May Growth:
That 'Early' Zucchini is still producing zukes...I have picked the large one I've been saving for seed
The Snow Peas have grown so tall that I have started pinching out the tips...these are eaten as Pea Shoots
The Kohl Rabi in Bed 2 are starting to 'bulb' up
When I looked inside the Shaded Water Garden recently I found the bathtub full of fresh new Watercress.
Temperatures this month:
Lowest Min 1.4C
Highest Min 13.6C
Lowest Max 13C
Highest Max 27.1C
48 mm Rain Last reading at 4:45pm on 31 May 13
Rain: Year To Date: 115.5mm (Average YTD: 119.1mm)
Comparison with other years:
May Average is 31.1mm:
2013 48 mm
2012 9mm
2011 40mm
2010 55.8mm
2009 11.5mm
2008 49mm
2007 30.2mm
Weather Highlights?
From days of high twenties the temperature dropped in the middle of the month and now we are lucky to have a day over 15C. Late in the month we had ice on the cars and buckets so that means the frosts have arrived.
This Month:
With only one weekend away this month it's been a chance to get out in the garden. Often jobs are hurried to beat coming rain events. The weather has turned cold quickly this year slowing the growth of weeds but these cold temps also mean the vegetables will slow their growth.
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. For Salads, Juice and Stirfries I have been picking Amaranth, Silverbeet, English Spinach, Chinese Broccoli, Celery, Cress, Gotu Kola, Lettuce, Kale, Parsley, Beetroot and Sweet Potato Leaves and Lebanese, Upland and Water-Cress which are not always weighed.
Carrots 552g
Cucumber 252g
Peas 172g
Snow Peas 231g
Radish 55g
Zucchini Early 1960g
Seed Zucchini 2647g
Total Veg Harvest for May 3.2Kgs not counting the seed zucchini
Grapes 368g
Lemons 796g
Total Fruit Harvest for May 1.2Kg
Total Eggs for May: 34 eggs.
34 From the 5 Farmyard Ferals
0 From the Lone Barnevelder
0 From the 3 Faverolles - we lost one to a fox this month :(
May of Previous Years:
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
To see What is planted Where in the Garden check out the newest Map of our place HERE
Come on over to Scarecrow's Garden Facebook page and say Hi!
Check out my Pinterest Boards
We have been busy inside re-arranging the rooms in the house for winter so I nearly missed this little Hakea flowering. The Pincushion Hakea - Hakea laurina It's interesting to note that it has flowered over a month later than last year???
Temperatures:
Lowest Min 1.6C with ice!!
Highest Max 18.9C
35.5 mm Rain (as of 4:45pm on the 31st)
As it's raining while I type this anything that falls after 4:45pm will have to go on to next week/months total. We are welcoming the coming Winter with some "real winter" weather...cold and wet!!! Yipee! At last the water tanks are filling up.
Propagation:
Seeds:
Broad Beans Early Long Pod Vicia faba from DT Brown
Sown into loo roll holders in the greenhouse
Potting up:
Strawberry Guava Psidium littorale var. longipes
Rescued from a tank bed that is being moved.
Cuttings:
African Daisy Yellow Arctotis arctotis x hybrida
Planted out:
Alfalfa Medicago sativa seedlings planted out in the Orchard before the rain. As this is Lucerne I'll be able to cut it for mulch later...the chooks will no doubt have a nibble on it too!
Alexanders Smyrnium olusatrum Retrieved from their volunteer position in a pathway and planted into the new herb bed in the kitchen garden.
Celery Tendercrisp seedlings planted into Bed6 after it was cleared and topped up with compost.
I have been cleaning seeds that I am saving this year.
Two varieties of Cucumber - Suyo Long and Bushy. I also saved some of my favourite little Ida Gold Tomatoes the same way.
- I chose some good looking fruits and let them ripen fully...over ripen actually.
- Then left them in the garden shed for a few weeks.
- Last week I opened up the fruits and scraped out the seeds.
- Soaked them in water for a few days, stirring daily, to let them ferment a bit.
- Then drained and rinsed and left to dry out under the watchful eye of some tiny helpers that have recently arrived in the garden.
- When the seeds are dry they will be stored away for use in spring.
The Snow Peas on the cornstalk TeePees have grown to the top of the stalks. They have been flowering for a while now and I am harvesting a few snow peas...it will be interesting to see how much the cold morning temps affects the flower set. The extra string was added when bad weather was forecast.
One week from winter and this one day's harvest is destined for a stirfry and our morning juice...including Carrots, Radish, Zucchini, Kale, Beet greens (the red ones!!!), Silverbeet (Chard), Snow Peas, Peas, Purple Mizuna, Baby English Spinach, Lemons and (not shown) 2 Eggs from the Farmyard Ferals.
Temperatures:
Lowest Min 1.4C Brrr!
Highest Max 21.4C
3 mm Rain
The mornings are getting chillier now and we have had a couple of cold, windy and drizzly days. It really does feel like winter is only one week away!
Propagation:
Potting on:
Snapdragon Antirrhinum majus purchased seedlings
English Daisy Bellis perennis purchased seedlings
Cuttings:
Dwarf Nandina Nandina domestica 'Pygmaea'
Division:
Black Mondo Grass Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'
Planted out:
Cabbage Red Dutch
Lettuce Salad Mix
into a Recycling type Tub
Purchased Plants: Another weekend away at a market and I got to go plant shopping :)
Snapdragon Antirrhinum majus seedlings
English Daisy Bellis perennis seedlings
Dwarf Nandina Nandina domestica 'Pygmaea'
Black Mondo Grass Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'
Pink Jasmine Jasminum polyanthum
Lavender Lavandula stoechas Avonview
Sedum Dragon's Blood Sedum spurium coccineum
Just a week after sowing and those Radishes are up and growing...as they belong to the Brassica family they need to be netted so the cabbage moths don't lay their eggs on the leaves where they hatch into caterpillars that will eat big holes!!
Those Ruby Brussels Sprouts are growing bigger and just starting to show tiny sprouts.
A quick wander around the beds to see how everything is growing. This growth will slow down now with the temperature dropping.
The Loganberry Rubus loganobaccus is a cross between a Raspberry and Blackberry with a taste somewhere in between those two. The plants are hardier (in my garden) than Raspberry canes. Because they fruit early in the season (November) they usually miss the hottest of the summer heat unlike Blackberries that try to ripen in February in the middle of our heatwave season. The Blackberries often dry out before they have a chance to ripen.
The Loganberries fruited well last November and now its time to cut them back ready for next season.
It's quite easy to tell the old canes which have fruited as these are dry and brown.
The new canes which will go on to produce a crop later this year (in late spring) are green and lush, as these have grown I have tied them together in a bunch to one side.
To prune them all I have to do is cut the old canes right down to the ground and remove them.
Then I gather the new canes and tie them against the weldmesh trellis. I usually have to wind them over themselves to get them to fit in but as long as I don't snap any ends off they are fine. Some of the canes have offshoots so from these I take cuttings to grow more Loganberries to plant around the garden for free!!
The soil beneath the plants has been cleared, topped up with soil and compost, mulched with organic sugarcane and planted with Parsley and Sorrel. These have replaced the Strawberry plants this year.
This is Bed 14 and yes it is a Wicking Worm Bed...see this link for more info.
I have taken down all the shade cloth covers and stored them away for winter. As you can see things are happening with the downsize!
Temperatures:
Lowest Min 6.3C
Highest Max 27.1C
9.5 mm Rain
We have had a little rain but now it is really getting cold!
Propagation:
Seeds:
Broad Beans Coles Dwarf and Early Long Pod Vicia faba from DTBrown sown into the Tank Wicking Beds (4&5) for Green Manure
Radish Beauty Heart Raphanus sativus from Mr Fothergills
Radish Nero Tondo Raphanus sativus from Southern Harvest
Radish French Breakfast Raphanus sativus from DT Brown
Sown into a Wicking Box
Potting on:
Pansy Carrington Deveruax Purchased seedlings
Stocks Dwarf Mixed Purchased seedlings
Coreopsis Early Sunrise Purchased seedlings
Calendula Lemon Daisy seedlings
Tagasate seedlings that had volunteered in my Bathtub Bed!
Cuttings:
Gooseberries Captivator
White Currant
Division:
Mondo Grass
Catnip Nepeta cataria
Planted out:
Silverbeet Erbette x 8
Sorrel French x 1
Sorrel Garden x 1
Sorrel Red Veined x 3
Sweet Peas x 9 not edible but may add a little nitrogen to the soil
These seedlings went into a bed in the old main veg area that I haven't moved yet!! This bed is growing greens for the chooks.
Kale Red Bor x 3 and Vates Blue x 4
Lettuces Red and Green Salad x 3
Leeks Sleek - Purcashed seedlings - small punnet
Corriander - Purchased plant - 1 pot of many seedlings
Planted into the new Wicking Bed (no 13) in the Kitchen Garden
Catnip Nepeta cataria - division planted into the new herb area next to the Fridge Beds
Small Garlic cloves and Elephant Garlic cloves planted into the new herb area next to the Fridge Beds
With the forecast at 90% chance of a decent amount of rain I set out on Saturday morning to get lots done before it came. I needed to get the last Wicking Worm Bed made up ready for planting out the Kale.
Most of planting for winter is now complete, there will be some more onions to go in but they will wait until winter.
I can relax now :)
