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.

The lowest growing broad bean.

I don't remember the name of the seeds I bought from DT Brown's seeds but it was a 'dwarf' growing broad bean.

 Perfect for exposed sites or small gardens, this is the lowest growing broad bean.

Which was the attraction.

There was about twenty seeds (maybe more, I don't recall) in the packet and I planted them all and most of them came up.

They were 'dwarf' compared to a 'normal' sized broad bean, growing to around 60 to 70 cm.

So then, from the 20 odd seeds I planted I now have well over 100 and the next step is to plant these to see if they maintain their 'dwarf' properties.

It cropped well so I'm hopeful of some good smaller broad bean bushes covered in tasty bean pods this coming winter/spring

Seeds

My seeds arrived.

I was beginning to worry where they were as I'd ordered them very early last week and thought they might arrive by the end of last week.

And when they didn't arrive on Monday I was getting ready to make some phone calls.

As it turned out I had to drive Cab 11 to Brisbane and return and I'd forgotten all about seeds arriving in the mail.

So when I eventually got home and inside I was pleasantly surprised  to find two small parcels chock full of seeds.

Guess what this little veggie gardener will be doing this weekend.

I haven't grown a lot of these before but after watching a video of Brisbane gardening identity and chook wrangler Claire Bickle on Blooming in Brisbane Gardening TV I'm going to give them a try.

A few of the others I'm just curious about.



Cheers and happy seed planting

Stewart.

Carrot and Radish Seeds Progress.

Here's a short video showing the progress of the Carrot and Radish seeds planted in pots.



Cheers and happy gardening

Stewart.

Seed planting

I didn't have a whole lot planned for today due to the forecast for rain in our area.

We ended up with 23mm yesterday (Saturday) and woke up to bright sunshine this morning.

As it turned out it became a good day for planting seeds.

Seed planting

Water Cress - Nasturtium officinale. Started out by sprinkling some Water Cress seeds over about a one meter square area and watering them in.

I've never grown Water Cress before so this'll be a new learning curve for me. Seed purchased from The Seed Collection.

Tomato - Australian Red. A bush tomato with medium sized fruit. This plant produces large flat red fruit and it is noted for its ability to form ripe tomatoes in cool summer areas.  Seed purchased from Rangeview Seeds.

Eggplant -Taskeniki, Rosa Bianca and Red Square. What was I thinking? Three varieties of eggplant. 

That's right, I was trying to make the order up to ten dollars so I could get free postage  and  they were appealing to me too. Seed purchased from The Seed Collection.

Alyssum - Royal Carpet. Something to feed the bees with. Seed purchased from The Seed Collection. 

Tomato - Cherry Roma. Picked these up from Bunnings. 

I was looking for a cherry tomato when I saw these. This will be the first time growing these so I'm curious to see how they turn out.


 Coriander. These seeds are from a coriander plant I let go to seed and then collected the seeds for my self to see if I can become more self sufficient.

Other seeds I've collected are Basil, Pumpkin and Beans (dwarf), not a huge list by all means but I have radish and rocket going to seed now that I'll collect. As I get better I'll increase my varieties.

A part from weeding and mulching some rose and bamboo prunings that just about covers my day in the veggie garden. One more thing, the bamboo prunings were from a lattice structure I built for some climbing beans, Purple King, also purchased from Bunnings.

Cheers

Stewart.

Herb and veggie mix.

Post by My Veggie Garden.

Cheers

Stewart

Leek 'Lyon - Prizetaker'

Not mine, but I hope they look like this when I'm finished

There's a rain a comin'. Well at least it been forecast to. And when there's rain a comin' and I have a day off, Sunday that is, that can only mean one thing. It's a seed planting time.

I'll have my work cut out for me tomorrow because I want to get all of these planted so as I can take advantage of the coming rain.

1. Leek 'Lyon - Prizetaker'
2. Watermelon 'Sugar Babe'
3. Zucchini
4. Squash yellow button
5. Spring onion
6. Pak Choi
7. Chinese Cabbage 'Nagaoka F1'
8. Fennel 'Florence Finale'
9. Radish
10. and some Marigolds

As usual I have a ton of weeding to do as well as spreading blood and bone around the other half of the garden that I didn't get done before the last rain.

Cheers then to a busy and productive Sunday

Stewart

A lovely surprise

When Veggie Gnome from The Mad Gnomes Strike Again won the This little piggy went to market competition she was kind enough to surprise me by sending back several packets of seeds.

Even more surprising was the seeds themselves.

Check out this list and a big thanks to Veggie Gnome.




1. Blue Podded Capucyner Peas.

I can't find much info about the Blue podded peas spelt Capucyner, but spelt Capucijner I found the following information.
(I guessing they are the same). Skippy's blog has a story on Blue podded peas as well.
'Blue Pod Capucijner' is an heirloom variety. It has particularly beautiful flowers, pink and red, fading to blue as they wilt. The pods are deep maroon which change to blue through the season. They are delicious when young, but turn leathery as they mature. Peas are hardy, weak-stemmed, climbing annuals. Custom has it that you can make a wish if you find a pea pod that has nine or more peas in it. Edible pea pods are grown the same way as sugar peas, just harvested much earlier, prior to filling out.




2. Carrot. 'purple dragon'
Botanical Name: Daucas carota.
Very nutritious vegetable originating from central Asia. This variety has a beautiful and unique purple-skin with amazing contrasting yellow-orange interior.










3. Red Orache

Atriplex hortensis is a member of the genus Atriplex and is commonly known as Red orache.

Interesting blog story on Red Orache here.




4. Lettuce 'red leprechaun'


Botanical Name: Lactuca sativa
'Little Leprechaun' is a variegated Romaine lettuce with leaf colors from red to forest green. It is generally ready for harvest 75 days after sowing.

This gorgeous mahogany red and green romaine is small in stature and big on taste. Miniature heads are prime harvest size when only 7-8" tall, ideal for container culture and for serving individual main dish Caesar salad.



5. Lettuce 'drunken woman' (I see plenty of these on a Saturday night thanks) Botanical Name: Lactuca sativa
Italian Heirloom. Attractive bright green leaves with ruffled almost frizzy edges in deep bronze. Leaf lettuce type with dense center that is very showy and slow to bolt.













6. Chinese Broad leaf celery.
Can't find any info on Chinese Broad leaf celery. Anyone care to help me out?

Cool list of plants huh, my only problem is that I've never grown any of them before.
Luckily I'm always up for a challenge and to be put on an interesting learning curve.

So far I have planted the peas, the two types of lettuce and the purple dragon carrots, the rest will have to wait until spring.
I'll keep you updated on the progress as they make their way to full grown veggies.


This is where I have planted the lettuce. That's four of each.

Autumn/Winter planting

It's hard to believe I'm thinking about Autumn and Winter plantings when I'm sitting here in 92% humidity with sweat rolling down my back, but that's exactly what I'm doing.

I ordered my copy of Green Harvest's 2009 catalogue last week and it arrived early this week, very efficient.
Anyhow so far on my wish list is
1/ Cabbage, 'Red Express'.
2/ Broccoli, 'Romanesco'.
3/ Cauliflower, 'Violet Sicilian'.
4/ Peas, 'Melting Mammoth'.
4/ Peas, 'Greenfeast'.

Already ordered from Diggers
1/ Cabbage, 'Mini'.
2/ Cauliflower, 'Mini'.
3/ Kale, 'Tuscan Black'.
4/ Parsnip. (Planted)
5/ Kohlrabi.(Planted)
6/ Broad Bean, 'Crimson'.

Already in is my Brussels Sprouts, Spring Onions, Lettuce and Silverbeet

I also have to source some garlic, onions and shallots from somewhere.
There's bound to be things I've forgotten to mention but this will make the back bone of my Autumn and Winter plantings.

I'm looking forward to Autumn and Winter this year after a lot of experimenting last Autumn and Winter I feel confidant of growing some healthy and useful crops.

Seeds of redemption

After the embarrassment of So, ya wanna' sow some seed do ya!!, I've been busy redeeming myself by getting it right for a while.
So it is that I can report some pretty successful seed raising results.

First cab off the rank is some of Mr. Fothergill's, Evesham Special, Brussels Sprouts. And how many did get to strike I hear you ask, well only 100% I say(patting myself on the back).

The Brussels Sprouts are flanked by the tomato's I planted at the same time as I did my So, ya wanna' sow some seed do ya!!
Just a note on Brussels Sprouts. I'm no expert on growing these and as of now I am still to produce a viable crop, but I keep planting these things earlier and earlier. My trusty, 'fruit & vegetable GARDENING in Australia', by The Royal Horticultural Society advises me to sow late Summer early Autumn, but I'm getting in ahead of recommended time. What I hoping is that planting seed now will mean the Brussels are forming in the coldest part of winter and not bolting or over producing leaf as they have in the past. So, watch this space.


Now as reported in So, ya wanna' sow some seed do ya!! update. #1 I had planted my digger's seeds into punnets, some Five colour Silverbeet, Listada Di Gandia Eggplant, Rouge D'Hiver Cos Lettuce(red brown var.) and Red Iceberg.

Apart from the Red Cos(3 from 5) I also had 100% strike(so far so good eh!)









Of the remaining seeds planted everything went very well also.

The first carrots to arrive were the Early Chantenay which after 10 days from sowing are doing exceedingly well.

Very happy Jan









Also doing well after a good strike rate are the Beetroot Chioggia which I'm dying to try.
















And last but not least the carrot Top Weight were a little sporadic but all came up and are a little slow compared to the Early Chantenay. The proof is in da eating as they say.

anyhow I hope these successes have helped me redeem myself and for now I'll just let myself feel fairly pleased with myself.






Just a photo of a happy lilium. A yellow one of course

So, ya wanna' sow some seed do ya!! update. #1

Link for the Original So, ya wanna' sow some seed do ya!!

Hi all,
I been avoiding this update due to the unmitigated failure of the seed to germinate.

It's not very clear in the photo(far left punnet) but I only had two out of six Cos lettuce seeds germinate.
Now I'm not going to blame myself because at the same time I planted up three punnets of three different Tomatoes with varying success, ie six from six, five from six and one from six.

So at this stage I'm going to blame the viability of the seed.

Now while I'm on the topic of seeds and planting I had a very productive day of seed planting yesterday.
First off was carrots of which I have not been that satisfied with the flavour of.
The current variety of carrot I've been growing is named 'All year round', so I planted two different variety's named Topweight and Early Chantenay to see if I can find a more flavorsome carrot.
If anyone has any suggestions for a more flavorsome carrot or a personal favorite, please let me know.

Also my digger's seeds arrived last week so I planted into punnets some Five colour Silverbeet, Listada Di Gandia Eggplant, Rouge D'Hiver Cos Lettuce(red brown var.) and Red Iceberg.

I also planted another couple of small rows of Beetroot Chioggia.

Holy Jack and the Beanstalk Batman

I planted two rows of Violet Queen Bush Beans from Digger,s and this is the result after just SIX DAYS.
Sow there little beggars are really keen to go:-)



If you click on the photo you'll get a better idea of their growth.

Seeds

The Digger's catalogue got the better of me.

ITEMS ORDERED
S008 BROAD BEAN CRIMSON FLOWERED  
S1221 KOHLRABI          
S061 CABBAGE MINI  
S081 CAULIFLOWER MINI  
S160 PARSNIP   
S117 EGGPLANT LISTADA DI GANDIA  
S121 KALE, TUSCAN BLACK  
S136 LETTUCE, RED ICEBERG   
S142 LETTUCE, ROUGE D' HIVER  
S209 SILVERBEET FIVE COLOUR MIX 
Hours of fun for all the family.
Cheers
Stewart

So, ya wanna' sow some seed do ya!!

Alright then, walk this way, no not that way this way.

First I work on the KISS, I "love rock n' roll", no not that one, the Keep it Simple Sally principal, so just grab some Seed raising mix(SRM) and bung it into your empty container of your choice.

Following the KISS principal I going to plant some Cos lettuce. Cos there so easy. Hah ha ha ha, Oh I kill myself sometimes.







Found one.
Now just a few notes
* Your SRM should be moist at this stage, not dust dry or tea bag out of your cup of tea soggy.
* When putting your SRM into your container don't squash it in tight just fill it up and give your container a bit of a tap and level off the top.











Here's on I prepared earlier.
After you will need to put a planting hole in the top of your SRM. Some people use a pencil, I use my finger. The required depth for Cos seeds is 3-5mm so just a divot with said finger and place one seed in each hole.
Some times you'll get advice to plant 2 seeds in each divot but I only want 3 seedlings for my garden so I'm sure of at least 50% strike rate.





If you want a 100% strike rate you'll probable get it with fresh seed but if you want to be sure then you can pop 2 seeds into each divot and when they germinate just carefully pull out the weakest one.


Now all that is left to be done is to cover the seeds to the required depth either by putting some extra SRM over the seeds or as I do just push the edge of the divot over the seeds.







Just a few things left, I always label my seedlings cos I will forget which is which.
Water the punnet. I use half strength fish emulsion for the first watering and after that never let the SRM dry out and don't over water.
I usually water when just the very top of the SRM is just starting to look like it's drying.
I also place the seeds in a well lit but shady area (dappled sunlight under a tree is good)until the seeds have been up for a week or so and then gradually introduce them to full sunlight and by then they should be ready to plant into your nicely prepared garden soil.
A rough time line. End 1 week, seeds of cos lettuce should be up by now and can be watered with another half strength fish emulsion.
End 2 week, seed should be 25/30mm tall and growing well.
End week 3, another half strength fish emulsion. Almost getting full sun
End week4, whack em into the garden, again, with another half strength fish emulsion.

Seeds, Weeds and Automobiles

I've been pretty quite here over the weekend.
Saturday it rained and drizzled on and off nearly all day making it to wet to do any gardening.

Sunday. Go Ford

My Diggers(hi Cathode) seed order arrived on Friday and I finally go to over to Mums to pick them up. They were at Mums cause we have shared the diggers membership and used her address.
None of these I have grown before so maybe I can unofficially join the growing challange.



1/ Climbing bean The Lazy Housewife.
2/Bean Magic Mix a. Red Kidney Bean b. Flageolet c. Borlotti d. Cherokee e. Yin Yang.
3/Fennel, Florence
4/Bush Bean, Violet Queen
5/Sweet Corn Baby -Poping Corn
6/Cucumber, Lemon
7/Beetroot, Chioggia
Neville (my mums hubby) bought some Tomato seeds home from their honeymoon in Tassie last year and I now have some Tomato 'silver fir' a Russian heirloom bush variety with very attractive grey green, finely divided leaves with flattish red tomatoes early in the season, according to the packet, and tomato 'principe borghese a early, prolific Italian heirloom variety producing apricot, oval, red fruit. Very tasty, when eaten raw but mainly used for drying, to try.
The seeds come from Oyster Cove Plants & Flowers. Now know as SOUTHERN HARVEST ONLINE SEED SALES
I also picked up some scarlet runner bean seeds as well.
So by the end of the season I'm going to be up to my neck in beans.





Monday.
Well my trusty steed decided to blow a head gasket so gardening has taken a back seat until I get Scotty (that's his name) back on the road.
If i could only work out how to get that chainy thing off the sprockety thing off the cammy thing I'd be right.















Scotty in all his glory.