Three Minute Monday Ep.5. No Dig Lettuce.

Getting a small patch of garden bed ready for planting some no dig lettuce next week.

I didn't know it would be so hard to make a video three minutes long or short for that matter. There's so much to get through some times.

Mini Me

My 'mini me' version of a Charles Dowding no dig veggie gardening.

Though Charles has been at this for several decades I've only just discovered him via YouTube. I'm guessing at about the same time he also discovered YouTube and started posting videos of his no dig gardening approach.

I've also managed to sneak in a small experiment here too. Using two different brands of compost. one being Hortico Compost from Hortico, no less.

The other is Osmocote Professional Compost & Soil Improver from Scotts.



Cheers

Stewart.

Love to hear from you, leave a comment ot question below.

Christmas in July

He's making a (seed) list and checking it twice.

Everything below in 'italics' is used from the Lambley Nursery Vegetable seed catalogue.

Carrot 'Mokum' F1:- Experimenting with a few new carrot varieties.

'One of the quickest carrots to produce 36 days for baby and 54 days for full size. The slender roots have a very good sweet flavour and a crisp texture. Performs well even during hot weather.'


Carrot 'Sweetheart'

 '‘Sweetheart’ is very sweet, flavoursome and productive bunching carrot for year round production. It takes about 90 days from seed sowing to harvest and maintains its flavour at a larger size.'

Bean, Bush ‘Simba’ I grew this variety last Spring/Summer and was very pleased with the results. Easy to grow and tasty to boot.

 'A round dark green bush bean with terrific flavour. It is a heavy cropper and has good disease resistance. Its heavy frame keeps the beans straight and clean as they are held well off the soil.'

 Beetroot ‘Red Ace’ F1 Also grew this one last season, same as above.

'This is the best beetroot I’ve grown. Fast growing, good as a baby beet as well as full size. It lasts well in the garden and is tender even when it makes a large size. As it is slow to bolt we plant it from August through to early March.'

 Leek ‘King Richard’ (Organic) What can I say, I like leeks.

'I sell the true strain of this very early leek. From an early November planting I was digging decent leeks by March. In fact Criss and I served fifty people with Leeks a la Grecque at a charity lunch here one March a couple of years ago. As it is slow to bolt it is happy well into winter too.'

Lettuce, Baby Leaf 'Encore' Another experiment. Just looking for a lettuce I really like.

'A mix of stunning colours, textures and shapes. Includes green and red oakleaf, green and red cos, Lolo Rossa. Can be grown year round and cut several times.'

Lettuce, Adrianna Same as above.

 A new butter-head with great flavour and disease resistance. It is especially good during the heat of summer as it is strong against tip burn. It can be sown from August until may for year round production.

Radish ‘Pink Beauty’ (Organic) I like radish, I'm just looking for one I like even more and this one looks appealing.

'Quick to grow and beautiful to look at this pink radish has a mild, sweet, delicious flavour. It is resistant to pithiness. It takes 26 days to mature.'

Baby Leaf Mustard Greens 'Scarlet Frills'  Don't know what I'm doing here. Trying something new maybe?

'21 days baby 40 days full size. A sweetly flavoured mustard green with finely cut, dark red, ruffled leaves which will add a beautiful spicy touch to a mixed leaf salad. Sow from August until April.'

Brussels Sprouts Diablo F1
I've tried growing Brussels Sprouts on and off over the years without much commitment and little success. Possibly due to planting too late. So I'll get some good seed and plant at a more appropriate time of the year and see how we go.

'The best Brussels Sprouts strain I’ve ever grown and I’ve tried twenty or so. Diablo produces crops over a long period from late autumn through most of the winter if seeds are planted no later than November.'

Pumpkin, Buttercup 'Bonbon F1' And this one is just for fun, simple as that.

'An All American Selection winner ‘Bonbon’ is a classic looking buttercup pumpkin with deep green smooth skin and a prominent grey button on the blossom end. Deep orange fibreless flesh has a good sweet flavour. Fruit weighs 2-2.5kg and each vine produces an average of 4 pumpkins.'

So there you have it Spring, Summer and Autumn all sorted. I'll buy the odd packet of seed from here and there. I'll need to get some seed potatoes from somewhere as well but the year ahead is looking interesting to say the least.

Cheers and happy seed planting

Stewart.

Busy day

Busy day in the veggie garden yesterday.

Planted several rows of brown onion seedlings, a row of 'Early Crop Massey' peas seeds as well as some spring onion seedlings.

 

Also, as you can see in my previous post, I also harvested my Dwarf Sunray Jerusalem Artichoke and replanted four more tubers.

I've also been allowed to use some of the neighbours backyard for growing veggies so I plumbed in a new tap that I can use to get water there and then I set about getting a small bed of Broad Beans started.

It's a bit late for Broad Beans and there wasn't much soil prep but I just wanted to get something started.

I plan to grow some of the bigger veggies there like corn, potatoes and pumpkin but it's amazing how quickly you can run out of space.

I'll keep my yard for growing the quick pick veggies like lettuce, peas and beans, and herbs.

Cheers Stewart

P.S. Drizzly rain today so everything's getting a good start.

 

Freckle the Lettuce update.

 I know you're all dieing to know how Freckle the lettuce is getting on so here's a few photo updates.

S/he's a very easy care lettuce, basically a little liquid fertiliser ans regular watering and s/he's very happy.

I pinched a few leaves from the outside of one plant to make a salad and you'll be surprised to know s/he tastes much like a lettuce.  

 S/he's getting a good size about them so it's about time I started a second sowing so I don't run out.

Cheers and happy veggie gardening

Stewart

Freckles The Lettuce Update.

For those of you wondering how Freckles the lettuce is getting on then this is for you.

Planted as seed back on the 26th of the 8th they have since sprouted and grown well

Yesterday I planted them into the veggie garden.

A bucket of compost and a few handfuls of Rooster Booster and sure as the sun rises in the east we're away.

I'll bung a teaspoon (maybe two) of Epsom salts into a watering can of water and give them a drink with that.

The jury seems out as to whether Epsom salts helps or not but it doesn't do any perceivable harm so I consider it worth a go.

Cheers

Stewart and Freckles the Lettuce.



Any comments are welcome.

Another Busy Weekend.

Wow, my first full weekend to myself and a productive and surprising weekend it was.

Productive simply because I managed to get a lot done, obviously.

Mainly maintenance gardening jobs like weeding, spreading and side dressing with compost, applying liquid fertiliser, some pruning and then today I got lots of seed planting done.

Talking about seeds, I watched a short video from Blooming In Brisbane Gardening TV by Claire Bickle who looked at salad greens including sorrel, chicory, rocket, mustard giant red, watercress and kale.

Some of these I don't have so this morning I placed an order with Edan Seeds for Chicory, Fennel Florence - Romanesco, Mustard - Red Splendor and Sorrel. While I was there I also added some Shallots, the red bunching variety which are highly coloured at all ages and a packet of Helchrysum, Tom Thumb Mixed for the bees.

Still on seeds I went mad planting this morning including, 

Eggplant, take two (first sowing failed to proceed)
Taskeniki,
Red Square,
and Rosa Bianca.

Carrot - baby, Cabbage - red, Lettuce - Great Lakes, Tomato - keepsake, Zinnia and Cosmos, Lemon basil, Lemon cucumber, More borage, Cosmos Bright lights,

Pumpkin, Leek and Watermelon.

That took care of most of today and this afternoon I went to a get together for the Toowoomba area Backyard Veggie Growers group.

 

And surprising simply because we received and unexpected nine mils of rain on Saturday night.

Not much else, bunged a few spuds into the ground, planted a couple of lettuce and a few Chinese cabbage.

Just have to sit back now and watch it all grow.

Cheers

Stewart.

Freckles the Lettuce.

Freckles! The Lettuce

Have you ever bought a packet of seeds just because you like their name?

I have and only just the other day.

Freckles, lettuce. When I was a boy freckles meant three things.You had them on your face, you had a chocolate treat covered in hundreds and thousands and the third one, um, well that's a story for another day.

I don't recall anything triggering my desire or need for freckle seeds, I have know of them for quite a while, but it became a mission for me about two Sundays ago to get some freckle seeds.

Searching all my favorite seed suppliers proved seedless, um fruitless, so I went the eBay route and came up with a few options. Way Way Creek Seeds an eBay store was chosen and money was sent.

They arrived! Phew.

When they hadn't  arrived by the following Monday I was beginning to worry, the seeds only had to come from Victoria.

Tuesday I was giving up hope but they arrived in the mail that day and excitement reigned.

Well as much excitement as you can muster over a packet of seeds. At $2.60 delivered it wasn't going to break the bank if I had to reorder.

They were nicely packaged and quickly dispatched to the planting area. Now I just need to wait patiently.

Planted

Geography/History

Freckles lettuce is an heirloom lettuce variety with documentation citing it native to Austria circa 1793. It is not as commercially successful as common Romaine lettuce, yet it continues to be widely favored in both Europe and America. It thrives in warm climates with fertile soil and moderate rain or irrigation. Its tolerance for heat and sun make Freckles lettuce a slow-bolting, choice variety for hotter climates in the summer months. Because of its non particular growing needs, Freckles is a great home gardener's lettuce. It can be sown directly, planted in containers and raised beds. The lettuce can be harvested as soon as small heads form.
- See more at: http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Freckle_Lettuce_4810.php#sthash.owAYUhlB.dpuf

Here's a bit of PR I picked up from the web so it must be true.

Geography/History

Freckles lettuce is an heirloom lettuce variety with documentation citing it native to Austria circa 1793. It is not as commercially successful as common Romaine lettuce, yet it continues to be widely favored in both Europe and America. It thrives in warm climates with fertile soil and moderate rain or irrigation. Its tolerance for heat and sun make Freckles lettuce a slow-bolting, choice variety for hotter climates in the summer months. Because of its non particular growing needs, Freckles is a great home gardener's lettuce. It can be sown directly, planted in containers and raised beds. The lettuce can be harvested as soon as small heads form.

Geography/History

Freckles lettuce is an heirloom lettuce variety with documentation citing it native to Austria circa 1793. It is not as commercially successful as common Romaine lettuce, yet it continues to be widely favored in both Europe and America. It thrives in warm climates with fertile soil and moderate rain or irrigation. Its tolerance for heat and sun make Freckles lettuce a slow-bolting, choice variety for hotter climates in the summer months. Because of its non particular growing needs, Freckles is a great home gardener's lettuce. It can be sown directly, planted in containers and raised beds. The lettuce can be harvested as soon as small heads form.
- See more at: http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Freckle_Lettuce_4810.php#sthash.owAYU

Ready to go.

Cheers

Stewart.

Another busy day

Busy day for weeding and planting seeds after 13 and then another 5mm of rain over the last two days. And a beautiful gardening day at that.

Planted

*Purple King, climbing bean. Phaseolus vulgaris

*Cherry Belle, Radish. Raphanus sativus

*Fennel. Foeniculum vulgare

*Red and Green Salad Bowl Mixed, Lettuce. Lactuca sativa

*Pak Choi. Brassica rapa var, chinensis

*Gourmet Mixed, Lettuce. Lactuca sativa

*Rocket. Eruca sativa

*Capiscum. Capiscum annum

* Lyon Prizetaker, Leek. Allium porrum

*Crimson Globe, Beetroot. Beta vulgaris

*Three struck cuttings of Sweet Potato. Ipomoea batatas

Now I've only got to get them all to grow.

How's your garden growing? 

Cheers

Stewart.

Cheers

Doesn't get any fresher than picking a lettuce you've grown in your backyard.

My Veggie Garden Iceberg lettuce

 Cheers and have a veggie good weekend

Stewart.

When I'm Feeling Blue

I'm feeling a little blue today. After weeks of fabulous late Autumn weather things have turned cold for us here.
And after a miserable overcast day yesterday that only managed to deliver us a grand total of four mils of rain I've decided to cheer myself up with a heap of photos that I took of the garden last Tuesday.
These were taken at around 11:00 am and the weak, late Autumn sunlight, was simply marvelous for taking photos.

 Spinach is just getting going. Made a nice spinach spaghetti with them the other day.

Two tubs of lettuce is keeping me going.

A Lisbon Lemon tree I planted on Tuesday. I've got a video to edit on planting it and then you'll be hearing a lot more about this

Might be my last strawberry now until the weather warms up again. They are still flowering but I suspect the cold will take care or that for a while. 

Same for my chilli

And tomatoes. This is a late planting of tomatoes in the warmest part of my garden in an effort to see if I can get tomatoes to fruit here during winter in Toowoomba.

More lettuce. Never too much lettuce. What I don't eat the chooks (chickens) will take care of.

Silverbeet going gangbusters 

 as is the garlic.

Peas are powering and I've sown some old purple podded pea seed I found while tidying up and they are sprouting up out of the ground too.

I came out of hospital in early July last year and was greeted with mandies from my tree so I'm looking forward to a big mandy feast very soon.

Broad beans are growing strongly.

 Biggest and best parsley I've ever grown.

This might finally be the end of my Basil too.

Rhubarb's getting ready for winter.

And sage.

I feel better now or at least not so blue.

Cheers

Stewart.

Wow, what a day.

Wow, what a day. It's my daughter's 21st and it's been two months since my last operation and after today's effort in the garden I'm feeling ecstatic.

It's been years now since I've been able to do a full day's work and still feel OK at the end of the day.

The morning was made up of weeding, watering and liquid fertilising everything and I mean everything. Roses, perennials, annuals, veggies. You name it it got liquid ferilised. 

I've planted a lot of flowering annuals this year to keep me happy. Annuals like petunias, poppies, snappies, pansies, violas, and primulas in the shady parts of the garden as well. All of these were liquid fertilized as well as all the veggies like the peas, silverbeet, garlic, lettuce, cabbages, strawberries, chillies (still flowering and being warm here for this time of the year I might get another small crop) and broccoli.

The afternoon was all the boring stuff like putting all the prunings through the mulcher, working over the compost heap, mowing the lawn and clearing an overgrown site for planting the Lisbon lemon I bought.

My daughter, the one turning 21, works in a coffee shop/cafe so guess what this is.

Getting rad with my ish. There's 500 little radish seeds per packet so I won't be running out any time soon.

A handy sized seed, no pun intended, I'm just poking a few into small spaces or in between  rows of other veggies, they'll be long gone and out of the way by the time the other veggies grow up

My lemonade tree lemonading.

Seriously just juice and drink, delicious

Next cab off the rank. This is the Lisbon I bought and will be planting in the area I started preparing this after noon.

Two little rhubarb leaves.

When I was harvesting some leaves last week a chunk of main stem came off as well so I bunged it into a pot full of potting mix and now it's looking like I've two more Rhubarbs to plant come spring.

Alright already.

What's getting planted over the next week.

• Lettuce seedlings x 8, 1 punnet of. Done
• Peas by seed. Not yet.
• Broccoli seedlings x 6, punnet of. Done
• Radish by seed. I'm working on it.
• Leeks by seed. Soon alright.
• Kale by seed. Done.
• Cabbage by seed. Done
• Sweet Pea seedlings x 8, punnet of. Done.
• Poppy seedlings x 8, punnet of. Done.

What's getting planted in your garden?

Cheers

Stewart

Frustrated.

Hi, frustrated here or all work and no play is making Stewart a dull boy.
6 days a week, 11hrs a day for a below minimum wage without any benefits or super isn't helping matters much either. On top of that I'm only getting, at best, a half a day a week in the veggie garden.

But I'm not sitting here wallowing in self pity, I'm putting a plan of action together to see if I can dig myself out of the hole I'm in. Resumes are flying left right and center and with some luck I hope to get a job as a disability support worker with better pay and conditions and more respectable working hours leaving more time for myself. Driving a cab is enjoyable and rewarding work but the low pay and long hours are wearing pretty thin.

As for the veggie garden there is some progress with Broad Beans, Peas, Lettuce, Garlic and up until last nights possum attack I had some cabbages. Spinach has suffered under the hands and chewing of the possum as well.

The strawberries have had some TLC in the form of compost and some cheap composted cow manure I purchased from Masters.

3 from 4 of the bunching shallots have sprouted and the 4th is just sitting there and might get around to it anytime it likes.

I've also planted a punnet of Tomatoes in the warmest part of the garden as an experiment to see if I can get any tomatoes during winter. I'm thinking with the cold nights and short day length that it will be unlikely but you've got to be in it to win it.

Anyhow that's about it for now, I have to go out and put some cut up apple in the possum trap to see if I can save what's left of the veggie garden.

Cheers and don't let the possums bite.

Stewart.

P.S. I nearly forgot to mention the best bit. The veggie garden received 26ml of rain last Thursday and Friday. Doing the happy rain dance.

Experiment time.

 Experiment time.

Whenever I've been reading about how to grow lettuce often you'll see advise stating they should be 'grown quickly' without giving you too much information on how to go about this. 

Therefore I'm going to lightly dig and water in a quarter of a handful of blood and bone fertilizer around my Great Lakes iceberg lettuce every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month to see what happens. If that seems to be working and I'm getting good growth, then, when it gets to about half grown in size I'll increase it to half a handful every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. 

Here goes nothing.

What do you think?
Anyone ever tried something similar? 

The photo doesn't do my lettuce very much justice but I can assure you it looks a lot better and healthier than what it looks.

Cheers for now and happy gardening,

Stewart.

Today/tomorrow

Stiff, sore and exhausted. Been digging and clearing all day so I can plant seeds all day tomorrow. 

After months and months of neglect it's starting to look like a backyard again.

Carrots, beans, tomato, spring onions, lettuce, basil and something else I can't remember right now all on the to plant list for tomorrow. Only managed to sow some Great Lakes lettuce today.

Still want to get a bed ready for some Sweet Corn so as soon as I get all those planted that will be priority #1. 

29° tomorrow and 33° on Wednesday, though, hot and dry too, not great seed planting weather.


 Damn the compost is full too. Need another Gedye Bin.

Anywho, 'till next time, happy gardening

Stewart.

Hi, how have you bean?

I had a few minutes spare on Tuesday and this is what I ended up doing. I wish it was as easy as it looks. It's like the weeds were just jumping into my hand.



I stopped into the nursery on the way home today (Sunday) and picked up a few punnets of seedlings while I was there. It seems now that I'm driving the Taxi of a daytime I can't care all that well for seeds that I've planted. Big seeds like beans and corn should be OK but the little seeds like lettuce and carrots that are planted close to the surface tend to dry out.

Anyway I bought some Leek, spring onion, cabbage and lettuce seedlings to plant tomorrow. I also picked up a packet of rocket seeds (I know, I just said I wasn't going to do that) and I'll try them in a protected spot where they wont dry out as much and see how I go. I know they sprout quite readily so fingers crossed.

I'm promised fine weather for the next two days that I have free to myself to play, plant and weed in the garden and I'm so looking forward to getting plenty of work completed.

Until next time,

Cheers

Stewart

Coming up.

It might just look like a row of lettuce seedlings to you but to me I see a whole lot of summer salads coming up.

Lettuce rejoice.

Working like mad again (I'm self employed. It's the only way I can get a Christmas bonus and a few days off) and I've only managed a few hours in the garden on Sunday afternoon but I still managed to find out something interesting.

You see I've tried getting some lettuce seed up and running but my strike rate has been appalling which it usually isn't.

 As I'm a reasonable seed starterer I began to suspect the seed although they were supposed to be viable and not out of date.

Therefore in order to see if it was me or the seed I went out and bought two varieties of 'fresh' lettuce seed and planted them as I usually do and 'hey presto', wouldn't you know it, within four days I had lettuce seeds germinating and sprouting all over the place.

So if you every find yourself puzzled as to why you are having trouble getting seeds up try some fresh seed first.

Cheers and happy sowing

Stewart