February 2017.

The corn is as high as an elephants eye, and the other plants are in hot pursuit.  These photos were taken in the evening today when the light didn't dominate.

The Sweet Basil is looking good, but the Tomatoes are almost finished, and I have new plants to replace them all.

The Californian Wonder are growing well and are just starting to ripen.

The peaches are all in bottles, apart from the ones I managed to salvage at their peek for Lil and I to eat fresh.  The tree has been pruned back to 50% of current years growth, and I can now put it on the back burner until mid winter.

My olives on the other hand are approaching harvest, and I am wondering how many to to take green and how many to leave until ripe.

The runner beans are using a lot of water, and I will be happy when the cooler weather slows the process a little.

Its the first time I've grown Crystal Apple Cucumbers, and they are growing well.

This sorry looking cabbage has been attacked by cabbage white butterfly and then by greenfly.  I caught the cabbage white early with Dipel, but was a bit slow cleaning up the greenfly.  They have now been sprayed with Eco oil, and the cabbage will recover.

A new variety for me Golden Nugget Pumpkin has luxuriant foliage for only a small crop of pumpkins (so far) I will need to be patient to see how they develop.

My beans are now in production and we are starting to harvest a few for dinner, but it may be a week or so before we start to store them.

Not too impressive at this time of year, but the propagators are still bringing seedlings along even in late summer.

January 2017 (2)

The climbing beans in this photo were planted in stages.  The ones at the back were put into the ground about a month before the others so they could established themselves before being shaded from the sun.   This strategy also extends the harvest by a few weeks.

This Ecobed has a water tank capacity of about 250 litres, and when the plants are fully mature, transpiration and growth will use about 50 litres a day.  Fortunately none of my other 3 beds are growing plants as thirsty as this or I could exhaust my supply of rainwater.

January 2017

These 2 containers have wall panel infills of HD shadecloth.  I am using them to accumulate organic waste for the thermal composter.  The brown one is filled with dry carbon rich waste, and the sandy beige one is filled with greener waste with a higher nitrogen content.    They are ventilated so the waste dries out and doesn't start to rot down prematurely.

They both have a capacity of about 220 litres and when they are full, the waste can be transferred into my 440 litre composter to start a new batch of thermal compost. The containers are bottomless so to empty them, you simply lift them off the material and collect it from the ground.  In the unlikely event of material refusing to come out of the container, you can easily access it by removing the front panel (unscrewing 6 Tek screws).

The retired propagator on the right is being used to store sieved compost, which I use in my Ecobeds, Ecobins, EcoPropagators and lawn.  The gadget on top is designed to take some of the effort out of sieving.  The twist and shake method I currently use is becoming a bit strenuous for me in my declining years.

To make this work, the sieve pivots at the back of the unit supported by the back wall. By raising and lowering the front of the sieve, the material is made to move backwards and forwards over the wire netting in the bottom of the sieve.  When the fines have all fallen into the box, the coarse residue is removed by hand after a reasonable amount has accumulated.

A full thermal composter (capacity about 440 litres) will produce about 300 litres of finished compost.  200 litres of this is sieved to produce about 180 litres of sieved compost and about 20 litres of coarse material to be recycled into the brown waste bin.  The remaining 100 litres of compost which is not sieved is used on my drip line irrigated garden beds.  It all works quite nicely.

December 2016 (2)

I have been out in the garden harvesting early potatoes today from one of my Ecobeds.  These Nicola spuds were taken from the second 1500mm long row to be lifted.  The first row lasted us about 6 weeks in the kitchen and sharing a few with family and friends.  If all seven rows are equally productive we will have harvested about 40 kilograms by the time the foliage dies back in February.  I'm quite happy with that.

Here's the space in which row 2 was grown.  I'm just about to remove the old mulch, level the soil and add 60 mm of sieved compost covered with 40mm of fresh organic sugar cane mulch.

A new crop was planted in this space without delay.  There are now 9 sweetcorn plants and a single bush cucumber planted in the bed in their jiffy pots.  After watering in with dilute seaweed extract, they were protected from digging birds with a wire mesh tunnel.

This process of minimising delay between harvesting a crop and planting the next one (less than an hour today) works well with brassicas and legumes, but potato harvesting disturbs the soil and leaves no previous crop's roots (with their communities of symbiotic microbes) in place.  Reestablishment of mutualistic relationships between the new crops roots and beneficial soil microbes may take longer as a consequence.  However, today's freshly planted seedlings were carrying established colonies of beneficial soil microbes in their jiffy pot's soil, so hopefully, they will grow relatively unchecked in their new location. 

Compost sieve - rotary

December 2016.

Its the first week of December, and its summer at last.  So far the weather has been mild in Melbourne, and the garden is thriving.  In this Ecobed, I have been planting Blue Lake climbing beans.  Breaking with tradition, these beans were propagated in "jiffy pots" in an EcoPropagator, before being transplanted (pot included) into the bed.  I couldn't be more pleased with the results with 100 % germination, rapid unchecked growth and less delay between crops than with direct sowing.

This bed has taken a step closer to permaculture methods with a good mix of varieties being grown together.  For those interested, I have Silver beet, Oregano, Sage, Marigold, Butternut Pumpkin, Onions, Nasturtium, Beetroot, Lettuce, Thyme, Cabbage, Dill, Cucumber, Sweet Basil and Borage all apparently growing happily together.

My small Ecobeds are growing tomatoes this year and so far so good.  These "Tommy Toe"cherry tomatoes are very promising.  Regular buzz pollination is necessary to ensure reliable fruit set with tomatoes (and capsicum), but in mainland Australia where most pollinators do not use the buzz pollination technique, you need to use an electric toothbrush to ensure a healthy crop.

Hand pollination will be necessary here too with my butternut pumpkins.  Transferring pollen from the male to female flowers helps ensure good fruit set.  Because of my limited space, I am growing my vines up a stake, and removing all side shoots to keep the plants compact.  When they reach the top of the stake, I will remove the leaders.

This is how pollination should be done.  Borage is a bee magnet, and is covered with them on warm sunny days like today.

November 2016.

October 2016 (2)

I'm seriously beginning to question the need for the traditional rotation of crops in a vegetable garden.  As I see it, if the soil's microbe population is healthy, the plants grown in it will be healthy.  

When you sow seed or plant seedlings, the plant's roots will go looking for soluble nutrients in the soil, and it will find them in good organic soil.  Once the plant is established, however, the main game is plant interaction with microbes to extract nutrients from the soils parent rock.  At this stage the plant no longer depends on the surrounding soil's soluble nutrients, and will flourish even if there are serious shortages. If you plant them in jiffy pots raised in compost in an Eco propagator, they will not need the initial supply of soluble nutrients and will start the symbiotic process immediately.

Plant pathogens only build up in soil which is anaerobic or deficient in beneficial microbes.  I don't think it matters if a particular crop variety stays in the soil for a long time or is grown repeatedly in the same area provided the soil remains healthy and full of beneficial microbes.

I have begun to grow plants in the "wrong bed" when space availability makes that convenient.  I don't worry about soil pH since I believe the plant and its symbionts control the soil chemistry in the plants rhizosphere.  I add nothing but high quality aerobic compost to the soil, I don't dig it, and I don't leave it bare without any plant cover or at least I leave it heavily mulched.

October 2016

The potatoes are about to flower, and we will soon be welcoming them back into our diet.  We always take a few when the plants first go into flower.

4 Amish Paste Tomatoes, with Sweet Basil as companion plants and a Lettuce catch crop.  The small Ecobed in the top left of the picture is the same.

These broad beans have a few mature beans on them, and we will start to harvest them today.

We don't have a garden gnome thank goodness, but we do have a garden fairy.  She seems to be pretty comfortable in this bed of Campanulas.

This mini cabbage is a perfect size for the two of us.  I grow brassicas and alliums in this fruiting cane bed in winter.  It helps keep the microbes active.

September 2016.

My potatoes have broken through and are growing strongly.  I had a 97.959183% success rate, in other words I lost 1 of the 49 seed potatoes I planted.  However, ever resourceful, I emptied out my bag of shop bought organic potatoes to find 1 of them, near the bottom, putting out new shoots.  So I planted it in the vacated space.

The Mini cabbages and Red Iceberg lettuce are growing strongly and are pest free with only compost and compost tea to protect them.  Well, except for the bird netting and snail barrier.

Same here in Ecobed 1.   The broad beans have had a few Harlequin beetles on them, but I just plucked them off by hand.  They seem to be free of them at the moment.

The peas are ready for their first mini harvest, but the beans have a few more weeks to go.

These broad beans are growing very well in their Ecobins.  We should get quite a good crop from such a small area.  These bins are ideal for growing vegies or herbs on the balconies of flats or where there is good sun but very limited space in your garden.

August 2016 (2).

Here is my crop of potatoes being planted.  Its the end of winter next week, and by the time they are up we should be well clear of any frost danger.  There are 49 in this space (7 by 7 rows).  The string lines are there to help me keep the rows equally spaced.  They are being planted 150- 200mm deep and covered with 50mm of soil within the hole.  As they grow, the holes will be gradually collapsed leaving the growing tips still exposed.

Job done, and the netting has been put in place to keep my hungry blackbirds out of the bed.  I will remove it as soon as the potato foliage is well above ground level.

We are still harvesting broccoli shoots, but I am leaving some of the Waltham broccoli to go to seed as you can see.  To avoid cross pollination, I wont be allowing the Romanesco broccoli to flower.

The Coriander is going berserk again, so I'll harvest and dry some later.

These broad beans have been slow growing this year, and I don't think they are going to make the same height as they usually do.  They haven't had a lot of sun this winter, which may explain.  Anyway they are coming into flower, and we will soon be enjoying those tasty beans again.

August 2016.

It rained last night, but thankfully I woke up to a cloudless sky this morning.  Its time for my monthly foliar spray of the garden, and I have had the aerator going overnight on a brew of aerated compost tea.  The photo shows the components I use in the brewing/spraying process. 

The white bin is used to brew 15 litres at a time, and in winter I use a 50W aquarium heater (seen here hanging inside the brewer) to maintain a steady 22 deg C. water temperature, ideal for growing aerobic bacteria.

On the bin's lid is an air pump which is connected to a tube with a homemade air bubbler attached at the other end.  I use clean stones inside the bubbler as ballast.

The brew is poured into the blue bucket through 2 paint straining bags.  This is good enough to stop compost residues blocking the spraying head.  The brew is then poured into the sprayer.

I need to brew two 15 litre batches to cover all my plants and one for the nature strip which is undergoing some refurbishment at the moment after a few years of neglect.  Today's batch was used on all my edible plants.  I will be looking carefully at bureau reports over the next few days to try and synchronise the remaining brews with dry weather.

July 2016 (2)

The new propagator is finished and ready for the new season's cuttings (it already has 5 rosemary cuttings on the way).  The one on the left will soon be propagating seeds ready for planting out in spring.

This system is working so well, I'm thinking of growing plants like peas, beans, beetroot and carrots differently.  I have always planted these varieties straight into the ground, but by planting them in jiffy pots, I can bring them on in ideal conditions quicker and/or earlier in the season than would otherwise be possible.

July 2016

I'm building another propagator to increase my capacity ready for the rush in spring.  These are the component sub-assemblies being painted on a cool, breezy sunny day in winter.  They are drying surprisingly quickly all things considered.

There's nothing much of interest in the vegie beds at the moment, but I am getting a steady supply of carrots, lettuce, and cabbage with a few clippings from my broccoli, cauliflower and silverbeet plants.

The freezer and preserving jars are maintaining a supply of fruit and beans from last years harvest, so we are still getting those essential minerals and vitamins even if it is winter. 

June 2016

Its the winter solstice in Melbourne next week and its cold and miserable, but I went out into the garden just now, and thought "the light looks great for a few photos", and here they are.

The lettuce and cabbage are gone, and the head from one of the Waltham Broccoli has been harvested, but there's plenty more to come from this bed.

Ecobed 1 on the right is growing peas and beans, but they are still quite small and won't reach maturity for a couple of months.

My order of seed potatoes from Diggers arrived today right on time, and I have started the process of chitting them in organic egg cartons. I need another 3 cartons to finish the job, but time is on my side now.

I turned the heap over for the 6th time this morning so on Saturday I will turn it for the 7th and last time. It will be ready for use by next Thursday.

I transfered the onions from the cuttings propagator this morning. I will harden them off soon in their pots for a few days in Ecobed 2 prior to transplanting them.

This is the indicator that its time to harvest the green mulch in Ecobed 3. Pretty aren't they?

May 2016 (3)

Its winter tomorrow, and its been wet and cold for the last couple of weeks, but today is cool and sunny, just right for working in the garden.  I've finished clearing the old mulch and dead leaves etc from my drip irrigated beds, and they're ready to be covered with compost.  I don't disturb the soil by digging or raking, I leave all the hard work to the worms and microbes.

While I'm at it I turn on the irrigation and check out the drippers to make sure they're not blocked.

The old mulch and leaves will make a great addition to my next thermal compost heap.

The fruit of my labours, this compost is destined for the drip line irrigated beds just cleared.  The fruit trees, shrubs and canes will get the most generous layer of this magic mixture and the other established perennials will get a lighter dressing.

My two espaliered apples get a 60mm thick layer of compost.

Other perennials only get a light covering (about 20mm). 

The compost tea brewer is bubbling away in the shed and tomorrow I will spray my veggies and the newly laid compost before I cover it with fresh mulch.