One week until Spring! Final winter update.

Gearing up for the long awaited spring season. We had one week of nice weather two weeks ago but it's been overcast or raining since then. Today the sun came out a few times so I made the most of it.

Tomato and eggplant seedlings.

Capsicum and chilli seedlings. These are all by the window on a heat mat. I'm thinking I might not need as many hots as the razz overwintered and I still have a lot of frozen chillis, so I might try to separate one of the other varieties and use both if multiple seeds germinate.

Up on the balcony I have finally transplanted new pak choy starts into these pots. I'll see how they go with two rather than one in the pot on the left. This variety gets quite big with huge leaves but is delicious, I think I like it even more than than the green stemmed one.

Very proud of these mini cabbages which are now forming heads. They've grown entirely during the Canberran winter. We'll see how root bound they get to see if I can go full size next year rather than mini.

Aerial view of the garden. My hose broke and it's too wet to mow the lawn.

The razzmatazz chilli has survived winter uncovered on the balcony. I'll give it a light prune and repot it when it warms up a bit more.

Beets - there's actually a tomato volunteer in there too, so it looks like these will actually germinate in unheated balcony greenhouse in late winter. I have no idea what it is, but I have a soft spot for volunteers so I'll probably find somewhere for it. I try not to add tomato seeds to the compost.

Chinese broccoli left, giant red mustard and red sorrel right. Some things haven't come up yet, might need to re-sow when it gets warmer.

Beets, spring onions and leeks behind. I think it was lettuce on the left but it appears the seeds are no longer viable. Those tiny sprouts aren't lettuce but some kind of weed.

Very early basil - these were germinated in the same greenhouse upstairs.

Downstairs now. These volunteer strawberries from the fennel pot have been transplanted to these troughs destined for the balcony edge. I don't know if they are temptation or from store bought, we'll see how it goes. I'm planning to use black fleece with cutouts rather than mulch as the straw kept blowing away in the wind and I suspect it gave the strawberries powdery mildew. It should do a good job of keeping the fruit off the soil and keeping the soil from drying out while letting rain through.

The two whiskey barrels. This is last year's parsley so I suspect it will flower this year. When the garlic is done I'll probably plant squash and zucchini in these pots.

The mints and lemon balm have all been repotted.

New peas. The old ones rotted or just didn't thrive and I started again.

Broad bean and last year's re-sprouted celery. I'll pull the celery out when it starts to flower. I'll probably plant cucumbers here after that.

Miner's lettuce doing really well in total shade.

Sorrel starting to show some more life too. There hasn't been much to harvest over winter.

Last season's rocket survived winter and is now flowering, there are also onions here but I don't think they'll produce bulbs, I will leave them in there to flower and see if they divide and then I can replant those. There is also volunteer corn salad from last year. 

In the first of the two covered beds the broccoli di ciccio has formed heads. They're a bit loose but I think this is normal for the variety. I am looking forward to eating them as I have never had fresh broccoli before. Should keep providing me small florets after that until this bed is replaced with corn closer to summer.

Underneath are some beets that were sown in winter, looking good. Tatsoi and self seeded dill. Dill loves this time of year. I transplanted a spinach here too that was in with the shallots but it'll probably bolt or die.

This bed is full of life. I didn't amend either of these beds before planting, I just dug them over good. Looks like I unlocked a good amount of organic matter. On the left is mizuna, then rocket, tuscan and blue curled kale, wombok on the right. This is the first time I've really grown rocket to a huge size like this, I guess that's what I get for trying to grow it in the warmer months. It's a lot milder like this too. There's also a spinach somewhere in there and some beets at the back. There are also some mystery plants, I'm not sure what they are but they don't look like weeds.

The blue curled kale is very sweet from the cool weather with juicy stems. I will definitely grow more in future.

Chives and tarragon. All died back in winter but they are now coming back. I didn't repot them, just topped them up. I am hoping the chive clumps expand decently.

Lemon and regular thyme and coriander. I gave the thymes a cutting back and then topped the pots up and they are recovering well. It's really too early for coriander so they aren't really thriving but it was worth a try.

The oregano didn't die back much over winter although it was looking a bit ratty. I'll probably just let it grow. I don't think I need both as they taste pretty much the same to me, so if one fails to thrive I might replace it with something else. Marjoram in the middle was cut back and is looking a bit sad but I'm sure it will recover. It self seeded on the ground below so I have transplanted that seedling into the pot. The bees absolutely love it.

 

Long suffering prostrate rosemary actually looking good. I will try to hold off harvesting it and give it a chance to grow. I have another rosemary bush type that I'll probably plant out somewhere.

I have started a new sage plant but they haven't germinated, I might need to try again as it warms up. The old one was just too woody and pest eaten to keep.

Coriander again on the right. Shallots, strawberries which have died back and spring onions. It's a bit early for these to be growing that well but they should pick up soon.

The benefits of worm castings - this kohlrabi plug had its own personal helper!

The kohlrabi starts have been transplanted into these two 25L pots, should hopefully be ready by the time I need them for tomatoes. Last season I think I fed them too much and the foliage got out of control, so I'll see if I get the same bulbs this year without the huge leaves.

Main bed is getting more and more sun every day. The carrots, leeks and turnips have until November when I'll be planting all my eggplant, larger tomatoes and capsicums here. I'll sneak in some radishes and other quick crops in the meantime.

Small head lettuce.

Leeks, carrots, tatsoi. I've filled the spaces with radishes.

The rainbow chard survived winter. I expect it will start to bolt soon. They really need more sun but hopefully I can get a few meals out of them in the meantime.

The waste bed has been breaking down nicely, I put some more scraps in there and then covered with leaves again. It will be a while before I am planting potatoes here, probably October.

I have given serious consideration to removing both the side beds, mulching them with tanbark and using them as more container garden space like the north facing window instead. The reason is invasive roots from what's growing on the other side of the fence as well as tree roots just seem to deplete the soil quickly. We'll give it another season though and see how it goes.

Early spring pot lineup. I have pruned the lemon and lime and topped them up.

I will try to give the lime more sun this year to encourage fruiting and bees to the tiny flowers.

Some of the bulb fennel ready to harvest. I overplanted this with 6 plants, I think 4 in the future, but they have grown well over winter. I have to keep it well watered now though because it's drying out quick with all that foliage which tells me the root system is going to be extensive. I might harvest 5 and then leave the last one to bolt to collect the seeds.

Pruned lemon tree, raspberry which is just starting to bud, blueberry.

Trying peas in a pot. I hope they are done by November at which point I'll probably grow cucumbers in here.

Blueberry looks pretty sick compared to this time last year, but there are lots of new leaf clusters behind the old leaves. The bees are visiting often I am still hopeful of a good harvest from it. It actually flowered at the right time, last year it was flowering late autumn which was too early. I probably won't need to cut it back after this season.

Minutina. I tried a few blades but it didn't seem to have much taste, hopefully it will improve as it gets bigger. It's supposed to have a nutty taste.

Well that's all for today. It won't be long until we're enjoying the spring weather and things will be growing all over the place. I'm looking forward to the insect, lizard and bird life returning too (not so much the pests though).

Thanks for reading.

Winter half way mark - countdown to Spring 2016

One thing that makes coming back from holidays bearable is to get back and see what's happened in the garden while you were away. There always seems to be a huge growth spurt due to not checking on the garden every day.

Even this winter, no exception. There was a bit of wild weather while we were away so I was a bit worried, especially about the lime tree which has blown over a couple of times. On return we lost one greenhouse cover but everything else was okay. This was the kale/rocket/mizuna bed but everything seemed fine, only the tuscan kale looked a bit worse for wear. All the brassica crops have put on a growth sport while away, and the large leaf buk choy has begun to bolt. So I harvested two for last night's dinner and the last one for tonight's laksa.

A nice bunch, grown entirely during winter (okay, I think I direct sowed these very late autumn). I'll have to start some more because these grew fast and were super delicious.

Common mint finally taken a big hit from the frosts - although possible it was from drying out too. It's a very root bound pot and this is under cover so gets no rain. Chocolate mint and the mystery mint below and lemon balm seem okay. As the mystery mint (grown from a garnish) has a leggy growth habit and doesn't really taste much different from my other mint, I'm not going to repot it. I'll dry what's left early spring and use the pot for something else. 

Parsley loving winter, garlic not doing much for now. There's even self seeded chervil bottom left which germinated during winter and seems to be growing just fine.

Peas not doing much. I sow some more next month. What I might need to do is put strings down from the trellis above for them to climb initially as they don't seem capable of doing it on their own.

I also have some self seeded coriander coming up from the cracks between the bed timber and the footpath. I have no idea if it will survive or not but I'll see what happens. There's also a chocolate mint that got down there via runner, so I'll have to take care of that before it takes over the garden.

The celery stubs haven't been killed even by heavy frosts, providing useful leaves and small stems to harvest.

Broad beans not quite trellis height yet but getting there.

Onions, self sown corn salad at the end.

Miner's lettuce getting bigger.

Shallots look good for an early spring harvest. Lettuce all bolting and will need to sow some more soon. Something pulled out the spring onions (or tried to) but they seem to still be alive, will likely put some more growth on soon. I think I'll mulch this pot.

Winter grass looks really good, could even use a mow. I need to spot treat the oxalis though.

Edge of the bed now getting some direct sun again. Leeks doing fine, lettuces getting a little bigger. I transplanted some tatsoi seedlings here too to fill in some gaps, now it's going to get a bit of sun.

These carrot seedlings not doing much. Got them in pretty late. Will probably have to wait for spring.

Proof you can grow some decent radishes in Canberran winter even in full shade. Of course, they cease being a quick crop - these have taken two months to get this size. I sowed them sparsely though - could probably have afforded to plant 3 or 4 times as many.

This in-place compost bed is breaking down nicely, should be ready for potatoes mid spring.

Chard - surviving. I'll start more from seed soon ready for early spring.

The citrus looking much better at this point in winter than last year. One because they are bigger and stronger, two I think the position is a bit better. Have not lost that many leaves. I am still going to give them a good pruning early spring. Fingers crossed for limes this year!

Minutina is super slow growing. I think the pot is massively overplanted too but I can always thin.

Blueberry still looking a bit spindly, has now flowered. Which is later than last season so I might even get fruit from some of these if I don't cover it. Bees finally have something to visit in the garden again, but it's not much.

Bulb fennel looking great. I remember these have a pretty huge taproot so perhaps I overplanted a bit, I think there are 6 in this 25L pot. Volunteer strawberries look nice and will be transplanted next month.

The first is my cutting grown rosemary which I finally up-potted. It has prime position here top of the herb tower also but not expecting much growth until spring. The second is the original prostrate rosemary.

 I have access to several nearby large bushes of rosemary, so I don't really need to grow my own. They sure take some time to get established.

Over to the brassica greenhouse beds. You can see the large leaf buk choy has been harvested (surprisingly shallow root system) leaving the two green stemmed ones which haven't bolted yet (I haven't harvested them at all yet).

The broccoli in the back has gotten quite tall, no sign of florets yet (which is good, as they'd be very small at this stage).

Beetroot and dill in here also, looking not too bad.

Where the buk choy were I have planted some tatsoi seedlings.

The mizuna and rocket have finally taken off and I now have many large leaves. The tuscan kale got blown over (it was always a bit leggy due to my negligence at seedling stage) but it should be okay now, if not I'll stake it.

I have transplanted some wom bok here too.

I think that's a self seeded basil which has indeed survived many a heavy frost.

Outdoors kale from last season.

The oak tree on our strip has finally lost most of its leaves and as a result, we have a bit more sun coming through.

Up on the balcony, the chillis are still alive. Can't believe I still have access to fresh chilli in July. Sure, they're a bit pale and the plant doesn't look that happy, but there's even some new growth on it.

Habanero looking much sicker, but it's still alive. I think it actually dried out while we were away. I don't really need it to survive as I was planning to skip habaneros this season but we'll wait and see.

Mini cabbages starting to form heads. Some dirty grey aphids got into one of them, so I'll give them a spray every few days until they are all dead.

Well, you can germinate basil in an unheated greenhouse in winter in Canberra. But it doesn't grow much beyond that. Still, it might give me a slightly earlier start this season.

So that's our garden, mid winter. It's still cold outside but when it's not raining, the days are bright and sunny as you can see. It won't be long until I am starting the spring and then summer season seedlings. I am not expecting the long El Nino fuelled season we had last year but still excited about what I'm planning to grow, many new varieties of capsicum, tomato, eggplant, corn, beans and so on, and I'll try to grow a few more flowers this year too. I'm also aiming to use less bagged stuff and more free stuff, like shredded leaves instead of pea straw for mulch, and I have a good supply of worm castings and finished compost.