Seedling Preparation for Spring 2019

As the weather warmed up in Melbourne, I started my batch of seedlings for the 4 beds crop rotation this spring. This year, I didn't prepare too many backup seedlings because I finally figured out the right time to start the seedlings and also to transplant them outside.

The usual suspects are tomatoes and pumpkins.

Tomatoes, seeds planted in the first week of Aug. Photo taken in the second week of September.

These 4 trays are pretty much the only seedlings I prepared this year. They are the vegetables and herbs that we regularly consume, such as pumpkin, capsicum, chili, lettuce, spinach, brocoli,  cabbage, cauliflower, parsley and basil. These were planted in the last week of August and photos were taken in the second week of September.

The pumpkin seeds are the usual early sprouters.

And the lettuce, brocolli, cabbage and cauliflower.

I really hope I will get cauliflower this year, I'm going to plant them at the front garden.

Garden Update - Mid Summer, 11th January 2018

Happy New Year 2018 everyone :) Wow, how time flies...

This is the first garden snapshot of 2018. It's a full blown summer now here in Melbourne, we had a 41 degrees Celcius day last week, the plants survived.

The most exciting news for this post is the Pomegranate tree. After a long wait, finally, we have fruits!! Five fruits to be exact, I have my fingers and toes crossed as they are still growing. Arrgh, I don't want them to drop!!

The other trees are growing well, but no fruit in sight for the mandarin, lemon and lime.

I planted extra pumpkin seeds a few months ago and have no spot for them, so I transplanted them on the ground behind the gate. Since the temperature had gone up, they seem to grow larger. Maybe we will have pumpkin harvest this year, who knows..

A bunch of new additions to the family, 2 Amla trees (Indian Gooseberry), I'm hoping I can get the berries for consumption and also for my homemade shampoo infusion, 1 Katuk or Sweetleaf plant, Indonesian vegetable that I was looking for ages ago to help increasing breast milk production, and finally, another Indonesian plant, Blimbi, or Belimbing Wuluh, a bit like the starfruit fruit, but the vegetable type, for cooking savoury dishes.

They arrived today from Daley's and currently resting under the shade. It's quite a hot day today.

Another major milestone for this post that we're super excited is the tomato plants.

Unexpectedly, the first one that flowered and produced fruits was the one that grew from compost, next to the mango tree.

The other tomato plants are growing well too, and there are lots of fruits started to form.

These are the ones that I started as seedlings indoor during the late winter.

This is another tomato plant that beats the odd, growing from compost.

I almost pulled this one out, lucky thing I spotted the fruits that had started growing.

This would be the yellow pear cherry tomatoes.

We have had a few harvest of the beans in the last few weeks, they have started to produce after the temperature raised up.

It looks like the harvest is still going on.

Chili plants that I planted at the west side of the garden seemed to love the heat. 

Lots of flowers and there are a few chilies that had already formed.

They occupied this spot with the family of mints.

Last, but not least, out of hundreds of chamomile seeds that I planted, one survived.

And it's been producing lots of flowers, which I have been collecting to make my own chamomile tea.

LittleMsGreenies Garden Update 16th December 2017

Late post from last month, the week before Christmas.

The hot weather arrived rather late this year in Melbourne. By mid December, finally things started to pick up and the plants are finally growing taller.

The tomato plants have finally gained some height and started flowering. Lots of bees and butterflies flying around them, probably because of the blue borage flower in between the rows of tomato plants.

The corn plants have also grown taller in the last few weeks, looks like the heat is helping them a lot.

The nasturtiums haven't stopped flowering. We've been adding their leaves and flowers in our salad. 

And of course, the salad leafy vegetable is also harvested from the garden. The spinach, lettuce, mint and herbs have been providing constant supply. Probably thanks to the succession planting and periodic harvesting.

Lots of different varieties of mint, Spearmint, Basil Mint, Chocolate Mint, Peppermint, and Common Mint.

Garden Update from 22nd Nov

What a difference 2.5 weeks make to a garden in spring.
After a mild struggle to get the seedlings going, because of the colder start in Spring, the plants have finally grown significantly.

By the 22nd Nov, we've got a few good harvest of snow peas.
The Mammoth Melting snow peas is easy to grow and by the looks of it, it's going to keep climbing.

Left photo: 4th November 2017; Right photo: 22nd November 2017

Snowpeas

The leafy vegetables on Garden Bed 1 have grown a lot as well.

 

On 4th November 2017

 

On 22nd November 2017, from left to right: Cauliflower, Spinach, Red Cabbage, Cos Lettuce, Herbs (Parsley, Coriander, and Dill), and succession planting of the same vegetables.

Some of the radishes were ready to harvest.

So, I have a real garden salad for lunch on that day, literally everything from the garden, except the dressing.

The only thing missing is the tomato, which are still growing.
They have grown taller significantly, and so does the borage.

On 4th November 2017

On 22nd November 2017, from left to right: Nasturtium, some rouge Chives from last year, Chili, lots of Tomatoes and Borage, Capsicum and Corn.

The Borage plant is a success, lots of flowers, lots of bees buzzing around them.

LittleMsGreenies First Four Beds Crop Rotation - Summer 2016

With the extra space at the back garden, I’ve decided to try out the Four Beds Crop Rotation and split up the areas into 5.

Garden Bed 0, as I call it, is dedicated for the permanently planted trees and bushes. It's not part of the crop rotation.

Photo from left to right: Betel, Bay Tree, Sambung Nyawa, Curry Tree.

Garden Beds 1 to 4 are going to be used for crop rotation and I picked the easiest rotation for a newbie, the plant type rotation. Unfortunately, I started planting a bit late in 2016. We moved in to the new place in early November, and I only started planting in mid November. The Melbourne weather at that time was still a bit cold, I heard the winter lasted a bit longer in 2016. I still had to wear my winter coat when working in the garden in the early morning.

So, here is my Summer 2016 4 Beds Crop Rotation.

Garden Bed 1 is for Beans, currently occupied by Dwarf Round Beans, Broad Beans, Snake Beans, Sweet Peas, and Snow Peas.

The first batch of the round beans was harvested a few weeks ago.

Since then I had tied up the vines to the wooden fence to support the plants.

It looks like they are growing better with support.

Garden Bed 2 is for Leaf Veggies and Herbs, currently occupied by lots of different herbs, Chinese vegetables, Cabbage and Broccoli.

 Seedlings Planting

Growing Plants: Spring Onion, Coriander, Bok Choy

We keep harvesting and planting seeds for this bed, I will need to figure out how to seed save to reduce cost of buying seeds.

They’re a lot of fun to grow.

Broccoli and Cabbage are supposed to be winter crops. I’ve been maintaining it and looking after the young plants, caterpillars are very attracted to these, I guess, they must be very yummy. I’ve been spraying them with a mixture of water, chilies, and garlic to get rid of the pests.

Garden Bed 3 is for Fruit Veggies, currently occupied by Tomatoes, Zucchinis, and Pumpkin. The Chili and Capsicum seeds that I planted had not been a success.

From left to right: rows of tomato plants, very small pumpkin seedlings, and giant zucchini plants.

The Tomatoes were a hit and miss, some grew really well, and we’ve got a good harvest.

But there are some that didn’t grow well.

My guess is probably because I was using old seeds that had been kept for too long.

The Pumpkin was planted from seeds and has been a slow grower, although a few weeks ago a few flowers seemed to emerge. So, I don’t know what is currently happening with it. I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

The Zucchini plants are great producers, I've already harvested 6-8 zucchinis in the last 3 months. 

Garden Bed 4 is for the Root Veggies, was occupied by potatoes. I had a few potatoes that had sprouted and I put them in this garden bed. They grew, flowered, and we have harvested them a few weeks ago. I think we should’ve waited a bit longer before harvesting. We could’ve had bigger potatoes.

This bed is currently occupied by lemongrass, ginger, galangal, Chinese Keys (Temu Kunci), garlic and mini round carrots.

So it began my first year journey in Crop Rotation.

The next rotation will happen in September this year, 2017.
I'm hoping by then, all plants will complete harvest with our last harvest being the garlic.