Late season beans

Climbing bean: "Purple King"

My 'Purple King' climbing beans still have potential to produce a crop so I am leaving them in the ground for another month and I planted three more bush beans of the late variety "Hawksbury Wonder" on Thursday this week. Bush beans only crop for about two weeks and someone stole every bean from my "Purple King" and the yellow "Cherokee Wax" bush beans while I was away for a few days at the end of February. Now I am watching the garden like a hawk and spending much more time there until I can harvest the current crop of beans. Keeping the beans in the ground so late in the season means half my bed is occupied when I would normally like to be planting winter crops like winter carrots, turnips, beetroot and parsnips. When choosing carrot seeds for winter, select a cool season variety. Don't hold off planting carrot seed too much longer as it is slow to germinate once the ground gets cold. Luckily I have half a bed unoccupied so I have been able to plant seedlings of lettuce and winter greens and will have room between them to plant garlic.

 Bush bean: "Cherokee Wax"

What to grow for the cooler months ahead

Rugosa rose,"Scabrosa" flowering for the first time in the Food Forest- only one flower but what a beauty! It should produce a beautiful hip in winter.

The Autumn Equinox  in the southern hemisphere heralds the time of year when we take out summer crops and prepare the soil for cool season vegetables like peas, broad beans, cabbages, broccoli and cauliflowers. I am restricting my planting this year to Bok Choi, Tatsoi, Mizuna, curly endive, chard, lettuce, garlic, carrots, beetroot and parsnips. Why? Three reasons:
1) Root crops and leafy greens are less vulnerable to casual theft than peas and broccoli.
2) They are space-savers. Broad beans, potatoes, sprouting broccoli, cauliflowers and some cabbages all need a bigger garden than my small plot can accommodate.
3) I  was given some Bok Choi and curly endive seedlings so I will use them.

Watch out for the cabbage white caterpillar and green looper caterpillars too. Both  absolutely love to eat Bok Choi and Mizuna in particular. I invested in some "Dipel" last year and a spray of this bacteria proved to be the only method apart from hand-picking off the caterpillars that proved to be effective.

Tatsoi is a great Asian green. You just pick the outer leaves as you need. Any Asian greens added to a broth of chicken or vegetable stock with a few sliced mushrooms, spring onions and carrots and some Japanese noodles makes a wholesome, quick and tasty lunch.

First day of Summer 2015

Time to sow beans:

Maximum temp only 17 C today so it doesn't feel like summer. However, I planted 12 assorted bean seeds in half toilet roll tubes for later planting out in one third of my plot after I have prepared the soil. The remaining 2/3 of the plot contains two well-spaced tomato plants on frames. I will gradually introduce their companion plants, marigolds, spring onions, parsley, lettuce and carrots. Today I put some heat-hardy lettuce seeds in the fridge to chill in preparation for next Friday's garden session.

Soil Prep:

I am deliberately not cramming my plot or mulching early this year because I need to renovate the soil. I will dig down about 30 cm and remove invading roots from the fruit trees in the adjacent food forest. I am working my way around the perimeter of the plot removing roots and adding sheep manure and compost as I progress. 

Last chance to plant Carrots before the hot weather:

On Friday I sifted the soil in one such prepared section and planted carrots. I placed a board over the top to keep the soil moist for a week as I can't water every day. I helped Leyla who attends the English classes in the house use this carrot planting method the previous Friday and Pat removed the board after a week but watered daily and ten days later Leyla's carrots were up and growing; very satisfying for a beginner gardener - but where is Leyla? She hasn't been seen at the garden since we planted the carrot seed.

All Saints Day garden make-over

November has arrived and its time to plant my summer crops: Last week I took delivery of seven 10 liter bags of sheep manure from Robert from Broadford. I removed the remainder of my winter brassica crops and the spring crops of spinach and peas will soon be finished. I have raised seedlings of four varieties of tomato: 'Tommy Toe', 'Jaune Flamme', Broad Ripple Yellow Currant' and 'Wild Sweetie'. They have been nicely potted up into individual pots ready to put in the ground; about 20 plants in total. I have already planted one 'Tommy Toe' and have room for one  additional plant of the variety;'Jaune Flammee'.

'Wild Sweetie' and 'Broad Ripple Yellow Currant' are destined for the adjacent food forest where they will sprawl, which is their habit and children may snack on their tiny, sweet fruits. I grew too many tomato seedlings for my garden plot; the left over plants, I will attempt to give away. Hopefully I will find people who will appreciate a tomato seedling; doubtful though because Pat could find no takers for the heirloom tomato seedlings she offered us last week.

Companion plants for tomatoes: Stephanie Alexander lists asparagus, basil, parsley, carrots, nasturtiums and onions. I have insufficient space for perennials like asparagus but I have seeds in stock of the other plants on the list except marigolds and nasturtiums. As both tomatoes and beans take up considerable space and compete for water and nutrients, I will fit bush beans into the remaining third of my plot measuring approximately 3 m x 1.5 m. 

Companion plants for bush beans: carrots, parsley, spinach, summer savory, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, potatoes, peas and capsicum. 

The right time to plant basil: Now! If I sow the seeds at the start of November, they should be ready to plant out by the start of summer. Past experience has taught me to wait until November to grow basil seedlings. They germinate very readily if sown in in seed raising mix in a punnet.

Zucchini fertility

Male Zucchini flower

It is the second week of January and we have experienced cool weather conditions around the end of December followed by extreme hot weather and now a cool spell with some (not enough) rain.The zucchini seedlings planted in November are bearing fruit but I am finding that there are very few bees around this year and pollination has to be done by hand. This is best done in the morning when the female flowers are freshly open. Find a male flower (above photo), strip off the petals and press the pollen-laden stamen to the stigma at the center of  female flowers (photos below). By mid-afternoon the female flowers are starting to close over and within the next couple of days the fruit rapidly begins to expand. Within a week the fruit are big enough to harvest; left longer than a week and you will be harvesting whoppers only suitable for soup or a gratin. Fruit that fails to develop is generally not pollinated but sometimes this is the result of stress to the plant caused by uneven soil moisture resulting in a condition called Blossom End-rot. Another cause of Blossom End-rot is lack of calcium in the soil. Apply Dolomite lime to the soil  before planting Zucchini seedlings to prevent calcium deficiency.

Female Zucchini flower

Female Zucchini flower after pollination

Summer lettuces

Lettuce "Freckles"

Certain lettuce varieties can withstand the heat of an Australian summer better than others. My first choice is Eden Seeds' "Freckles" variety. This summer I am also trying a form of Mignonette from Yates called "Buttercrunch"which according to the packet "rarely runs to seed". Keeping  lettuce seeds in the fridge (not freezer) for two days before planting is reputed to lead to quicker germination. Plant lettuce seeds 3mm deep. Keep ground moist for one week until germination occurs. Harvest 8 weeks from sowing seed.   

Endive (Escarole)  flowers

Taking up quite a bit of space in my garden is one plant of a broad leaved form of Endive the French call "Escarole" that I am allowing to flower for the seed. Anita distributed seed to all the gardeners last Autumn and we had  a good supply of leafy greens over the winter from them. However Anita was most perplexed as to why the centers of the Escarole were not pale yellow as she remembers them in France. I have just read in Stephanie Alexander's garden cookbook that in France growers tie the outer leaves together and in the markets the plants are flattened to display the pale hearts of the endive which is the only part used in the salads, the outer leaves being fed to the chickens. In our innocence we have been eating the whole plant which although slightly bitter tasted quite palatable with a salad dressing. Next autumn, if I manage to collect seed, I will try the French method of cultivation. 

Carrots

By now I have  harvested most of the carrots planted in late winter. They are "All Seasons", a good variety for colder months. I have already planted two more successive rows of  "All Seasons" and will sow "Manchester Table" during the warmer months to harvest in autumn. Carrots are my favourite vegetable because they take up very little space and do particularly well in a raised garden bed with light, sandy soil. The stumpy French Nantes and round carrot varieties are good choices if you have clay soils or are planting carrots in pots. 

Growing Tips:  Carrots seeds require moisture for at least ten days after the seeds are sown. If you can't be there to water daily this can be a problem. To overcome it I cover the seeds with a thin layer of mixed palm peat and sieved soil, lightly water and place a ply-wood board over the top to keep the soil moisture from evaporating. I remove it after a week and then hand-water every day until the seedlings appear. They look like grass at first. A damp piece of hessian will also perform the same function as the board but allows the sunlight to reach the germinating seeds, which can be an advantage over the board because if you don't remove the board in time the carrot roots begin growing horizontally above the soil. Carrots don't need additional fertilizer, particularly nitrogen, which makes them fork and grow hairy. Carrots need to be thinned- I do this twice, once as soon as the ferny leaves are showing and again a month later. The remaining plants are about 10cm apart and can be selectively harvested throughout the season leaving increasingly bigger gaps between remaining plants; the bigger the space, the bigger the carrots. Split carrots are caused by uneven watering; don't allow the soil to become completely dry and then over-water. One of the great pleasures of gardening is pulling up a perfect carrot you have grown yourself!