please please please please please please please please

Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please.

Wednesday 19 February

Cloudy. Rain developing late in the morning. Possible heavy falls in the west, extending throughout from the early morning. Scattered thunderstorms. Winds north to northwesterly 15 to 25 km/h becoming light in the late evening. Overnight temperatures falling to the low to mid 20s with daytime temperatures reaching the low 30s.

Where's ya chillie bin?

Although we received 75mm of rain here a few weeks it's still dry as chips so consequentially I'm continuing to downsize until the season changes into something that looks like it might rain on a semi regularly basis.

 But having said that, the chillies are going gangbusters as you can see.

And I've been getting a little help from Mr. Aquasol. Not a 100% organic but of all the 'organic sins' that can be committed this is a minor one.










Cheers and here's to hoping for some rain,

Stewart

I'm back in black

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh. I've been so frustrated for so damn long but I'm back.
The old PC finally died and has forced me to get a new computer. A laptop this time so now there's no excuse not to post any veggie updates. 
Just off the top of my head I'd like to say it's been a bloody hard season. Hot and  dry, hot and  dry but after last weeks 75mm I'm looking to get started on the Autumn/Winter garden.
So until then, it's cheers from me.
Sure is good to be back.

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.

Garlic harvest

They're not big corms by any stretch of the imagination but considering the tlc they may or may not have enjoyed then I'm more than pleased with the results.

I'll leave them in a shady spot until the stems and leaves have dried out, plait them and store them in the shed.

I'll save the largest corm or two for next years crop and with better preparation, now that I'm feeling so much better, then I'm sure to have a better crop next year.

Everything else that I've planted is growing like mad but like most of the rest of us we're desperate for some rain.

Been starting to harvest a few things, there's lettuce a plenty, a few beans, rocket, parsley's producing well. Tomatoes are growing rapidly and setting fruit though none are ripe at this stage.

A few ideas on soil preparation I'd read about and decided to try seem to be working well and I promise to get a post up about that because it has been well worth the effort. Nothing fancy just a good recipe that has been delivering good results.

Anyway that's enough rabbiting on from me so until next time, it cheers from me.

Cheers

Stewart. 

Gardening by the numbers.

Gardening by the numbers. 

*1 bag of Searl's 5 in 1 plant food. 

*2 large bags of straw mulch for the veggies. 

*5 bags of 100% horse poop. 

*1 day or 11 hours of sunshine to spread it all around the place, appropriately, hopefully 

And only one little ol' me. 

In for a penny in for a pound

Cheers

Stewart