Autumn Garden- Mulching, Trellis Construction & Weeding

Beautiful weather in Melbourne town today!

Haven't been out in the garden for about two weeks. First, the whole family was sick for a week & then we had several days of rainy, drab weather. Well today was a fine day, so out we all went, gardening mumma, little helper & baby girl.

Baby girl watched all the gardening unfold from her snuggly position in her baby carrier.

She obviously thought it was fun. She's very easy to please to be honest! Like her mother of course.

On the way down to the veggie patch, I passed my Sango Kaku maple & took a few photos. It is looking gorgeous in the autumn sun.

First look at the garden & stupid possums and/or Siamese cat have eaten some of my pea seedlings & most of my spinach. There is possum poo everywhere, so I'm assuming it's the night bandits again *sigh* well at least there are still some left *sigh again*. Here's a couple of photos of my spinach at the moment.

Today I made a trellis for my sugar snap pea seedlings. I attached plastic covered wire to the 2 stakes I placed when I sowed the pea seeds a few weeks ago. I also lightly tied some of the seedlings to the lower wire to encourage them to trail up into the trellis.

I also lightly tied my pea seedlings to my other trellis. They were planted as seedlings so they are more advanced than my sugar snap peas. Some photos.

They should be up & climbing in no time.

Checked out my garlic next. It's looking lovely.

My parsley is as lush as ever. Been adding it to many dishes.

And little helpers nasturtium is growing beautifully as well.

Not sure about my silver beet. It seems very small for how long it's been in the ground. Not holding much hope for it, but, we'll see.

My spring onion is a bit odd? As I said when I planted it initially, I've never grown it before, so I'm not too sure how it grows. At the moment it is a bunch of very, very thin shoots. Perhaps they will grow into full sized spring onions?? I hope so!

Could you see them? Like I said, very, very thin.

Did a bit of weeding. Clover is running wild in my patch at the moment & lots of little grass shoots all around. Tried to pull them out before they become a big problem.

Yoink, yoink!

A lot of mulch has washed away & started to decompose (which is great for the soil) so little helper & I added some more all around the garden.

Please note: I do put shoes on my child when he goes outside. He decided he didn't want them on & if you have a toddler, you know you just let these types of things go! Pick your battles they say.

Baby girl was having a great time riding on my back, watching little shoe-less helper & I garden.

After mulching, I added some more snail & slug pellets. After all the rain we've had there has been lots of them around.

I like this brand because it's safe for the Siamese cat & those annoying possums that eat all my crops.

After all the rain recently, the last thing my patch needed was a watering, but little helper wanted to & who am I to deny his cranky "watering now?" face.

So water the garden he did.

Here is my Autumn/Winter patch end of April 2012. Things are pretty tame but hoping it will all take off soon.

Oh by the way, please excuse the poorly placed soaker hose. I really need to lay it better. I'll wait until everything gets a bit bigger & work around the plants.

Hope you enjoyed todays veggie patch update.

Have a fantastic Sunday,

Bel

Autum/Winter Veggie Patch: Spring onions

Got back into the veggie patch this afternoon. Today I planted spring onions. I've never grown them before so I did a little research & followed the directions on the seed packet & away I went!

So, this is what little helper & I got up to today in the garden.

We started off checking out how our garlic, peas & silver beet seeds were going that we planted last week.

Garlic shoots have sprung up.

Snow peas have just sprouted. Can you see that tiny green sprout? Still all curled up & seed like.

Then on to the silver beet. Tiny seedlings have already appeared. Thought I'd thin them out a little as I sowed the seeds in clumps. Not sure if it's too early to do this but it's done! Sometimes I like to just go with what I feel with gardening & see what happens. I'm a bit over hard & fast rules at the moment. Seems to be a trend these days. So does unnecessary anxiety!

My sugar snap pea seedlings are looking gorgeous. I mulched them a few days ago with pea mulch & sprinkled some snail pellets around. I lost many seedlings last season due to slugs & snails so this time I put down some pellets. I bought the ones that break down & add nutrients to your soil, so it seems to be win win.

I did lose one pea seedling thanks to my Siamese cat Monty. He ate it. Damn cat!

Next up, little helper watered all the new growth & while doing that, softened & moistened the soil ready for some spring onion seed sowing. He gave himself a bit of a watering as well!

 

A little bit of hose dropping.

 

 

Next I dug up a section of soil to sow my seeds in. I decided to put the spring onion next to the peas & garlic. I've since realised that onions don't like to be next to peas (opps!) This is what happens when your baby has been cranky all afternoon & you hurry down to the garden for 30 minutes on a whim while your husband is dancing around the loungeoom with said cranky baby! Might need to plan a bit better next time! At least I'll find out what in fact happens when you don't companion plant properly.

Soil is all loosened. Now to add some lime. Apparently spring onions benefit from a bit of lime in the soil. Lime lowers the acidity of the soil & spring onions like some acidity, but not too much. So on went a handful of lime.

I then mixed it all through with my hands so it was evenly distributed. I then made 2 little trenches as shown below.

I then added some fertiliser to the bottom of the little trenches & then backfilled them with soil. Apparently spring onion like all this & I will provide. I want them to be happy, so they can make me happy, by feeding me & my family!

Dymanic lifter pellets. It's all the non liquid fertiliser I had, so hopefully it will do!

I then made a long, very shallow indent in the soil with my finger & sprinkled in the tiny seeds. I have learned by my mistakes that small seeds need be barley covered in soil or they won't grow! Spring onion seeds are tiny, so I lightly sprinkled soil over them & lightly patted it down.

All done! Little helper didn't want to sow the seeds this time, he was just a spectator.

Here is the garden now. One extra bed full of spring onion seeds. Hope they do ok next to the peas!

Have an awesome day!

Bel

Autumn/Winter Garden Begins!

Had a great time planting my Autumn/winter garden. The ground was all turned over, fertilised & loose, ready for my new seeds & plants before I started.

First up, started with my pea seedlings. Piled up some soil at the base of my trellis & placed the seedlings out with the right amount of spacing (or there abouts) so I knew how many I could fit! Yippee, fit them all!!!

Next up, made a hole for each seedling, in they went & patted them in!

Then on to planting my sugar snap peas. I have never grown these before so pretty excited! I adore them so I'm hoping they do well. I'm growing these from seed.

I made a long mound of dirt again & hammered in 2 stakes left over from my tomatoes last season & will make another trellis some day soon for my peas to climb up!

Made some little holes with my fingers & my little helper put the pea seeds in to their little holes.

We then filled the little holes with soil together & lightly patted them in (little helper, not so lightly)

Next up- garlic! First time growing this too. I purchased some bulbs from bunnings & broke one apart in to individual cloves & pushed them into the ground, point up! But before this, little helper tried to push the entire garlic bulb into the dirt!

Love the little concentration tongue out.

So eventually, cloves in & ready for our next veg, silver beet. I have always loved silver beet. My Nonna would boil it then fry it with potatoes, olive oil & garlic. I always loved eating it this way growing up & still request it to this day. Looking forward to giving her my silver beet this year to cook up for us!

Started the silver beet from seed. Made little holes, popped them in & patted them down.

Below are the uncovered silver beet seeds. Never realised they were so big! The packet suggested planting a few in a bunch so I imagine I'll be thinning them out once they sprout. We'll see! The fun is finding out along the way.

Finally little helper planted his own little nasturtium plant all by himself. I made a small mound for him next to the silver beet, made a small hole & let him do the rest! He did a great job :)

Here's a few photos of our finished work today

That's it for now. Next time I get out in the patch I'll be sowing leek & spring onion seeds & perhaps a few other things. See how I go.

Until next time readers, enjoy your day!

Bel