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

The Waiting Game

The waiting is almost over with the long hot summer every now and then giving us a glimpse of cooler days. I'm full of anticipation and have been busy planning the autumn/winter garden. I even have a jacket ready, should the 5:30 start with the dog prove to be a tad cold. But for now, I need to wait just a little longer.

There is nothing quite like the joy of arriving at the garden centre, all primed to buy for the new season, consulting the list, seeking out the most handsome and sturdy of plants, indulging in impulse buying of other seedlings because like clothing, they looked pretty at the time, smiling as I pay a small fortune for them, all the while reminding myself that we will save  money on grocery bills and they will taste so much earthier and nicer than store bought ones. Into the car they go, snug together like jigsaw pieces  so they don't become damaged goods before even having a chance to procreate. Finally the seedling trays will be all lined up waiting to be........oh, that's right, realisation hits! I actually have to manually plant each and every one and that anticipated 1/2 hour it takes to get the new crop in, turns into more like 4 or 5 hours. The gin and tonic that was the 'carrot on the stick' , seemingly moves further away as I start to curse the earlier enthusiasm and question why this all had to happen in one day!

Thankfully for me, the above scenario is now a thing of the past as I have realised that a little at a time is the way to go when planting.  I have waited and waited for the hot weather to bid farewell, so much so that the garden is looking rather bare as the last of the summer vegetables move into their twilight weeks and days. Last year, I couldn't wait to fill the garden up again and made the mistake of not allowing it to rest, recuperate and replenish. So this year, I have been patient. The beds have lain almost empty for some weeks now (month old crops of malabar stand centrally in two beds)  and I've spent my time clearing them of old root systems (love the big pitchfork I bought), and given them a much needed boost of compost. My home compost pile is not ready yet so I bought an old favourite, Piggypost, from Dsatco and turned it over, letting the sun and worms do the rest.

Malabar transplanted last month after it self seeded in the 'wrong spot'.

Meanwhile we still eat from the plants continuing to produce, such as eggplant (aubergine), malabar (climbing spinach), capsicum (peppers) and cucumber.

Newly planted lettuce resides in one of the two smaller beds which receives the least sun at this time of year.I removed our last lot of lettuce over  6 weeks ago when the heat here in Perth became just too much (record 20 days straight over 37 degrees celcius is not fun for anything). We are now eating beautiful baby lettuce leaves barely 2 weeks from when I planted it. Now that is quick! Our Cape Gooseberry, courtesy of friends John and Margaret, has adjusted well, doubling in size in the month it has been with us and this morning I spied a gooseberry forming!

One of our newest plants - a Cape Gooseberry

I picked another basket of basil yesterday and now have 18 containers of pesto in the freezer. I'm looking forward to using it on toast, in pasta, baked onto chicken and numerous other ways. Such an easy plant to grow in warm weather and so versatile.

Yesterday was spent putting in the first of the Fordhook silverbeet and leeks (although I now realise the heat is back again with a vengeance and I might have 'jumped the gun'). However, the rock dust is helping the roots settle in, they were planted in the cooler evening and soon will be heavily mulched. So, what else is going in? The list isn't huge as we have made a few mistakes in the past, planting vegetables that are either impractical for the size of our garden or just not enjoyed as much.  The main three gardens will contain  runner and bush beans, lettuce, spinach, broad beans, garlic (using bulbs from last year's crop), carrots, onion, malabar (which is still growing from summer), broccoli, broccolini, kale and beetroot. The two smaller gardens will continue to have the basil and lettuce as well as some extra chard. The rest of the front garden area will stay as is with pots supplying various herbs (marjoram, sage, mint, coriander, parsley, thyme, tarragon, oregano, chives, rosemary), flowering plants to assist pollination, blueberries, gooseberries, chillies, curry and bay leaves.

Not a fan of chillies, I grow these for
one daughter who uses them on everything

Walking home from the dog park early yesterday, I spied these beautiful blossoms with a bee busily collecting nectar. This tree only seems to have the blossoms for a few weeks a year but when it decides to flower, it really is beautiful and I constantly want to take photos of it.

 A little further on is a bee hive in the hole in the trunk of another street tree and I am reminded of our friends who have their own amazing bee hive, chooks and vege garden. We came home from their place on the weekend with half a watermelon and a papaya and some weeks ago, their own honey flavoured by a dozen fruit and native trees on their suburban block. Time for a guest spot on here I think! With the bee population in the world declining, perhaps a lesson on beekeeping is in order. For us unforunately, the hive will have to wait until we have our very own Winnie the Pooh style 'Hundred Acre Wood'. Which reminds me, I must go buy my Lotto ticket!

'It is good to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought.'   

~ James Douglas, Down Shoe Lane

Breadcrumbed Zucchini

The inspiration for this recipe came from Donna Hay's 'Instant Entertaining'. You can use my amounts as a guide but most times I just use whatever I happen to have. I also throw in slices of squash and am thinking of using pumpkin as well!

Breadcrumbed Zucchini

1 large zucchini sliced lengthways (0.5cm to 1cm thick) or small ones sliced in half lengthways

1-1.5 cups of bread pieces from the inside of a loaf, roughly broken

80-100 grams parmesan cheese

1-2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

2-4 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Step One

Place sliced zucchini in a single layer in a baking dish (mine is non stick so no lining of oil or paper was used)

Step Two

Cover with thinly sliced parmesan cheese 

Step Three

Mix bread pieces, parsley and salt and pepper together and scatter over the cheese

Step Four

Drizzle with olive oil

Step Five

Bake in a moderate oven (180 Celsius) for 30 minutes or browned on top. Serve hot.

Zucchini Slice Recipe

 I am picking a zucchini almost daily so in order to keep my family interested in eating them, I need to come up with tasty recipes. This latest one is a combination of many on the internet and I have just about got it the way I like it!

Zucchini Slice

400g zucchini

1 brown onion

100-150g bacon

2 tablespoons butter

90g grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup self raising flour (I use gluten free)

5 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

Makes one 20x20cm dish. Serves 4-6

NB. My pictures show the recipe doubled due to an excess amount of zucchinis in the garden!

Step One

Peel and chop onion and place in a pan with the butter. Fry for a few minutes until translucent and then add chopped bacon and cook for another two minutes.

Step Two

Spread onto a plate to cool and place in the refrigerator.

Grate the unpeeled zucchini.

Step Three

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs. In this recipe I have doubled the whole mixture although I was one egg short. Having larger than usual eggs, it made no difference.

Step Four

Add eggs to the zucchini mixture (you may like to squeeze a little of the excess moisture from it first) and then stir in the flour.

Step Five

Now add the eggs, cheese (reserve a little for the topping) and bacon/onion mix as well as salt and pepper. 

Step Six

Place in a lined dish and pop in the oven for roughly 30 minutes on 180 Celsius. I use fan forced. My double mixture took two dishes, each about 20cm x 20cm.

Perfecto!

Z is for Zucchini

When people say they are coming round to look at my garden, at this time of year they often hear me say, 'Oh, wait till it is cooler, there is not much in right now'. Although we eat freshly picked produce 6 days out of 7, I feel it all looks a bit barren. This year the summer has been particularly hot and the plants have suffered. Two years ago, I grew lettuce all summer long. I pulled this years cop out 6 weeks ago. I've tried umbrellas but coming home from an outing and seeing them speared in the garden next door, doesn't suggest it is a good idea at a time when the Easterlies can be pretty strong.

So, I've stuck with those that I know can survive - not exactly drought proof plants, but as near to cacti without the thorns -basil, malabar (climbing spinach), eggplant, peppers (sweet banana, green and chillies), tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, squash, herbs and flowers (I have multiples of each). And then there are the gaps where I have left the soil to recover before planting the autumn/winter vegetables once the other summer crops are finished. No pretty rows of perky veges lined up, just an assortment of stayers in various stages of development, like barflies before 'time' is called in a bar.

View from ground level bed across all three large raised beds

Ground level bed mainly containing pots.

Beds two and three.

One of two smaller beds against front wall of house.

Which takes me to that  hardy stayer that is known as a courgette or zucchini. These prickly stemmed plants produce quickly and prolifically  (the more you pick, the more that grow). Back in my uni days, I thought I knew every way of cooking them...you either steamed, fried or bread-crumbed and fried! Today I have masses of recipes and it has become a staple in our diet.  Easy to grow, it really only seems to have two problems, one being mould which I dealt with in Know Your Enemy and misshapen fruit or fruit that completely fails to grow at all. This season has seen about 30% of my missiles fail to launch. Initially I thought it was due to lack of water but on further reading I discovered another cause is a lack of pollinators.

Apparently there is a shortage of bees world wide, thought to be due to insecticides, a decline in flowering plants, air pollution and a spread of pests worldwide. Without bees and other insects to  pollinate the female flowers using the pollen from the males, the plant decides that the fruit is not viable and the result is misshapen or small fruit (thank you Sarah for being brave enough to keep bees, just sorry your suburb is a little too far from our garden)!

Female flowers now closed and fruit growing well.
Male stems can be seen with flowers closed.

Examples of underdeveloped zucchini

The plants need to be pollinated by multiple insects and the more that visit, the better the shape of the fruit. However, each flower is open for only one day, typically in the early morning (I even have photographic evidence to prove it!). So if the insects don't get their act together, the window of opportunity is literally closed.

I have had my fair share of odd looking fruit but luckily in the last two weeks, a bee hive has set up one street away in a hollow tree branch and I'd like to believe they are the cause of my new, perfectly shaped zucchinis.

Bee pollinating a female flower
- male flowers are in the background unopened

However, if you are suffering from dead fruits a couple of inches long, try to pollinate them yourself using a cotton bud. Having assisted in the mating of a stallion and mare back in my teenage years,  this process is a helluva lot easier and pleasanter to perform!

So, how to do it? Wait till the sun is shining and the flowers are open. Use a cotton bud to transfer pollen from the male flowers (they have the long skinny stem) to the females (short stubby stems). Or, pick off a male flower, remove the petals and then dab the centre onto the female stigma.

Finally, almost all you need to know about growing zucchini can be found on the Internet and in the smorgasboard of magazine offerings available but remember to read the 'fine print' such as :

1. Zucchini leaf stems contain zillions of fine hairlike translucent prickles so wear gloves when handling
2. The larger the fruit, the less flavour so winning the local prize for a supernaturally sized fruit doesn't mean it has a taste to match
3. Healthy coloured but misshapen fruit usually taste as good as the 'handsome' ones
4. Cut ripe fruit from the vine rather than breaking them off
5. Always water at ground level as damp leaves can cause powdery mildew (see Know Your Enemy post).

In the following weeks I will be sharing the following zucchini recipe ideas: Breadcrumbed Zucchini, Zucchini Slice and Zucchini Spaghetti.

Don't wear perfume in the garden - unless you want to be pollinated by bees. 

~Anne Raver

Know Your Enemies...And How To Defeat Them

Is anybody getting those huge grasshoppers that look like locusts in their garden? I thought the worst I would have to deal with as far as 'freeloaders' amongst the veges were cabbage moths or a few snails. Big rethink! These 6 legged interlopers are not only well camouflaged but they eat like there is no tomorrow. Even if I do happen to snare one (a towel over the offender is the best way), I then have to dispose of it. Being practically the size of a small chihauhau, I find it hard to kill them. I invariably set them free in the park opposite our place (apologies in retrospect  to my neighbours), trying to put out of my mind the fact that it is probably a 100 percent  likelihood that they will return before I am safely inside my front boundary (the park kookaburras seem uninterested in them unfortunately). Enter the giant slayer, aka husband. Thankfully he has been home more often than not when one appears and has disposed of them quickly and humanely.

Nobody said that staying organic was easy, but I have to admit, there are times when the dark side has nearly claimed my soul and I have been seriously tempted to resort to deadly weapons to keep the enemy from my ‘crop’. However, so far, we have managed without the need for pesticides and losing less than 5 percent of a crop is collateral damage I would think.

Over the past four years I have learnt through the kindness of friends and the Internet, some natural ways to deal with the enemy lurking within the greenery. I have listed these under two main headings of What To Do About…. and Companion Planting.

What To Do About…

Slaters

Lovers of dampness, dark places and juicy seedlings, these have been known to attack almost anything but have only really become a huge problem in the last year. Like the influx of sharks in our West Aussie waters, I am still trying to work out why their population has tripled and they suddenly think my garden is a Michelin 5 Star restaurant. I have tried pouring beer into cans at soil level (they love the stuff and end up drowning in there). However, my husband's beer supply was quickly running out as I needed to replenish the 'bait' due to the repugnant smell of day-old beer and dead slaters. Plan B involved oranges and came from a post somewhere on the Internet. No need for Plan C as B works! Here’s what to do:

Hollow out oranges. Place upside down in garden. Wait 24 hours and turn over to find a collection of slaters. Remove and repeat until very few are collected.

Snails
They simply adore my new seedlings, especially lettuce, silverbeet and cucumber, so I surround the new plants with crushed eggshells. They cannot move across the shells due to the sharp edges. Sawdust works as well and this weekend I am going to spread dried seaweed and see if that is an alternative when we are sick of eggs! Coffee grounds spread around lettuce are also good as the smell offends the snails.

Aphids
1 teaspoon of eco friendly detergent, 1 litre of water and 100ml vegetable oil mixed together and sprayed does the job. It is meant to  work on contact, so spray wherever you see the aphids (thanks to Vasili – Good Organic Gardening magazine Vol 3 No 1).

Cats
There is nothing worse than a dug up lettuce with fresh cat poo on it. I'm now trying out tea leaves emptied into the garden beds as the news is that they don’t like it!

Moths, Caterpillars, Leaf Miner and Grasshoppers 

• Neem Oil (10ml to 1L) sprayed in the evening when it's cooler. Just give the veges a rinse before eating. I have forgotten a few times and the veges just have a slightly bitter taste to them. I repeat every 7-10 days if there are problems.
•   A little cayenne pepper sprinkled on broccoli leaves deters caterpillars  but if they are deep in the broccoli head, once picked and soaked in water, they usually release quickly.
• Another way is to use Dipel which is biologically friendly and safe on edibles. It is mixed with water and sprayed on the leaves and is ingested by the catterpillars. It takes about 3 days to kill them so be patient. Needs to be applied again after a few days if more are seen as it breaks down in the sunlight within days.
•  Handpicking is my favourite way to while away my coffee drinking time! I make sure I give a little shake to broccoli and brocollini plants in the morning as it often dislodges caterpillars and they are then easy to see on the soil/mulch.
• Strips of white plastic cut from shopping bags tied to posts work well as they blow in the wind and confuse the moths into thinking there are already enough moths (and much bigger than them) on the plants

Powdery Mildew
This is a real problem when there is high humidity and the plants are damp at night, with undernourished or heat stressed plants being more affected. Try to  water early morning at ground level (so as to keep water off the leaves of  tomatoes and curcurbites such as zucchini, pumpkin, squash, cucumbers). When treating, I first remove the affected leaves and toss them out (not on the compost heap) and then spray with either of two mixtures in the early morning or evening, making sure to do the underside as well as the topside of the foliage. I use  cooled chamomile tea (leave the teabag in for 10-15 minutes before allowing to cool) or a mixture of 10% full cream  milk and 90% water. Adequate airflow between plants is also important in preventing powdery mildew.

Powdery Mildew

Companion Planting

Companion planting increases biodiversity in the garden and hopefully brings some balance between ‘goodies and baddies’. Companion plants work in a few different ways.

• they attract beneficial insects like bees and ladybirds
• they repel insects due to their taste or strong scent
• they mask the scent of some plants due to their own stronger smell

Below are some of the plant combinations I use.

Marigold
This deters beetles and if planted near broccoli, the moths will sometimes lay their eggs on them rather than the broccoli heads. Mexican Marigold is said to be the most powerful. French Marigolds release chemicals from their roots that deter nematodes (some species are plant parasites). Check out this article about nematodes.

Dwarf Marigolds

Basil
Plant basil with tomatoes because they not only improve the flavour but are said to repel thrips, flies and mosquitoes

Lavender
Lavender attracts bees and other beneficial insects as well as smelling nice!

Coriander
This herb repels aphids and spider mites but make sure you keep it in a spot where it doesn’t receive the full force of the sun as I find mine bolts quickly and doesn’t get to stay and do the job! Also, slugs and snails are rather partial to it so protect the plants with coffee grounds or crushed eggshells.

Chives
Chives will keep the aphids away and are so handy to add to salads.

Mint
Mint deters white cabbage moths and a variety of nasties such as ants and aphids. The roots are very invasive though, so plant in pots. Mint also attracts predatory wasps and bees, which are great for the pollination of zucchinis, cucumbers etc. Mint cuttings,spread like mulch around brassicas, work well too.

Oregano
Plant oregano near broccoli, cabbages and cauliflower, repels cabbage butterflies, although I still get a few and have to hand pick them off. It also makes a lovely ground cover.

Garlic, Shallots, Onion and Chives
These are great in the tomato patch as they give off a powerful smell disliked by many pests.

Rosemary
Rosemary repels flies and fleas and is also super when planted amongst broccoli and cabbage as it deters white caterpillars.

Nasturtiums
These creeping flowers contain mustard oil and trick the nasties into believing they are part of the brassica family, leaving the other veges alone.

A collection of rosemary, curry plant, chilli, salvia, oregano, mint, vincas, tarragon, parsley and basil in my low-ground garden

Some other useful thoughts/ideas...

•  I grow cucumbers and squash up trellises and over logs as it is easier to keep the slaters and bugs from the fruits
• A bird bath made of any kind attracts birds who in turn prey on insects and caterpillars
• Plants that are strong and healthy tend to have strong immune systems and don’t attract as many pests as weaker plants. So look after your plant health by mulching, watering regularly, fertilising with natural products such as cow poo, fish emulsion, liquid seaweed etc. However, root crops I read, do not like liquid fetilisers! This may explain a few failures I have had in the past where I’ve had great foliage but not a lot happening underground!
• Don’t plant too early or too late in the season as this will inhibit a plant’s growth and tolerance to weather and pests.
• Lizards and frogs are great at keeping pests to a minimum – allow them to coexist and provide them with shelter such as mallee roots and stones
• Crop rotation is so important in keeping soil bacteria and diseases from plants, as growing a crop in the same place the following year or even two years later, can provide the perfect conditions for pests and diseases to build up. Read all you can about it and companion planting as some plants will suffer greatly if planted with others while some will thrive. Rotating crops not only allows a balance of nutrients in the soil rather than one crop depleting what is there and adding too much of another.
• Vigilance is the key in maintaining a healthy garden and I know that so much happens if I miss inspecting for a few days (easy to do in winter when plants don’t need as much attention waterwise).
• Read, read, read all you can - there are so many amazing gardeners out there with a wealth of knowledge.

The end of spring

On every stem, on every leaf,... and at the root of everything that grew, was a professional specialist in the shape of grub, caterpillar, aphis, or other expert, whose business it was to devour that particular part. 

~Oliver Wendell Holmes