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

plotting and planning

The winter season is over. As soon as it stops raining, I have to remove all the spent growth and prepare for the next planting. There are a few broc and cabbages still to mature, but then it will be bye-bye cool crops hello warm crops.

My big decision this year - NO tomatoes. I can not win the battle against the birds and my neighbour excels at growing tomatoes.

I am going hard on the lettuce, carrots, capsicum and eggplant. These are my staples, along with parsley and garlic and chillies.

Will also soon be time to harvest my garlic... hope it turns out. There is a heap of it.

BTW, found the sneaky culprit who has attached  my purple podded peas.... king parrots, just as I suspected. Just as well they are so bloody beautiful!

peach pash

At the moment, the peach tree is still sleeping, although a close inspection this morning reveals swelling buds. I planted this tree 2 years ago and at that time, it was as tall as me. Now, she towers over the patch and provides good shade in the middle of summer. Last season I saw some small fruit on a couple of  limbs, I wonder what I will get this season? Fortunately I have to prune it too, so I will get some great sprigs for the house.

winter peach

spring peach

winter update

The last couple of weeks have seen typical August weather - cold and windy! The nights have been close to freezing and I suspect the odd frost has sneaked in unexpectedly. Last week, a ferocious wind whipped through the patch and bent back my peas! They are purple-podded peas and they had just go to the top of the frame and started to flower - a very pretty flower too. Now I have my fingers crossed that they will survive the beating. That's life in the patch!

(ref: purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.com)

The comfrey is hibernating, the brocs and cabbages are powering along - not a white moth insight, so they are blemish free. The garlic and leeks are plodding along - they need to be harvested befor the wet season starts. There is new greowh on the chillies. I took a risk and pruned the bushes back hard at the end of last summer, now they seem to have survived the winter and are getting a new lease of life.

I am loathe to do any kind of spring planting until there is no longer the chance of a frost.