Mid-March we noticed the buds on the Camellias and Protea were coming on nicely - the first Protea flowers have now opened and those on the Camellias should follow soon.
Most of the Pittosporum undulatum (Sweet Pittosporum) in the area is covered in berries at the moment, so I know that very soon I'm going to be pulling out seedlings all over the place. I'm already doing so with Coprosma repens (Mirrorbush), but I've yet to see a mirrorbush in the area with berries on it. They do grow very fast and very large here, so we really need to keep on top of it.
Sweet Pittosporum is one of those plants that confuses everyone when it comes to being a 'weed'. Not only is it a native Australian plant, it is in fact native to the east coast of Victoria, where it is found growing in moist gullies in rainforest and sclerophyll forest. However, what makes it a weed is it's huge spread outside this range. It produces prolific seed that are attractive to birds; the seed germinates readily without the need for fire; it likes soils with high nutrient values and it grows fast.
Like Lillypilly and Mirrorbush, once introduced to the Dandenong Ranges as garden plants, it wasn't long before Sweet Pittosporum started to invade the bush and crowd out other plants indigenous to the area.
As these are not declared weeds however, they are still for sale in local nurseries. Sweet Pittosporum being particularly attractive as the blossoms it produces in spring and early summer have the most heavenly scent.
- Corn - silking in full progress and a few cobs a week away from harvest I think. Aphids still present in large numbers on the tassels and lower sides of last set of leaves, though some ladybird predation there too, along with parasitic wasps is evident. I suspect it's too late in the season for the ladybirds to get enough of a control going, as they're starting to enter diapause with the colder nights here;
- Peas - so many we've been picking and steaming them to have with dinner, as you would with sugarsnap peas (mangetout style!). Delicious and no need to remove the string first as I seem to have chosen a stringless variety without realising;
- Dwarf runner beans - lots of these have been eaten and / frozen for later as well. The girls are really enjoying having them as snacks too as they're suitably crunchy!
- Broad beans - I noticed the first few bean pods growing this week. Interesting that there is a delay between the flowers and the pods, unlike peas which you can see forming whilst flowers are still in place. The aphids seem to have given up on these, perhaps due to the week of rain we've just had or because of the ladybird larvae we'd spotted;
- Sugarbeet - still growing strong and being used in salad, or blanched with pasta and cheese etc. Girls also still snacking on it when out;
- Parsley - so much of this now, can't believe I had trouble getting it to germinate! Excess going to be harvested and sold to the neighbours I think;
- Carrots - these make me want to cry. The look perfect, but still soapy! They are less soapy now than a month ago and I suspect that's due to the cooler weather. Need to try one after a good sunny day so it's got lots of sugar in it, but it's autumn and mostly raining at the mo;
- Tomatoes - still lots of fruit we're waiting on turning, and even some flowers being produced. Most of these are crazy long vines with very little leaves now so I'm surprised they're still going. We're keen to see how far into the cold weather they'll struggle on though, so won't be taking them out yet. Amazing consider they're in terrible silt loam that has leached all it's nutrients out;
- Eggplant - can't believe it all finally flowered just prior to Autumn and the colder, wetter weather settling in. I think that the poor soil didn't help;
- Capsicum - ditto here
- Cucumber and melon - both now finished and pulled;
- Spring onions, chives, garlic chives and leeks - all doing okay and should be ready for some harvest in another month;
- Edible ginger - bizarrely, this sprouted over the last hot period in summer. I was amazed as I never really expected this to happen, but now I think the ginger will regret it and die off in the colder wetter weather. Ginger likes shade (ah, it's in a spot where it had full summer sun... might move it's pot!), lots of water for root growth (check - it rains here a fair bit and I water when I have to in summer) and warmth... Okay, I have it sitting by the hot water tank to give it some protection and warmth, as well as keeping it out of full sun, so we'll see if it makes it to spring :)
- Feijoa - fruit drop started
- looking at planting - garlic (so much to choose!), lettuces, perhaps cabbage, cauliflower and brocolli (despite none of us really liking these unless raw as a snack!), radish, parsnips, more carrots perhaps;
- Herbs - starting to work on the herb garden in earnest and looking at what other plants we want in to attract beneficial insects - cornflowers, marigolds, cosmos, violas and Alianthus we have, dianthus, pansy, verbena and lupins are all things that can also go in now. SGA also reckon that some stock, calendula and ageratum are good if you're in a temperate area, so we may give these a go (there's a lot of dispute over whether we're temperate or cool here, so we tend to hedge our bets and plant for both. It's working so far ;) )
- Compost - batch almost mature to be added to the carrot bed prior to planting radish, parsnip etc. Another batch on the go, being composted n situ for the fruit beds. Will start some more in situ when the eggplant and capsicum are cleared (we're not giving up quite yet!) and perhaps more at the other end of the fruit beds.
- Fruit beds - can't plant trees or cane fruit etc until the fence is replaced...
- Fence - can't do this until we have spare cash... :(
- Fernery - need to continue the swale down there, but also need to remove soil from around rear corner of house and install small retaining wall, as well as another by the gas heater
- Froggy pond - I think it's done, but might need a pond liner after all. A tad annoying as it's dug right into the heavy clay subsoil and we worked hard at creating a dam with rocks and clay. We want it to be seasonal, so drying up over summer, hence the preference to not have a liner as then it won't dry up! Anyway, adding a liner will involve removal of plants, some of the clay so I can then place this over the liner to keep it looking natural and also any rocks which are currently held in place with clay. Hence I don't want to do this, so will give it another month and see how things progress as the rains become more intense.
pH at this point:
Bed 1 - 6
Bed 2 - 6
Bed 3 - 6 1/2
Bed 4 - 6 1/2
SB - not measured
BB - not measured
FG - 5 1/2
Compost - 7 :)
No comments:
Post a Comment