All work and not much play. But it's nearly Christmas.

It's all work, heat, dry and watering here for me since Sunday. So far it's  been Mon 34c, Tue, 36c, and today it was 34c again. On top of that I was asked to work on Tuesday, my regular day off,  to which I said yes. With Christmas being just around the corner I could use a few extra dollars.

Sunday itself was a productive day with lots of weeding, watering, mulching and fertilizing. I planted the sugar baby watermelons that I'd grown from seed and they are now powering along with all this heat we're having. I also sowed seed for more baby beetroot and carrots along with two punnets of lettuce (can't have too much lettuce) and one of some Yates wild rocket seed.

They, that is those who profess to know, aka the Bureau of Meteorology, have us, Toowoomba, down for 28c tomorrow so that is something of a reprieve.

I planted some leek about a week and a half ago but there is no sign of them germinating just yet but I'll persevere with them a bit longer and the corn seed I planted Tuesday week ago is just starting to poke through the soil. And the corn I planted before that must be between 2 and 3 feet tall now and almost growing in front of my eyes.

What else then? Potatoes are just starting to flower as are the tomatoes. the cucumber is looking like the best I've ever grown. The cabbage are rocketing along as are the cabbage grub eating them. I promise myself to make a garlic and chilli spray for them this weekend.

I think I have covered everything... no wait there is the yellow button squash, zucchini, beans and climbing beans are growing very well and the french breakfast radish I planted on Sunday are starting to sprout as well.

Then there is the lettuce I planted from punnets Tuesday week ago. They're settling in and getting a go on and the cos lettuce I planted I have started to harvest some of the outer leaves for when ever I need some lettuce in the house.

Then there's the rhubarb, ginger, turmeric and silverbeet all doing well. I'm thinking this has been the best spring, summer garden that I planted so far and I'm feeling excited about what is to come over the next few months. My only concern is the weather and I've got everything crossed that it will be very king to me.

Cheers and I hope you're enjoying your veggie garden as much as I am,

Stewart.

I've gotten over myself...

Hi there, well I've gotten over myself a little bit in the last few days and am feeling positive about my veggie garden again. After weeks of seemingly endless extreme heat, for Toowoomba's climate, and hundreds of watering cans of water I was feeling like I was getting no where, but the weather has changed, though it is still hot but not stifiling. I'm also hopeful we have stopped the Houdinis of the chook world escaping and I might be able too put my backyard back together again. And as you can tell from the photo of veggies I picked from the Toowoomba Community Organic Gardens things have been growing and looking up in spite of my child like frustrations (read tannies). The only thing I have left to combat is that dastardly pretentious possum I have running around eating any little seedlings I happen to plant, not to mention any ripening tomatoes it can reach. Now that can only mean outright war when it comes to my tomatoes.

Included in the harvest are a red bucket of sebago potatoes, one bok choi cabbage, a hand full of butter beans, heaps of yellow button squash, three ruby lou potatoes, more green button squash, two leeks, one over grown spring onion, two Spanish onions and four Detroit Globe beetroot.

I also planted a row each of bulls blood and golden beetroot seed, more but fresh lemon cucumber seed and four Bourke's Backyard tomatos.

It's supposed to be hot the next two days and then, hopefully, some rain Saturday.

QUEENSLAND WEATHER FORECAST
Issued at 11:35am EST on Wednesday the 16th of December 2009

IDQ1070002
EXTENDED OUTLOOK

Saturday.. The rain and storm band will move into the southeast parts of the
state, with showers and storms extending from the west and north-west of the
state into the south-east. Isolated showers will occur over the northern
east coast. Elsewhere conditions will be fine. Winds over the interior
will be light to moderate SE to NE.

During Sunday and Monday widespread showers and storms will occur over
the
south-east as an upper cold trough moves across the area and
destabilizes conditions. Isolated stream showers will return to
much of the east tropical coast on Sunday and continue through Monday.
Only isolated showers and or stormswill occur about the Gulf of
Carpentaria. A weak SE change will move through the
south-east coast early Sunday and then decay overnight Sunday.

Well here's hoping for a brighter veggie future, with some cooler
weather and some rain

Cheers
Stewart

Go Green Tube

Hi, just found this web site and found it interesting. Probably nothing new or earth shattering but good to reinforce any organic beliefs and values you might have. Click here to go to Go Green Tube

I've included two videos about the Grailville Organic Farm which go through some of their organic growing practices. Hope you find it interesting. The video quality is a bit poor but worth persevering with. Thanks.

Search results for Grailville Organic Farming






Cheers for now

Stewart

D-Day

Well D-Day has arrived.

I start my first class of my Tertiary Preparation Program on Friday at 9am.

I've currently got my head stuck in some study material they have sent me and so far so good.

As for the veggies, well they are doing very well atm, just watering weeding, and some mulching and eating.

I'd like to say that post ing from here on might become irregular but I'll see how I go. Maybe if I make good use of my time I'll be able to get some stuff up.

I know I have a little lettuce story I want to post so I'll see how I go with that one.

The rose is called Ebb Tide and now resides in my veggie garden.

The National Rose Trial Garden of Australia had this to say in 2005.

Award: Certificate of Merit
Name: Ebb Tide
Type: floribunda rose
Habit: a purple double with exposed yellow stamens that age to cerise pink
Breeder: Weeks, Chino CA, USA
Exhibitor: Swane's Nurseries, NSW


Cheers

Stewart

10 reasons for growing your own Backyard Organic Veggies(BOV). Part 2

5/ Convenience Goes with out saying. Just walk out your back door and you have a whole smorgasbord of fruit, salad and veggies. It doesn't get any better than that. No traffic, no finding a park, no waiting in line for a check out.

4/ Environment As good as organic is it doesn't make any sense to me to have organic Tomatoes trucked all the way from Victoria to a Queensland market (about 1600km's for non Australians) or visa versa to have organic Lettuce trucked all the way from Queensland to a Victorian market.
Therefore if you are growing your own BOV you are by default helping the environment.
There is also the extra carbon stored in the soil by using organic methods.
Less waste ie:- packaging, spoilage, apparently BOV gardeners also use less water to grow their produce as well.
There are bound to be other benefits to growing your own BOV. If you have any please leave them in the comments.


3/ Excitement To plant seeds in soil you have prepared to the best of your ability and knowledge and to wait in anticipation (checking daily, sometimes twice daily or if your really obsessive every time you walk out to the veggie garden) for them to emerge and when they finally do it's like a huge sense of relief couples with the euphoria of succeeding.
Every time this happens I feel like dancing (Dire Straits 'Walk of Life', usually comes to mind) and maybe a smug sense of achievement.

2/ Taste Probably should be #1 but that would ruin the effect of having "Why not", at the top of the list.
Sooo, taste!! If anyone is going to tell me BOV don't taste any different or better than store bought veggies then (1) I want to know if the have a pulse or (2) smoke more than 50 cigarettes a day or (3) had their taste buds removed at birth.
Everything I have ever grown has been superior in taste without exception. There are some veggies I didn't know could taste as good as they do or how they do. I made spaghetti bolinagse the other night and used fresh Tomatoes instead of tinned tom and I've never tasted spag bol so fresh and full of flavour.
The taste of home grown BOV is second to none.

1/ Why Not Any takers?