the changing sun and pickles

It is clear now that the sun is on her march across the sky. Parts of the patch are spending increasing time in the shade and this will impact on planting schedules and locations. Not all of the patch is in sun during winter. Some beds are in almost constant shade and this renders them useless for some planting. However, it is a good time to plant some winter green manure crops in preparation for the bursting season of spring.

the seasons of the sun

After spending time in the cold European winter, I can more readily appreciate the winter season here. I can still grow and harvest all through winter and I am beginning to think it is a more productive time than summer as we don't have the rain and humidity. This winter I will aim to plant enough veg to experiment with pickling. Jamie Oliver and Maggie Beer have some fabulous pickling recipes and I have plenty of glass jars waiting to be filled.

jars of pickles..... would look good in my cupboard

resurection

After a summer of almost continual rainfall, my vege patch succummed to weeds and soil compaction - again. This has been drought breaking weather and it will be a challenge to manage the new weather pattern. Already, I am thinking summer will be a fallow time in my patch - a time to plant green manure and let the weather have its wicked way.

I removed many bags of weeds and creeper vine that had invaded the patch. Suprisingly, it didn't take long to get back to the bones and a handful of well rotted chicken manure and dolomite lime was all that was needed to get the soil back into action. The carrots I sowed before leaving on my 5 week holiday managed to survive the rain, and the rebel tomato gang sprouted again. The eggplants and bell cucumber survived and although a little sad looking, hopefully they will perk up on the 'drugs' I gave them.

Conscious of crop rotation, I have planted for early autumn - lettuce, spring onions, parsely, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. I have also planted blue cornflowers, gerberas and stocks in an effort to get some winter colour in the patch.

blue cornflower