All Systems Go!

Officially Autumn started 37 days ago. But, in my garden, the jury is still out. Thirty degrees yesterday and 35 forecast for Wednesday makes me believe that summer hasn't left. One look at my new Autumn seedlings and I know it for sure!  I waited and waited for summer to finish and just when I thought it had in the second week of March, I planted my new 'crops'. Forever fearful  of the heat returning (and now justifiably so), I have mulched and continued to use No Frills Fertilisers' Hydrofish and Seaweed Tonic in the garden regularly. Thankfully the poor darlings have only wilted at midday for a short time but bounced back by evening. 

Garden One - 4 weeks ago and just planted

The biggest threat has actually come from neighbourhood cats and slaters. The nocturnal activities of the cats were pretty  easy to spot - craters filled with fresh poo and the newly planted garlic bulbs, dug up and resting nearby. Small scratch marks were also visible where they'd tried to cover the evidence. I haven't had trouble with felines since my last neighbour gave me a spray bottle of water which she'd said I was quite welcome to spray at her cat any time she (the cat, not my neighbour), set foot in the vege patch. Two separate 'christenings' and she never returned. However, there is a new cat on the block nowadays, so I am constantly vigilant and desperate to give him a squirt or two. Cats seem to have good memories regarding water so it should do the trick. 

Beware the green eyed garden wrecker

If you have a cat problem and the above doesn't work, there are a few non-toxic sprays on the market. Just ask at local pet shops. When googling for advice I came on one site where a writer had suggested 53 ways of keeping them out! I have decided to mention a few leaving out the more radical or slightly questionable (I have tried none of these but will do so if spraying doesn't work on the latest marauder). I must add that one of their methods was putting garlic cloves around but it obviously didn't work in our garden as this is where kitty cat pooped last time - right in the freshly planted garlic! Anyway, here are some to try: sprinkled black pepper, aluminium foil  (I am assuming you leave small balls of it), recycled wood pulp, cedar compost, cinnamon (expensive?), citrus peels and sprays, fresh unbrewed coffee grounds ( I don't like to waste my brew of choice so don't think I'll try this one), citrus essential oils, lavender, motion sensor sprinklers (you'd have to have a serious problem to go to this expense I think!), rose bush clippings and vinegar sprayed where they roam. Oh, dogs are a great deterrent but our pooch has too stay out of this area most of the time due to his addiction to baby tomatoes and smelly manure!

I also lost two new brocolli seedlings overnight to slaters and presently they attacking the stems of Swiss chard and silverbeet. They are quite efficient killing machines.

Slaters attacking the base of stems of Swiss chard. Damage can be seen on left hand stems.

Some hastily prepared orange juice gave me 8 intact half orange skins which I placed around the garden. See below for what happened next!

Orange half scooped of pulp ready enticing slaters

A day later and a good reward for me in the 'trap' as well as amongst the mulch

So, what have I planted? In other years I have gone for anything and everything believing the rest of the family would enjoy parsnips and artichokes as much as my husband and I. Finally got it right after a few seasons and I now plant in Autumn what we really love and what I can 'keep on top off' pest wise. Broccolini and brocolli have almost a bed to themselves, shared with Marigolds which attract pests away from the veges. Hopefully the moths will lay their eggs amongst the flowers. Cayenne pepper sprinkled on the brocolli leaves is a good deterrent but the best way is to be vigilant and pick off any caterpillars as you see them. Beetroot is under-planted with leeks  and a few kale completing this bed. This year I will be making heaps of Kale chips courtesy of my friend Cathy who has promised to tutor me on the use of the borrowed dehydrator. I am calling her classes  "Dehydrating for Dummies'.

Garden One 4 weeks after planting. Gap in line of broccoli on right is where I lost one to slaters.
You can see the new one planted in its place.

The second garden contains half a bed of garlic with  some onion chives. Garlic takes up to 8 months to mature so place it where you don't need to rotate cops in a few months (don't forget when planting the separated garlic cloves...pointy end up!) The other end contains the last of the summer malabar, silverbeet, basil and a few carrots. Onion was planned but I ran out of room.

Garden Two with garlic in back half, and assortment of others in foreground.

The third garden is now free of eggplant but capsicum still grows abundantly so have planted around them with lettuce, more silverbeet, brussel sprouts and a few herbs. 

 

Garden Three with newly planted brussel sprouts on right and assortment of other vegetables and herbs.
Large capsicum is at far end and small one on foreground.

Beautiful capsicums in abundance still thriving in Garden Three.

The two small gardens contain lettuce and basil which I am still using for pesto. Once a month I manage to make 7-10 containers of the yummy green stuff. And the last garden contains masses of mint and potted herbs as well as a compost bin.

A mass of pesto ready to divide and freeze.

Basil Garden

Lettuce Garden

What I call the 'Last Garden'

Two big mistakes this year - I put in beans and forget to protect them with crushed eggshells around the bases. By morning the damage had been done and it was slaters - 4 / me - nil. Overnight they had stripped the out skin off the bush bean trunks and although the beans continued to grow and start to produce beans, they were also slowly dying and I eventually pulled them out as nothing could be done. My mourning is still continuing and I think I will wait a few weeks before planting more. 

The other error was that my desire for vegetables was too big for the space and I had too drastically reduce the number of seedlings I had intended buying.  Once we get 'that' acreage, I'll be fine!

So, apart from periodic replanting of lettuce, some fertilising, daily checking for pests, water and a little conversation, all I need to do now is wait. Winter gardens and a little sun are the perfect companions for a good book, cup of tea or a warm red. I just wish the heat would disappear so I could practise what a I preach! 

I sit in my garden, gazing upon a beauty that cannot gaze upon itself.  And I find sufficient purpose for my day.  
~Robert Brault