New brocks

A new set of broccoli seeds into a tray for winter. Premium green F1.

Also transplanted zucchini and pumpkin into the patch alongside onions and leeks. It may be too late for the alums... but worth a crack anyway.

Seeding is believing

Time to get some more seeds in since the weather is so bad today:

4 pottles with:
Zucchini - ambasador f1

3 pottles with:
Pumpkin - spooki

A tray of:
Leek - winter giant

6 each of:
Cabbage - Copenhagen market
Spinach - winter giant
Kohlrabi -early purple Vienna

Squashed Butternut

From the green room to the garden... Done!

Seed Seeds Seeds, on the grow

All three seed-trays were empty, and its summer. This was a sad state of affairs that needed resolving. The seed-trays were washed in hot water, then rinsed in hot tap water, then filled with black-magic seed mix.

Into the three trays went 20 each of:
Spinach (winter giant)
Spinach (bloomsdale)
Cauliflower (all the year around)
Cauliflower (violet sicilian)
Cabbage (copenhagen market)
Brocoli (italian Precore)

That a load of Brassica and a lot of spinach.

As its early summers its also time to get the cucurbits in. They are a lot larget than the tiny brassics so they go into individual pots rather then seed trays. Into 4 pots each went:

Pumpkins (harvest gold)
Squash (sunbeam)
Zucchini (blackjack)
Zucchini (blackbeauty)

In previous years the pumpkins have suffered mold and not produced fruit - perhaps this year will reverse the trend.

Weekend Pottyness

Five of each of the two tomato varieties (Purple Calabash and Riesentraube) went out of the sprouting chamber and into pots. As did the Thyme, but they are tiny so three plants went into each of three posts. Strawberry Spinach also went into pots, one plant pot.

Soaking large seeds overnight for planting tomorrow:

Peas
Beans (Albenga and Borlotto)
Punpkin (Australian Seed Oil and Jack be Little)

Also planted remaining strawbetty spinach in the patch. The Zucchini in the patch is doing badly. It didn't help that is sonowed today!

Pumpk-in

After way too long in the sun room it was time to plant out the pumpkins that have germinated. One giant pumpkin and two shop pumpkin were ready to go. Imagine the surprise when a second seed showed signs of germination just when the tub was turned up-side-down to go into the patch.

So, into the brassica bed (because there was space there) went 1 giant pumpkin, 2 pumkkin, and 2 just germinated pumpkin.

Putting the Brassica to Bed

Time to transplant from the seed trays into the garden. 10 Brussel Sprout plants (3 rows) and 6 purple cauliflower (2 rows) went into the freshly dug over beds. The beds were not composted because after spending a day digging them over the energy to sift compost through a seive was missing. From that seed tray none (that' right, none) of the green cauliflower germinated, all the brussel sprouts germinated and all except one (or was it two) of the purple cauli germinated.

To my total surprise another pumpkin germinated. After however many weeks it has been they were about to get written off as a disaster. There are now 2 pumpkin and 1 giant pumpkin desperately awaiting transplanting into the vege patch.

Garden-Bound

Waiting to go into the garden was 2 white corn, 1 zucchini, and 1 pumpkin (seeds saved from a supermarket pumpkin). They now each have their own little part of the vege patch. With some luck the cold weather is over and they'll survive.

Spent some time trying to weed, but until the plants get large enough its hard to tell a carrot from grass. Still, did some, and will do more once it becomes obvious what's what. After the weeding came a feeding (of fertiliser).

Another pumpkin has germinated! Tons of brussel sprouts have germinated, as have a small number of cauliflower. More time is needed before they can go into the vege-patch but all looks good at the moment.

Yuck!

Started to dig the final section of the vege patch and its wet, very wet, very wet indeed. Its like a thick muddy goop down there. As a consequence the irrigation system has been turned down from 5 mins a night to 3 mins a night. Everything got a feeding with the organic fertiliser.

Almost everything is growing well. A few things are not: the strawberry spinach is growing very slowly. The parsnips (which are always slow to germinate) are not showing signs of anything and at least one lettuce has died. Parsley hasn't reard its head either.

In the green room a second corn has sprouted as has one pumpkin (seed saved from a supermarket pumpkin) and one zucchini.

The kings radishes have sprouted well and as there were a gap between the rows black-radish from last year was used as a filler.

Pumpkinin

After soaking overnight and through the day (about 36 hours in total) the pumpkin seeds were potted and placed in the green room to sprout. Two types, the giant pumpkin seeds from last year and pumpkin seeds saves from shop pumpkins.

Seeds for pots for $12.00

The Warehouse has sets of 10 little plastic flowerpots for $4.00. Three loads was loads (for $12.00). After soaking zuchini seeds, white corn seeds during the day they went into the posts and got a good soaking.

Also soaked during the day were peas and sunflowers that went into seed trays. The seed tray was then filled with onions and spinach. Pumpkin seeds (saved from the supermarket pumpkin as well as giant pumpkin from last year's seed stock) remain soaking and will (hopefully) get transferred into pots tomorrow.

Fresh Pumpkin Smells

The two little (of the four) garden pumpkins

Wow! Never before has the kitchen smelled so good. Cut into a fresh pumpkin from the garden and the smell is fantastic. These two (and one other) were harvested and left for a few days to dry. We had the larger one between 4 adults and one child and it did more than one meal. The colour, the small and the taste were unbelievable. Vegies from the garden taste great, but this one topped the lot.

Pumpkins

Here's one of the four pumpkins stull growing. As this is the first pumpkin it remains a mystery as to when to harvest them.

Zucchini for dinner

Zucchini for dinner tonight. This is the first one from the garden ever and it tasted great. Very moist, very firm. There are also 4 decent sized pumpkin, just waiting for them the mature before picking and drying.

Pumkin and Zucchini and Tomato and Capsicum

Transplanted three pumpkin from the green room into the patch. Also tranaplanted two (I think) zucchini.

Trying tomato in the green room. Two seedling vines, both from Nichols, one sweet-100 cherry tomato the other "Home Harvest Cherry Tomato Sungold Evandale Gardens". Also took the opertunity to plant a capsicum at the same time, again from seedling, "Home Harvest Capsicum Gold Medal Evandale Gardens".

Green room to Garden

Seedlings that sprouted during the week were moved into the garden, again the area by the tree. 1 Giant Pumpkin, 1 Pumpkin, 2 Squash, and 3 Zucchini. All the previous transplantings appear to be living, but a few might die over the next week. There has been snow in the last week so it isn't that surprising that something might have died.

Also spent some time digging the remaining areas in the patch for the season. Compost is needed.

Rhubarb is doing very well and might flower soon. It got very big and might have to be moved soon.

The sprouting chamber is showing almost total success with onion, red onion, leek, and spring onion.

Squash

Moved some of the pumpkin and zucchini that had sprouted in the green-room into the garden. Just checked... 2 giant pumpkin (kaiotes), 1 regular pumpkin and 2 zucchini (Watkins). In previous years both pumpkin and zuccchini have been washed out so they were placed by the tree over the back of the patch. This spot is a little more sheltered than the patch and a little dryer too. Last year zucchini did well in the house but with all male flowers there was no fruit. I'm told that zucchini do very well outside in this city.

Second Row

Two weeks ago the first turnip rows went in. This week the second rows of turnips went in. Three types are being used - Yates Turnips (Purple Top White Globe), half a row. The other half of the row was last years seeds harvested by me - they were originally the Yates Turnips but went to seed and so they're being tried. I have hundreds of these seeds!

Turnips - sprout 6-10 days, harvest 10-12 weeks.

The second row of Japanese Turnips is the Turnip Tokyo Cross from Kaiotes. It will, indeed, be interesting to compare the results from Yates to those from Kaiotes - both in size and taste.

Turnip Tokyo Cross - sprout ???, harvest ??? details not included!

Radishes in previous years have been a complete disaster. For two years none grew, but at the end of last year a last-ditch effort to grow some in an otherwise empty spot resulted in a bowel of small ones. This year Radish Black Round (Kaiotes). They are apparently Raphanus sativus. Two short rows. As nothing else has grown to shade the spot (yet), they should get good sun.

Radish Black Round - sprout ???, harvest 53-80 days.

Atlantic Giant Pumpkin (Kaiotes). Four, each planted in their own little pot and placed in the sun room upstairs. Once they sprot they move to the garden - probably under the tree.

Atlantic Giant Pumpkin - sprout 3-12 days, harvest 120 days.

Six Black Beauty Zucchini (Watkins) went into a white plastic six-hole propagation pot. These also went into the sun room upstairs. Again they'll go under the tree. Again in previous years no success. Two years ago they grew well outside but no fruit. Last year they did badly outside and inside no fruit because all the flowers were male!

Black Beauty Zucchini - sprout 5-10 days, harvest 5-7 weeks.