Spring time fun & Jobbies.....

Had a great weekend in the yard doing some jobbies, socialising with ADULTS & playing with a family heirloom that has been "lent" to me...

BBQ, Good Friends & Spuds...
   My farther has passed on custodianship of the family BBQ to us...  He built this BBQ for APEX outings before I was born (40 or a few less years ago) & it is still going strong with a few minor alterations like the tin side panels being replaced with Stainless steel & some Aluminium covers to keep the plate clean when stored & not in use... It had been out of service for the past 10 or so years as family gatherings had migrated to other relatives places so it needed a bit of TLC... The plate needed a bit of a touch to remove a bit of rust build up as well as replacing the regulator & lines just to be on the safe side... Not as flash as a newer model but we know it will last another 40 or so years if looked after.. I like that we can remove the burners & use them to boil the presure cooker (when we get one) for canning our produce in the near future...

    We got to use it for the first time on Saturday when we had friends visit for a bit of socialising...
   Was a great day & got a bit of help in the yard... We needed to harvest the 4 potato bags from around the side of the house as the stalks were all dying back so the young kids all got a go at digging through the soil to see what they could find... Wasn't the best yield but we are still learning with spuds... I think the mix we used was to free draining & it was a struggle to keep the water up to them...
    Also got a bit of a hand with the framework to finish off the AP site... Can set the fish tank & other grow beds up now... Thanks Guys & Girl's...
 

Fertilisers...
   We bought a couple of bags of fertiliser last week from Safe Fertilisers as we are starting to run low on the rock dust & have a few beds/barrels that need to be revitalised before they are plated out.. The last batch we got was an all rock dust blend but decided to try a "BFA Certified"  "Enviro Blend" this time..
CBM
Chicken manure, blood & bone, and minerals. This 100% organic blend provides the full
spectrum of macro and micro elements.
N 2%,  P 2%, K 0.4%, S 2000ppm, Ca 8%, Mg 2%,  Fe 1.4ppm, Mn 370ppm,  B250ppm,  
Cu 55ppm, Zn 120ppm, Co 10ppm, Mo 40ppm, Se 3ppm, C 20%, Si 5%
Not the most pleasant smelling blend but should help kick things on a bit... Will still be using the horse manure & worm castings as added organic matter to the beds/barrels, this is just to help add a few nutrients that were used up in the last crop or just not there...
The main crop of Beetroot is not preforming as well as the others planted out at the same time & it was suggested to us that it could be a boron deficiency so they will get a nice top dress of fertiliser too...

Harvesting & Planting out...
Have been picking a fair of  Kohlrabi, Carrots, Spring Onion & Mangle to turn into coleslaw lately & it has become a bit of a favourite... 4 bas of potatoes were also harvested (see picture above) as well as the garlic that is in the clip below... The stems went a bit soft on some & others had already dried out but were missed amongst the Onions so we though it best to harvest the lot..
The Silverbeet/Chard & other leafy greens are still being used to supplement the chooks diet.. They now look forward to their morning/evening treats & come running as soon as they see us in the patch...
    Below is a list of what was planted out last night to take advantage of the full moon...
Carrots, a  mix of Nantes (Johnsons seeds- organic) & Dragon (Eden seeds) x 2 rows in Bed #1
Carrots, Mini Round (Diggers seed) x 2 rows in Bed #1
Carrots, Heirloom mixed (Diggers seed ??) x 2 rows in Bed #1
Tomato, Broad Ripple Yellow currant (Diggers ??) in Lime Tree bed...
Tomato, Wapsipinicon Peach (Diggers ??) in Lime Tree bed...
All but the Nantes & Dragon Carrots were from the gift we received from from our You Tube gardener friend Watsamadoing last week... Thanks again :D»

Garden walk through Clip...
Bit of what was said above & other natterings...

Weather...
It will start to heat up here a bit by the weekend we are told, hitting about 29°C by Friday, so we are thinking about putting up some of the shade structure to try & stop some of the Broccoli from premature bolting... Will be trying to incorporate the mesh we got to try & keep the White Cabbage Moth/Butterflies from getting to the Brassicas & depositing their eggs...




Have a great one all...
: )»

Compost Teas & Seeds....

 Compost Tea...
Finely started up a batch of Compost tea on Friday using a small aquarium pump with an air stone, stockings, compost, worm castings, molasses & some cracker dust...

It was left overnight to brew after a few adjustments but hasn't turned out like other batches I have seen on You Tube so left it brew until early Sunday evening... I have been "massaging" the bags 2 or 3 times a day to help release the goodies further into the brew...

I did a few batches of soak & pour method of compost tea, where compost was mixed in a container & left for 24 hours then applied to plants, but really didn't notice a difference between the control plants & the ones that were fed with the tea after a week... I am still going to leave some as a control & see what they look like after a week... Have also thought about adding some seaweed solution to the brew but as it is an after though I may leave it to the next batch... Don't want to over do it too much...

Seedlings & other Plantings...
The seedlings in the trays have been a bit of a mixed bag as far as germination goes... The Udumalapet Eggplants we really wanted haven't germinated so have planted another batch of 16 seedlings in 2 trays... The Perennial Capsicum seed hasn't shot at all either so we might try some seed that Koo has been saving... The Purple Basil B☼ planted has germinated & we have Onions, Beans, Silverbeet & Kohl Rabi popping up everywhere....
** Does big HAPPY DANCE **
Seed Tape...
Moo & I have made up some seed tape with some Carrot, Onion & Lettuce seeds just to make the spacing of the seeds in the beds a lot easier...

Sunday Morning saw Koo & myself go to the Ipswich markets where we picked up another bulb of Elephant Garlic, Purple skinned Sweet Potato & a Pineapple... The Garlic will be planted this week with the other purple Seed Garlic we bought... Not to certain where the Sweet Potato is going yet but shall find somewhere & the Pineapple will go into another pot for now...





Sunday Walk...

 We went for a walk at a local "recreation Reserve" where we came across debris left over from the January floods that took so many lives & destroyed many others homes & livelihoods... The photos show some of the larger pieces we found... There was an astounding amount of plastic bottles, bits of foam, plant pots, water & fuel drums...We did come across a large blue drum cut in half length ways so collected that to use as a planter as well as some rubbish just to help clean up the place a bit... Will be a long time before places like this recover...

 Shall post a walk through update Video tomorrow... Ran out of light tonight...

Have a great one all....

: )»

Seeds & Vlogs...

Seeds...

To the left is what is left of the collection after any seed dated to expire before June last year was taken out... They won't be wasted, just donated to people with larger gardens than us that can afford a dud seed or 2... Over the past 12 months we have been purchased from a large chain Hardware outlet on & off rather than placing orders for 1 or 2 packs of seed... We will not be doing that any longer as a lot of what's available from there comes imported from the UK, which shocked us, or is from a formerly Kiwi then Aussie owned company that has been gobbled up by Monsanto but that's another story not for here...I will admit to buying a few punnets of seedlings through there as we needed to get a jump on the plantings & unfortunately, the local nurseries were found to be lacking with the quality of their seedlings...

Seed Orders...

3 orders of seeds arrived yesterday !!!!!  **Does Happy Dance**

I ordered from our old favourite, Eden Seeds, another trusted Queensland Supplier, Green Harvest & from a store on eBay, Boondie Seeds... This is the first time I have purchased from Boondie Seeds so shall see how they go...

Eden Seeds...

 From these guys we got,

Capsicum, Perennial

Onion, Lockyer Early White

Pea, Sugarsnap climbing

Beetroot, Early Wonder

Cabbage, Sugarloaf

Kale, Dwarf Green

Broccoli, Albert

Kohl Rabi, Purple Vienna

We have been using these guys fairly exclusively for the past few years as they have a great selection "old Australian varieties and organically or bio-dynamically grown where possible" seed varieties...

Green Harvest...

From Green Harvest we purchased,

2 x 48 cell seeding trays

Bean, climbing Madagascar

Onion, Lockyer Gold

Onion, Mini Purplette

Pumpkin, Kent/Jap

Sunflower, Sunbird

I bought from these guys at a Permaculture fair some years back & found the seeds to be great... The Turmeric & Galangal sets we are growing come from these guys & have never had a problem... We will be keeping an eye on their website for when their Strawberries & Asparagus sets are available... These guys have heaps of good books & other gardening bits & pieces available for sale... The Madagascar Bean is an old favourite here as it has a great nutty flavour & goes well tossed into salads raw... Unfortunately, the seed we saved years ago was too old when we planted it & did nothing but grow single runners that produced no flowers... It has a suggested sowing time of Spring for us here in "sunny" Subtropical Queensland so we will need to wait a few months before sowing...

Boondie Seeds...

Silverbeet, Bright Lights

Cauliflower, Purple Sicilian

Carrot, Purple Dragon

Mangelwurzel

I came across this eBay store when I was searching for Mangelwurzel... I have wanted to try this plant after seeing it on the Gardening Australia Website ...It is an old variety of veggie that will provide a leaf crop for us & the Chooks as well as a root that we will be able to utilise in stir fries & stews...

A few other stores that I have only browsed through after recommendations are Cornucopia Seeds & Diggers Garden club... I haven't used either of these suppliers but have heard good things about both so thought I would mention them to be fair...

Saved Seed/bulbs...

We bought 4 bulbs of garlic grown by a local market gardener before New years & have had them hiding up the back of a cupboard until planting time in mid April...

Oh !!!!

& I must mention this up & coming seed supplier.... (Teee he he he he he)  

Koo (Dear Daughter #2) has been saving Bush been seed from plants in the patch & have been asked to show her effort... She has named them "Nira Beans".... : )»

 They are Brown Beauty Bush Beans we purchased as seedlings last    August...The last of them were pulled at the end of  February... Hope fully they will produce something for Koo..

The first is what we think is a cross between the Orange Mild Chilli & a yellow Banana Pepper... It has the shape of the Banana Pepper but the heat & flavour of the Orange Chillies... The plant is still growing & producing but I thought I would grab some seed to see if they grow true to type later this year...

Other saved seed include,

Shallots

Basil, Sacred

Basil, Sweet 

Bean, Blue Lake climbing

Silverbeet/Chard, Red stemmed

An unknown variety of Flat seeded Bush bean

Snowpea, Roi De Carouby

Pumpkin, Kent/Jap..(We have the seed but all 4 plants from it that have grown in the back yard from last years seed have not been holding onto fruit after fertilisation so I bought the seeds listed above...) 

Tomato, Yellow pear

Tomato, Cherry

The seed tin will get a good clean out today so we will be ready for tomorrows seeding frenzy... Anything 2010 or previous will be tossed unless we can't source that variety any more...

Vlogs...

I have started to look through You Tube for helpful information on gardening from everyday people who are out there getting their hands covered in dirt... I was searching for information on Composting & came across a channel put out by a Happy Chappy called Ray (Praxxus) in Minnesota, U.S.A... Although our growing regions are quite different he has a straight forward approach to gardening that I like... I have learnt a few things about propagation & Feral Turkey wrangling (teee he he he he) that I have missed looking through dozen of sites while gleaning for helpful tips...

He also Has some great Recipes which I shall be trying out once I am done with "Asian" March...

 I have been working through his videos from start to finish & am really enjoying them... Am up to July 2010 at the moment...

I will be adding links to other helpful Channels/sites as I come across them... 

That's about it for now...

Have a great one all...

: )»