Catch up begins

Work has begun in earnest on the August to do list.

The Murrayas planted last summer to form a hedge to screen the garden beds have been weeded, top dressed with compost and then mulched.

Murrayas with their new top dressing of compost. 

A thick layer of sugar cane mulch was then placed on top to help prevent moisture loss as it heats up going into the warm weather, plus there's the added benefit of helping to keep the weeds down.

As too have the planter boxes.

Even though these planters are a wicking design like the garden beds, the mulch helps to minimise moisture loss.

This top dressing and mulching helps to get the plants ready for spring growth, and coming summer heat.

The chinese Artichokes were dug up, but I'm sure there's been heaps of small ones missed, and no doubt we'll see them come up in this bed again closer to Summer.

These look like some sort of grub, and they are even about that size, but they are actually Chinese Artichoke.

The turmeric and ginger were also dug up.

A muddy looking clump of roots will hose off to reveal fresh Turmeric and Ginger.

This garden bed is starting to look a little more empty, at least in one half. On the other the tomatoes and sweet potato has taken over. It may take a little longer to get that sorted and tidied.

Now you can see at least one half of this wicking garden. The large upright pipe is used to fill the base layer which holds a bladder of water. The other were an experiment to see if worms could be integrated into the system.

We've still got a long way to go to finish preparing the garden for the start of spring, but at least the first steps have been taken.

What are you doing in your garden to prepare for the coming season?

August to do in our subtropical garden

Well the pond is done, and it was definitely overdue. The water chestnut harvest normally happens before now. The few water chestnuts we got out of the mass of roots were planted out in a new area, separate to the other water plants and that should make for an easier and much lusher harvest next year. But for now as I look around the garden, there is just so very much to do, and with me not having spent much time in the garden last month I need some serious catch up time.

My to do list this month is epic, more than a little overwhelming and the month is almost half gone. Some things have truly gotten out of control, a bit like the pond.

The asparagus in the garden beds has been cut back already (in our climate it doesn't die back completely), I'd managed to top up the beds with some compost and composted manure, but I haven't yet put on it's warm weather sugar cane mulch protective layer. I've found this is essential, even with wicking beds, it helps to stop the soil drying out like concrete. I still have to make a decision on the asparagus in the 20 litre buckets, do I make them wicking garden beds this season and plant them out as was the original plan, at three years old now they are well and truly ready, but I still don't have it straight in my head where their long term place will go. Worst case scenario, they need cutting back, topping up and mulching, along with being moved to a sunnier position then where they were dumped while we put up  the side fence.

One of the wicking Asparagus beds, topped up with compost, but still waiting to be mulched and I'm running out of time as it's already put up it's first fronds while I wasn't looking.

Asparagus still in 20 litre buckets. It was on this winter's to do list to get a long term wicking bed ready for them. That hasn't happened yet and I don't know whether it will now. We can still harvest from the buckets, but they aren't as productive and I doubt there's much growing room left there.

The soil level in the wicking planters has dropped, they all need a top up with great compost, as my own home made stuff still isn't exactly producing any great quantity it will have to be bought in. I normally mix a combination of composted cow manure and standard compost. This then gets topped with a good couple of inches of sugar cane mulch (it's amazing how this just disappears into the soil) and at the start of spring growth a feed of organic chook pellets. We planted new hedges last summer, and although they are in the ground rather than a wicking bed, the poor quality of our island soil means that to thrive, these plants will also need a good feed, added compost and mulch, after a really good weed!

And talking of compost, I feel it's time we built another chook compost bed. These beds are the same size as our wicking beds, and the chook pen fits over them in the same way. The idea is we put all the garden waste, kitchen scraps etc in them and allow it to build up, the chickens while roaming have the occassional dig and turn it over a bit, then when getting fuller, we top it with some soil, seed with green manure, and then when a good bit of growth is reached, move the chook pen onto it for them to dig it all over.We have two beds now, started last summer. The chook pen has been residing on one across winter, and the remnants are now a fine compost, but what started as a layer of more than a foot in height has dropped to just a couple of inches. Apart from a little sugar cane mulch, we don't add anything to the bed while the chickens are there, so the other bed is right to the brim with garden waste and ready to be topped with soil and green manure cropped.And another pile of garden waste is sitting on our driveway waiting for a place to go. While I intend to rotate the chickens across the garden beds in the coming month or two, I still feel an additional compost bed is required to make the rotation timing better in the long run.

The wicking beds need to have all the remaining Jerusalem artichoke, ginger, turmeric, indian arrowroot and possibly the chinese artichoke (not sure if it's ready yet) harvested, then if time permits a rotation of a green manure crop as mentioned above, followed up by the chook pen to work it all in.

Turmeric, some ginger and Chinese Artichoke in this wicking bed awaiting digging up so that the bed can be prepared ready for new spring crops.

Add to this that almost all of my potted plants need repotting into bigger pots ready for spring growth, my potting bench area and accompanying stacks of pots is completely covered in leaves (no seriously, it's buried under a layer of leaves), and I haven't even begun to think about spring crops, let alone get seedlings underway! The list could just keep going, but for now, this will keep me occupied enough until September when we'll bring on Spring proper.

What's on your garden to do list this month?

What's happening in the garden

Today was suppose to be warm and it was, up above 20⁰C, which is warm, even by our normal mild winter standards. This whole winter hasn't been 'normal'. It only started very late in June, with days still in the 20's up till then. Nothing was dying back like it should. Ginger was still green and growing, so too was most of the Turmeric, the Asparagus and the Indian arrowroot still hasn't given up even now. So the garden held desparately onto the last of Summer, through Autumn.And now it seems it's pushing forward, ready or not, into Spring, way too early. We normally finish winter around mid August when our days start heating up, but are offset by westerly winds, and things normally start to "Spring" into action at this time. But proof that Spring may come early is all around the garden already.

The first of the spring bulbs is already flowering

The Blueberries have started budding with new growth.

One Blueberry has even started flowering.

The Macadamia, not to be left out is flowering too.

Asparagus is putting up it's first tentative sprouts.

The nectarine is starting to form buds.

The peach tree is in full bloom already

And earlier Peach blooms are already making way for fruit.

I don't know what this change in timing will do in the garden, especially if we get the sudden cold snap that's meant to be coming tonight. No doubt the new frail leaves on the grape vine will curl up and turn brown, but hopefully the flowers will just go slow until the real warmth arrives.

How's the weather treating your garden?

Harvesting Late June Early July

Apart from the large quantities of cherry tomatoes, and the first of my peas,  I'm also still harvesting lots of chillies. The small and very hot birds eye chilli grows like a weed here. From the first plant we've been lucky enough to have them set seed again every year. In addition to these I have a chilli which isn't as spicy and a bit larger, grown from a store bought large yellow banana chilli, but not resembling the parent fruit in any way, It may be more like a Cayenne or Joe Parker chilli. Again I think the first plants descendents may have crossed with birds eye, or reverted to another former type, as the first crop was mild enough for me to nibble on raw, but subsequent generations have proven too hot. I usually try to make up some chilli jam, but any excess including this lot, I've been giving away, rather than see them wasted.

Many of my underground root vegetables are now coming into their own. We harvested most of the Jerusalem artichokes earlier in the month when there stems started to brown and die off. Last year these were a really experimental crop for me, and in fact I was so put off at the time by their weird appearance, what few tubers I harvested from the original two I'd bought and planted, were all replanted into seedling pots, probably about a dozen in total, and then planted out into the garden beds in summer. The thing with these though is even when you think you've got them all, you suddenly find more which happened when I was digging the soil over to plant something else just the other day. I've collected almost 3 shopping bags full of these and been eating them this year. They say to cook them like a potato, but my favourite is to sauté them chopped finely in butter. Yum! I've kept about 50 small tubers (just put into snap lock bags with some clean moist, but not wet potting mix in a cold dark place) for replanting come spring.

More Jerusalem Artichokes found while digging around.

Jerusalem Artichokes dug out and ready for storing.

No doubt I'll probably find more again when I start harvesting the Indian arrowroot which I'd tucked into the same garden bed, but the leaves on these haven't started to brown yet, so it may be a few more weeks.
 Its finally starting to get cold enough for the foliage on the Turmeric to start dying off, signalling that its time to harvest the roots. Not all the Turmeric is ready, it seems to just be a couple of pots, the plants in the garden beds are still very green, so they'll be a while off yet. Again I've kept some to use ourselves, and then given any excess away. I haven't yet put any aside for replanting, but I've still got a lot more plants to harvest. Also just a word of warning that yellow colour stains, so it will stain your hands and fingernails for a few days if you get it on you, and I have no doubt would definitely stain clothing or tea towels.

Freshly harvested Turmeric

And last for the moment, and most unusually, it was time to unveil the tubers from the Chinese Keys (Krachai). To say I was surprised when I dug these up was an understatement. The tubers that I had bought and planted last year were so small and fine and grew more that looked the same, so I was delighted when they were so much bigger and fleshier this year, and it looks like I've got enough that I can eat some and still store some for replanting.

Krachai tubers harvested this year, This was from just one pot.

 What have you been harvesting in your garden lately?