April 2017 Blog Posts (9)

Harvest April 2017

This month I harvested:

• 1 baby pawpaw
• 3 lettuces (yesss! homegrown lettuce back on the menu, how I missed!!)
• 26g small star-bell peppers
• 2kg Jap pumpkin
• 120g Egglant
• 5 Spring onions
• Basil, parsley, chives 

This month is still a bit quiet in the garden. Have been sick (again) so been a bit slack but have put in some seeds and continued reconditioning the soil. Having a…

I haven't been able to attend recent garden visits either due to work or clashing with something else, but I still love growing edibles.  The recent rain was wonderful - currently we are picking jaboticabas, yellow strawberry guava (tiny edible pips); acerola cherry, rosellas (we love them stewed), passionfruits,  the odd dragon fruit, vatious sapotes plus some scant vegies - pumpkin; cherry tomatoes, gourds, cucumber, snake beans and kale.  It was our best pineapple year - 20.  We are…

Hi everyone,

I have been super busy in the garden, preparing everything for winter crops but it is that time when I feel not much is happening despite how much work I'm doing.   Don't get me wrong, I'm still harvesting lettuce, spring onions, capsicums, cucumbers, eggplant and now pak choi but nothing NEW is happening!  This was due to some pretty early setbacks with things like my peas, beans, carrots and beetroot failing and having to resow.  I should be eating peas by now…

Weather has finally cooled down and a bit of a break at work means I give the garden my almost full attention

Bed 1 got a facelift in time for summer, with frame and shade. Now planted with rescued cherry toms from facebook share page in the Gap, spring onions, parsley. Bed 2 has more advanced volunteer cherry toms. I planted celery, which is still alive but I don't argue with volunteer tomatoes.…

You could say that I've got the hump because of the slump! Yeah I know, I'm not making any sense as usual, but bear with me. The Slump, is that annoying thing that…

Hi everyone, for a bit of a read if your interested in worm towers Grass roots have a two page article in this months publication written by you know who.You can borrow this magazine also from most libraries.I would be happy for  all your comments  and happy to share anything you may not understand.I hope you are all enjoying the cool…

Expanding the deli here on the tiny farm.

None of you will be shocked by the fact that I like to make my own deli items. From cheese, sauces, pestos and sausages; it's all part of the deli fun. Well, I have decided to add a new item to the McDowall Manor deli. Home dry cured and smoked, nitrite-free bacon. I'll also try to whip out a smoked pork belly dinner, just to see what it's like. 

In other news, the farm flock has returned…

Hi Guys,

Well, like Roger said, it has been far too hot to do anything much in the garden so with the weather finally cooling down some, and me being on holidays, it is now time for some serious jobs to get done.

1. Repotting the strawberry runners.  Man, this is one long and tedious job.  Left it a little late as not enough air flow in the pots that I was setting runners into and they were suffering from aphids.  13 pots with 2 in each are now back on the fence line.  At the…

I made it along to BOGI on Thursday evening for once, It is an hour plus drive from downtown Park Ridge and I often don't make the effort, but I'm glad I did this time. Some of you might have seen the ABC news on Saturday where they also had a segment about the same subject - Palagonite. They showed Polo fields in Qatar, which have been treated with Palagonite and have great results getting grass to grow there.

Palagonite is a mineral mix formed by very specific volcanic activity. Mt…