Just wanted to record that some of the seeds I planted are up! I wasn't expecting 100% germination as some of the seeds were old so I am happy with what I have.
This phase of the moon (First Quarter) I will be sowing broccoli and cauliflower seeds - fruiting annuals.
Today I harvested my first cucumber. It was delicious. Soon it will be time to harvest the horseradish.
Today I finished quite late, planting some celery seedlings in the mulch garden. Even though I sowed some celery seeds the other day I still wanted to have some celery sooner hence the seedlings. To do this I needed to move some compost that was started in the vegie garden in mid December. It smelled nice and earthy and was ready to use. I added some rock dust as well. Here is a photo.
Today I also mulched a lot of weeds and composted them and cleared an area near the front gate. It was hot sunny and drywith a bit of wind. Next year with my tomatoes i want to get serious about tying them up and pruning them so they look more like this.
Paul Ward's tomatoes 2022
It was a very productive day in the garden today. Planted 4 strawberry plants and decided to move the main strawberry bed more away from the shade. The raised garden bed we will put in its place will become the globe artichoke bed and I will rationalise my rhubarb and take out any that are not the strong red stems that I like.
I got some more sawdust on the paths in the much garden and some more compost near the kohl rabi. And I sowed some more seeds.
The lettuce salad mix I direct sowed into bed 2 in the vegie garden. Will be interested to see how they go as they were past the use by date. Today I harvested 4 small zucchini to have in our zucchini and corn fritters. The weather was perfect today and will be again tomorrow. Top of 25.
Today we had a South Gippsland Permaculture Committee meeting and we discussed moon planting as an idea I wanted to try out. There were various opinions on it and I found myself thinking more about why I wanted to do it. It is a way of maintaining interest in the garden throughout the year as every 29 days the lunar cycle happens and there are different jobs to focus on. It may spread out the work over the available days instead of doing everything in a rush. It may be more suited to certain personality types: to the J personality rather than the P. It is a possible way of solving the problem that I have - that I have a burst of enthusiasm and then forget about it all. So that every year for the last 6 years I have neglected the garden in winter. I don't know if I will be able to maintain it, but right now I am looking forward to May when I will be planting the garlic, and June when I will be planting the fruit trees and July when I will be sowing beetroot and peas and lettuce and planting strawberry runners. The idea of moon planting will sharpen my observation in the garden to see what, if any, effect it has. And recording daily or nearly so in this blog will help that too.
For example today Pea gave me some kohl rabi seedlings. According to the moon planting wisdom as they are plants used mainly for the roots they should be transplanted in the full moon phase But I had to plant them today so I did and I will be observing them closely. I also fed them with mushroom compost, worm castings, worm juice and homemade compost. Here they are:
Today i finally planted some of the seeds I selected. Basil, angelica, collards, rocket, iceberg lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce, cabbage vertus and corn salad. I expect the collards and cabbages to germinate in 5 to 10 days, the corn salad and rocket in 7 to 21 days. The lettuces will take about 7 days and the basil 7 to 10 days. The angelica will take between one and three months. I can only hope.
I have decided to use the moon planting guide in the permaculture calendar to learn about this idea and have used this site for the moon phases for our locality. I worked out which seeds I should sow on which dates. There are seeds for 22 vegetables that come under the category of leafy annuals ready to go.
LEAFY ANNUALS: new moon: Feb 1 to Feb 7
Sow in seed trays: cabbage, chervil, collards, endive, leeks, lettuce, silver beet, spring onions, witlof, florence fennel, kale etc
FRUITING ANNUALS: first quarter: Feb 9 to Feb 15
Sow in seed trays: broccoli, cauliflower
ROOTS: full moon: Feb 17 to Feb 23
Sow direct: beetroot, carrots, onions, seed potato, radish, salsify, shallot bulbs
Sow in seed tray: kohlrabi, swedes, turnip, parsnip, aquilegia
IMPROVE SOIL : last quarter: Feb 24 to Mar 3
weeding, mulching, making compost
There is more information here. I am also wanting to observe more especially about what I'm planting and harvesting and the weather.
Today I harvested welsh onions, lettuce leaves, spinach, zucchini and a carrot for the salad. Tomorrow I will sow some of the seeds I picked out today.
The weather today:
Some views of the vegie garden and the mulch garden at the moment:
Today we finished weeding, pruning and mulching the herb garden which had got a little out of hand. We planted some new herbs as well. It now has lovage, bay, lavender, dill, golden marjoram, organo, sage, rosemary, curry leaf, parsley, coriander, borage and lemon balm. I am looking forward to some good growth.
I am also recording my spending on the garden each month and the harvests. Today I spent $22.60 on some herbs, seeds and hollyhock seedlings.
I will harvest some basil for pesto today and lettuce, carrot and herbs for tea.
