With the winter growing season drawing to a close, it’s time to clear the garden beds to make space for spring planting. So out come the huge broccoli plants that have kept us so well feed over the last few months. With our two compost bins and one worm farm already full to the rim, [...]
Posts Tagged ‘winter’
Turning broccoli and weeds into compost
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged broccoli, compost, spring, weed tea, weeds, winter on September 10, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Purple sprouting broccoli
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged broccoli, winter on August 4, 2011 | 1 Comment »
This is what I love about growing heirloom vegetables: the surprise at creating something so unusual. This is one of four varieties of broccoli that we’re growing this year, all delicious so far!
This year’s approach to potatoes
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged potatoes, spring, winter on September 11, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Last year, I constructed a huge enclosure for our potatoes, built from salvaged fence palings. It didn’t really work, and I suspect it’s because it didn’t drain properly. The potatoes therefore rotted rather than grew. So, another year, another approach (or two). The main potato bed has been constructed out of chicken wire, bent around [...]
Bright red radishes
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged beetroots, carrots, daikon, heirloom, leeks, onions, potatoes, radishes, shallots, spring onions, turnips, winter on July 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
These French breakfast radishes are super cute! Baby-sized and bright red, these are ready for the picking. They are also one of Miss P’s favourites. We’ve got plenty of other root crops in the ground at the moment, some fast-growing but most taking their time: beetroots heirloom radishes (various colours) heirloom carrots (various colours) daikon [...]
Attack of the killer daikon!
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged daikon, pickling, winter on June 29, 2010 | 2 Comments »
There’s something supernatural about daikon (Japanese white radish). They grow amazingly fast, and are immensely large when pulled out of the ground. They’re quick and easy to grow, and are hard to get in Australian supermarkets. I’d have to say that the first ones we picked were an acquired taste. Miss P didn’t warm to [...]
The first savoy cabbage
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged cabbages, spring, winter on September 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
With the unpacking of boxes in our new house, the autumn planting ended up being very late. So quite a lot of things sat in the ground during winter, waiting for some warmer weather. It was therefore with considerable excitement that we harvested our first savoy cabbage on the weekend. It was huge by our [...]
Broccolini going to seed
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged broccoli, broccolini, seed saving, winter on August 24, 2009 | 2 Comments »
While we were away on holiday, the biggest of our broccolini plants bolted to seed. As you can see above, it’s quite a sight! This seemed like an ideal opportunity to practice our seed saving for the first time. Important tip: Reading up the Seed Savers Handbook, I discovered that broccoli is self-sterile. That is, [...]
A new garden bed behind the front fence
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged garden beds, pyrethrum, winter on August 24, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Yesterday I constructed a new garden bed, tucked in behind the front fence. I’m getting reasonably good at constructing these types of raised beds. Start with some lengths of 50x150mm treated pine. Saw off a few pieces to create the ends of the bed. Drill some holes into some wooden stakes, and hammer them in [...]
Last orders from our winter vege garden
Posted in Growing our own food, tagged broccoli, pak choi, snow peas, sugar snap peas, vegetables, winter on August 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We recently went away for a two week break to Western Australia. Just as we left, the weather was warming up and the garden was delivering its last harvest. Luckily we lined up our next door neighbours to harvest the garden as well as look after the cat. When we got back, they told us [...]
