New kids on the block

Introduced to the yard this week, these young white sussex chickens:

Mid-January around the yard

It's time for a look around the yard to see what's growing.

The florence fennel plants are forming bulbs. The downside is that they are not large as I would like, and they seem to be bolting:

Fennel florence

The sweet corn plants are mature and being progressively harvested:

Sweet corn bed

Sweet corn waiting to be picked

Using the 'three sisters' method I've got a pumpkin vine and beans growing amongst the corn. Here is one pumpkin on the vine:

Pumpkin nestled amongst corn

Capsicum plants are slowing maturing and starting to flower:

Capsicum plants

Onions (planted in November) are coming along nicely:

Onion (variety Creamgold) bed

These tomato plants are growing well, one of two tomato beds:

Tomato bed

There's a decent amount of fruit on the plants but I'm still waiting for them to ripen:

Tomatoes (variety Tommy Toe) ripening

Planting lettuces in between rows of tomatoes allows for greater use of space and the tomato plants shelter the lettuces:

Lettuces between tomato rows

Cabbage moth caterpillars can be a major problem for organic gardeners during warm seasons. Some people don't bother growing brassicas at all. I'm trying netting to preclude the moths from laying eggs in the first place. I'm using wedding veil which has a fine mesh that moths can't fit through. It seems to be working well:

Cabbage under netting

This coriander has gone to flower and I've left it growing. It is quite attractive and the bees seem to love it:

Coriander flowering

Here is another pumpkin vine. This one is growing up a mesh attached to the back of the shed. It's not afraid to take over!

Pumpkin vine growing up shed

Monday Harvest – 16th Jan 2012

In this week's harvest we have the joy of the first sweet corn of the season.

Sweet corn and carrot

Here is the first one, after boiling for 6 and a half minutes. It was crunchy and fresh to eat:

Cooked sweet corn

And of course plenty more zucchini, so it is deserving of another picture:

Plenty of zucchini

Monday Harvest – 9th Jan 2012

The most exciting thing about this week's harvest is the potatoes. This basket came from two seed potatoes planted in the ground on 3 September 2011:

Kipfler potatoes

I planted a total of four seed potatoes but I've left the other half in the ground for the moment to see what happens.

Next we have a basket of various items:

Beans, zucchini, carrots, spring onions

And finally a sample of some alpine strawberries which usually get eaten directly off the plant:

Alpine strawberries

Mushroom magic

I've wanted to grow my own mushrooms for quite some time but never known how. There are mushroom growing kits for sale in nurseries but they have never appealed to me without knowing how they work, and they seem expensive. I recently went along to a mushroom growing workshop to learn more and it actually seems quite easy to grow your own.

Mushrooms can be grown in the ground or, as you will see demonstrated here, in logs.

You'll need to buy some 'dowel spawn' which is wooden dowel that has mushroom mycelium growing inside it, such as this one pictured below.
 

Dowel spawn

Acquire a hardwood log 10-15cm in diameter that has been recently cut and rested for 2-4 weeks. Freshly cut logs have anti-fungal properties that would inhibit the mushroom growing process, so the resting is important.

Log

Next drill holes about 10cm apart all over the log.

Drilled hole

Hammer the dowel into the drilled holes.

Hammering dowel into drilled hole

Seal over each plug with wax, in this case I've used paraffin wax. Also seal the ends of the logs.

Dowels sealed with paraffin wax

Leave the finished logs in a shaded location, raised off the ground.

Finished logs

Ok, so that was easy. Now the waiting part. All going well, after about 9 months the mushroom mycelium will have spread throughout the log. Then you can bring on fruiting by dunking the log in water for 12-24 hours. This can be repeated once a month per log for as long as 4 years.

I'll have an update in about 9 months.

Monday Harvest – 2nd Jan 2012

Supplies of zucchini are plentiful these days. I'm enjoying them for the moment.

Zucchini harvest

One of the zucchini plants keeps on producing fat stubby zucchinis rather than the usual long slender ones, such as on the left of the picture.

Below is a selection of other things harvested this week:

Cos lettuce (after removing outer leaves)

Spring onion

Small carrots

The carrots are a bit short and stubby. I'm wondering if this may be due to them growing in a low light situation, or it could be that I didn't prepare the soil by digging deeply.

Mint, parsley and coriander

Hail!

Well, I didn't plan for this one. A heavy downpour of hail hit on Christmas day. The aftermath is illustrated here:

Hail damaged kiwi vine

Hail damaged pumpkin vine

Hail damaged zucchini plant

Large leafed plants were the worst affected. Some tomato plant branches were ripped through too. Still, it is not a major disaster as most plants should recover.