Germinate.

This is doing the rounds at the moment. Cute, huh?

Posted by My Veggie Garden on Monday, 7 March 2016

Autumn at last.

Well, It sure has been a while.

I'm finding Summers are too hot and dry for me to put the effort required into keeping the veggie garden at it most productive but now with Autumn here and with some cooler days around I keen to get back into the saddle, so to speak.

I also find after a days working as a gardener and then coming home to a garden is a little too much to bare from time to time and I need a break away from it all.

Planting time. I know the middle of the day isn't the best time to be planting seedlings but sometimes it's all you've got. A row of carrot seeds, lettuce, pea and cabbage seedlings to get Autumn under way.
Posted by My Veggie Garden on Saturday, 5 March 2016

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

An Australian Vegetable Garden

Stocking stuffer from Santa, maybe?

Home Grown: An Australian Vegetable Garden

Following countless requests Lambley Nursery have for new release today Home Grown: An Australian Vegetable Garden, David Glenn’s brand new Vegetable Gardening two disc DVD set.

There can be few pleasures greater than picking your home grown vegetables from your own garden. Master gardener David Glenn takes you on a tour around his kitchen garden showing how to be self-sufficient in vegetables.

From asparagus to zucchini David Glenn grows enough produce to feed himself, his wife artist Criss Canning and their large extended family (They have eleven grandchildren).

David’s vegetable garden, set in the renowned Lambley Nursery Gardens in Central Victoria, is as beautiful as it is productive. Even though the climate can be very difficult with temperatures ranging from -8C to 45C. Frosts can occur as early as mid-April and as late as mid-November.

Whether you have a large country property or a small city garden this magnificent two DVD set shows how, with a little dedication, the keen home gardener can have an incredibly productive kitchen garden.

175 minutes
$39.95 each postage

Watch a preview, and purchase the DVD here

 

The Secret History of the British Garden

 Looks like fun.

The Secret History of the British GardenSunday 9.00pm BBC TwoHere's something to whet your appetite :) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p037ljs2
Posted by BBC Gardeners' World on Friday, 13 November 2015

Growing carrots from seeds (the only way)

Growing carrots from seeds is the only way to grow carrots. You're wasting your time planting carrots from punnets of seedlings, as they will always be twisted and stunted. Unless that's how you like your carrots.

Planting carrot seeds is also dead easy. You just need some organically vibrant soil (soil enriched with compost or from a previous crop), make a shallow row (5mm) and place your seeds in the row and cover them back over.

It's now the fun, read difficult, begins.

It's getting the little buggers (seeds) to germinate.

The only way I know is to keep them moist or in other words, never let them or the soil get dry, ever, not for a minute, not for a second. As far as I know they can't be over watered so even if the soil surface is looking like it will go dry I'll be in there with a watering can.

Not so bad in the cooler Spring weather but in Summer while at work I'll build a little shade cover with some fencing wire and clothes pegs and hopefully this will prevent them from drying out until I get home from work. Or I'll wait until some showery weather is forecast and plant then.