Africanaussie

Well, how about that!  Despite all this rain and muggy weather the carrots have come up - wow!  they are forming little feathery bits already!  Now one of  my problems is that I HATE to thin plants out so I am going to wait a while.  I have heard that it is OK just to cut the tops of the excess ones off with a pair of sharp scissors as this disturbs the roots of the remaining plants the least. Pumpkin vines have been showing up everywhere and this one has muscled its way in.   I decided it could stay - part of the permaculture design is to grow up over a trellis in order to make the best use of the available space, and this vine is creeping up over the line of pigeon peas.  I think it must be a jap pumpkin, as that is the more common in this area, and I am sure there were plenty of jap seeds in the compost. I tried sowing some more amaranth seed, and this does look healthier than the last batch.  Funny that the last lot in t...

Please click on the yates challenge link below and make comments on my 2 blogs and vote for me.  I want to win some of the great prizes, and also I want to get the word out that growing vegetables in the tropics is challenging but also rewarding!  We get forgotten up here, and cant grow the "regular" vegetables! http://www.yates.com.au/vegie-challenge/spring-vegie-challenge/gardeners/vemvaan If you live in Australia then sign up yourself :) - time is running out..... thanks all! Update to this post - sorry - you have to be signed up to vote -

My fellow gardening blogger from Year in a  Gippsland garden blogged about accepting the yates challenge to grow some spring vegetables from seeds.  I took up the challenge and am starting some beans.  As we come into the wet season here in Far North Queensland there is a limited amount of vegetables we can grow.   Some of the problems we face are mildew and bugs, any plants that cant stand wet foliage are out, so that is the end of our tomato crops.  I sitll have a few cherry tomatoes growing, but have to continually cut off any yellowing foliage to allow lots of air to circulate.  I have chosen beans to grow and in the past have not had a lot of success with beans, so am holding thumbs.  I am planting them in between the pigeon peas that I have growing in a  line down the centre of my veggie bed.  The pigeon pea seeds were innoculated which means they add nitrogen into the soil every time they are cut back.   This bed w...