth the price.

My main farm is made from an old oil drum...in it's former life Doc made it into a BBQ by cutting it in half an hinging the lid at the rear. Our son had many a fiery BBQ out the back with his mates on this little setup. When Doc bought himself a 'real' gas BBQ and I seized the chance to grab the drum for a worm farm.

I lined the base which had holes drilled in it already with small rocks and covered that with a piece of shadecloth. Then I built up the layers of bedding with:

• soaked coir peat
• shredded paper
• some well cooked compost
• a little good soil from the garden
• added the compost worms
  
• topped it off with a piece of underfelt
• and a grid to keep the cats off at first

Anything that needed soaking had molasses added to the rainwater.

I used an old baby's bath underneath to catch excess water

I soon gave up on the idea of keeping the cats off
because the worm farm is a favorite sleeping spot for the Black Ninja.

I also made a smaller farm out of the box I used for the Grey Water Worm System a couple of years ago. It now functions very well as a small back-up farm (without the grey water).

See here for details on the ways I feed the worms in my farm


Some links to other great worm farm info:
You can read more about setting up one of those 'tower' systems on this link and even download a podcast about it.

Read a great article by Sonya on Aussies Living Simply all about Worms Here

A fact sheets from ABC's Gardening Australia
Building a Worm Farm

A recent update from Lucky's Duck Farm on her Worms.

Carob - Ceratonia siliqua

Attractive new growth of the Carob tree

Peggy from Organic Growing Pains asked if Carob has anything to do with chocolate, so here is some info.

The the pods of the fruit are cooked/roasted and ground to make a powder to use as a flavouring.
Often used as a healthy alternative to chocolate.
Those who are intolerant of chocolate will view this as an alternative.
The "chocolate" made from this contains no caffeine or theobromine (that's the stuff that makes chocolate dangerous to dogs).

I'm looking forward to processing some pods for this purpose.
Doc is a chocoholic and says the powder tastes nothing like chocolate.

Either way the end product is sweet and as I cannot grow chocolate (cacao tree) in this climate will be a welcome alternative with low food miles that will grow in my own back yard!

The dense foliage of the Carob tree

Some info about the trees:
Carob - Ceratonia siliqua
Member of the Leguminosae family (but not nitrogen fixing).
A large growing tree to 10-15 metres. It is also a fire resistant tree according to The Food Forest SA Factsheet (link below)
Edible pods for humans and stock. Being high in protein and calcium. Especially useful during drought periods. The pods are often fed to stock as a sweetener with similar properties to molasses.
Foliage eaten by stock - Goat owners in town often cut low branches off the street trees in our main street (with permission).
Seeds yield a gum (locust bean gum) used as a thickener and stabiliser in many industries including: cosmetics, food and textiles.
Dense shade tree.
Drought tolerant when established due to a long taproot that searches out ground water. Will survive on an annual rainfall of 250mm but with irrigation will produce a higher yield.
Tolerant of poor soils (including saline soils) and are long lived.

Seeds and Pods of the Carob

Other uses include:
Fuel - pods are used to make an alcohol for use in fuels
Pet foods - pods are ground for dog biscuit flavouring.
A curious use for the seeds in the past was measuring gold and precious stones...each seed weighs one carat (2oomg) each.

Further information:
The Complete Book of Fruit Growing in Australia by Louis Glowinski
Growing Carobs in Australia by H Esbenshade & G Wilson
How Can I Be Prepared With Self Sufficiency and Survival Foods by Isabell Shipard
The Food Forest SA Carob factsheet

Cool Autumn Days

Scarecrow's Log: 03:05:2009:

Picked the usable sized capsicums before any frosts,
these have been chopped up and popped in the freezer.

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 3.1C
Lowest Max 15.2C
Highest Max 19.5C
7mm Rain

What's happening in the garden?

Ripening Lemons!
These will be going to make Lemon Cordial as they ripen.

No frost yet but several chilly foggy mornings to enjoy!
Discovering a few volunteers from the rain...will have to wait for some more growth on a few to see just what they are.

Beautiful new growth on the Midyim Berry Austromyrtus dulcis
...it's living in the hothouse for now.

A couple of Carob trees are flowering...now I get to find out which of these seedling trees are females and will produce a crop and male which I hope are on the other side of the garden coz they smell when in flower!

The Rhubarb that was moved
from the new chicken run has settled well
through the summer.

The Trees For Life are waiting to be collected.

Propagation:
Seeds Planted
Mesclun Mild Mix from Eden Seeds
A mix a of salad greens usually including lettuces Cos, Purple Oakleaf, Red Coral also Red Orach, Red Raddiccio, Tatsoi and Mizuna which makes for a great Salad Wicking Box
Silverbeet Rainbow Chard from Eden Seeds
Parsley Curled from DT Brown seeds
Lettuce 'Marvel of 4 Seasons' from Green Harvest
More of the...
Cabbage 'Red Choi' F1
and 'Purple Flowered Choy' from Green Harvest
and a new legume to try...
Lotus Sunrise Lotus pendunculatus from Green Harvest
"A prostrate perennial forage legume with attractive yellow flowers; it is summer and autumn active. It tolerates wet, acid and infertile soil and it requires a min. annual rainfall 600 mm. It is shade tolerant which makes it useful in established orchards. In temperate areas sow March-May or August-October; in subtropical areas sow May-July."
I've planted it with it's inoculate and will need to keep this one irrigated here but we shall see how it goes.

Potting up and Planting out:
Cuttings/Division:

The cuttings that were taken in early April have gone very well. I've sent off my report on their progress...now I can pot some of them up. Most have good root development and the others look like they will still take soon. It was an interesting exercise to watch the how the roots developed on these plants.

New in the Garden This week:

Not in the garden but on our trip south this weekend we discovered a new wind farm being built quite close to the main highway. Made for some beautiful sunset shots!

Picked up a Loquat Eriobotrya japonica tree last week.
Link for info

The first flowers of the Roi de Carouby Snow Peas.

Weekly Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Capsicum King of the North***801g
Carrots Atomic Red***130g
Celery Kintsai (Soup Celery)***70g
Pumpkin Jumbo Pink Banana***2250g
Tomato Ida Gold***267g
Tomato Italian Heirloom***385g
Tomato Tigerella***237g
Turnip Golden***75g
Apples Golden Delicious***900g
Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lettuce, Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Soup Celery, Beetroot, Turnip and Swede Greens.

Plus 6 Eggs from the girls.

Halophytes

Halophytes are plants that are found on coastlines and also on the drier lands of Australia where salt is present in the soil. These plants absorb the salt from the soil and excrete it into the surface of their leaves. The saltiness acts as a pest deterrent.

This saltiness can be removed by boiling the leaves and most of the Halophytes are edible.
Included in this group of plants are Atriplex, Rhagodia, Enchylaena, Einadia (the saltbushes), samphires and Wallaby Bush Threlkeldia diffusa.

I have 2 of these growing in my garden that are native to our region of South Australia.

The first is the Fragrant Saltbush Rhagodia parabolica which I am growing as a hedge in the front garden. It is also known as Mealy Saltbush.

At present I am collecting the fruits off these plants which I'll dry and remove the seeds to grow some plants to put in the new chicken area. I need some lower growing, fruiting plants and these are ideal.

The chooks (also native birds) love the fruits and the plants grow quickly on very little water to provide shady spots for the girls.

I have also heard (but haven't yet tried) that the dried leaves if this saltbush can be ground and used as a salt substitute.

I found a new Ladybird Micraspis furcifera on the Fragrant Saltbush. Being natives of our region these plants are very useful for beneficial insect attraction.

On the other side of the driveway I have another saltbush growing Enchylaena tomentosa often called Ruby Saltbush. This is a very different plant, having quite succulent leaves. Grey in colour these plants are very tolerant of our hot, dry climate.

I considered these plants to be weeds until I found out their usefulness as food for the native birds here (not to mention the chickens). Now these plants are encouraged but still controlled, as they grow without additional water.

I have a yellow fruiting variety of Enchylaena tomentosa that is growing in the Almond area chicken run. The seeds of this plant were obtained through the Seed Savers Network a few years ago. The chickens and native birds love the berries on this plant too. The chickens just about defoliate the plant if given the opportunity.

Both these plants are members of the Chenopodiaceae family and tolerate our hot, dry summers and cold winters with frosts down to -6C

More information
Plants For A Future
Wild Food Plants of Australia by Tim Low See Here