11. And what's happening in the backyard now!

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2015

Spring has hit the southern hemisphere but we are still growing and harvesting our winter brassicas, including red, savoy and standard cabbage, spinach, purple flowering broccolini, cauliflower, bok choi and choi sum, onions, together with plenty of lettuce and radishes. This year the harvest has been enhanced by the extraordinary improvement in the quality of the soil.  Planting potatoes the previous year and adding plenty of compost has led to a excellent friable soil that is easy to work and produces great results. I still believe that it takes 3 years hard work to produce a superior growing medium.

Spring in our backyard means the propagation of summer and autumn vegetables and this year's selection includes 7 different tomatoes, 4 different cucumbers, 3 different lettuces, 3 different zucchinis, 3 different pumpkins, as well as fennell, chinese chives, more radish, curly leafed parsley and 3 new rockmelon varieties. We will also be growing both the multi-coloured capsicum and a new variety called bull's horn. The plant can grow up to 4 metres tall and the bright red capsicums are huge. Apparently great for stuffing.  As usual our greenhouse is awash with new seedlings, and some are almost big enough to plant out. We have been asked why we place our seedling trays on metal tray rests. That is to stop creepy crawlies from breeding underneath where they can't be seen.

I am currently developing our final growing area, which once completed will enable us to add 4 new raised beds to our inventory. The smaller pots on the left hand side are terracotta and are deep enough to accommodate one plant each. Currently I am planting additional tomatoes that sprung up in the garden area from last year's seed left in the soil. On the right hand side are 2 raised beds that currently have 22 strawberry plants in them (4 different varieties). Another larger raised bed will be constructed in front of the water tank, which will be devoted to our pumpkins. This will complete the backyard's total dedication to fruit and vegetable growing.  We have no further areas to develop.

This is our gooseberry and raspberry patch on the opposite side of the house. It is shady in the morning and subject to full sun in the afternoon. Gooseberries and raspberries are perennial plants, enjoy a brutal winter pruning (and I mean brutal), and return with a vengeance in the spring. Be very careful with raspberries. They develop suckers in the spring which can spread everywhere, and need to be cut back with secateurs regularly. Secondly, raspberries undergo furious growth in spring, developing new canes, of around 2 metres tall, from which new fruit will develop. You will need to stake or trellise them before they begin to grow, and the entire plant will require netting to stop the birds stealing your crop.

Spring means fruit tree blossom and this packham pear tree is a great example. The problem with some fruit is that you require 2 trees to fertilise and we don't have a second tree.  However through pure luck one of my clients has the required second tree and we almost learnt too late last year that they would cross pollinate. This year I was given 4 or 5 small branches with plenty of blossom to lay on this pear tree, and let the bees do the rest. We now have a pear tree with plenty of potential pears growing everywhere. If you grow pear trees remember to net it as the fruit begins to develop.  Birds just love this fruit.

One giant lettuce patch next to the steps leading from our back verandah. It gets protection from a set of steps and a back wall, exists in shade in the morning and full sun in the afternoon. Seems to be the ultimate place for it. Again this was established with pure luck. Since we eat so many salads in any given week, we don't have to travel far to pick it. And it is one of the pick and leave varieties, which will regenerate new leaves on a continuous basis. Still needs to be watered well, but also needs to be picked on a regular basis to remain healthy.

I cannot recommend perennial herbs and vegetables enough. It just means you don't have to keep propagating and planting on an annual basis. It also means that with a little pruning when the plant gets a little thin, and a good water from time to time, the perennial will bounce back very quickly. This is perennial basil and it took a power of time to find. It may have come from one of those oversized garden and hardware monsters, but since it was planted we have not had to buy basil for a long time. It will spread and needs a little room, it can be cut back, you can pull out smaller versions of it to plant somewhere else or give to friends, so long as a root system is still intact.

And talking about herbs, this is the continuation of the herbal unused wheelbarrow that I filled about 12 months ago.  Every now and then i just add another herb and voila! This is the outcome. We now grow parsley, 2 different types of mint, an olive plant, thyme, sage, coriander and some chives. They all seem to get on pretty well, and don't seem to mind being crowded together. I just ensure that they get a good water every week and give them a sea weed drink every couple of months. Some herbs will die down, others will rejuvenate, and the wheelbarrow produces most of the herbs that we use. An old bath would be another good growing medium. Just remove the plug at the bottom.

One of the golden rules of growing your own vegetables is to rotate your crops on an annual basis. In other words don't grow the same vegetable in the same place you grew it last year. However some vegetables don't exactly obey the standard season, including these leeks which have still got a way to go before they are ready, and much will be planted around them. For plants such as onions and leeks don't plant them in your large raised beds where you wish to grow your summer crops. Find a place around a tree, near a gate or fence, or somewhere out of the way. They will grow quite happily wherever you plant them, but they wont be stealing you prized growing mediums. Carrots can also grow outside the normal season.

There is a touch of sadness in updating the blog this month, and while this basket of eggs looks wonderful, it will be the last eggs we see produced in our backyard. Foxes have finally got to our girls and the last one was taken early this morning. We have spent an enormous amount of time securing their coop, strengthening the wire, even filling old stockings with human hair to hang from the wire. To no avail. This morning they found a new place to get in, the tiny gap between the side fence and the northern chicken wall. They must have spent some time gnawing at the wire, although we should have heard the girls crying and didn't. One was taken and the other was killed and dropped in the backyard. While local foxes have cubs to feed at this moment, there is no point in replacing the girls, and new ones will take 4 to 6 weeks to start producing eggs. We would be sending any new hen to a very quick demise. We have loved the eggs. We will start again next year in a better place.

A not so happy cheers!