Changing seasons

I spent the afternoon clearing out the spent summer growth in one of my vegie gardens. A pumpkin vine had taken over...but it wasn't earning it's keep, lots of flowers and no pumpkins. So off with it's head! I salvaged the last of the silverbeet (the leaves that the caterpillars left me anyway) and mixed up some tasty ravioli filling for the freezer. I've found this makes it super easy when you have a craving for fresh ravioli. Simply mix up some pasta dough, roll it out and fill with your frozen mix. I'm usually lazy and just have it with burnt butter and sage sauce. We can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes (more if I'm patient enough to rest the dough properly). 

I need to sit down and plan for my autumn planting. Autumn is one of my favourite seasons to grow veg. It's a little cooler, often more rain and plants just seem happier. Summer is passionate and chaotic - boom or bust. Autumn is a pottering, pondering season. I prepared a second bed during the heat of summer in anticipation. The warm temperatures are perfect for kick starting a lasagne style garden bed, gets everything breaking down. So far all I've managed to plant in it is lots of basil. What are you planning for the next growing season?

Tomato Zen

I recently made a new veggie garden bed in my backyard. I used the no dig lasagne method and planted some seeds in punnets while I waited for the bed to be ready. I used compost and sand to raise my seeds but soon realised my mistake. I got nothing but tomatoes in those little punnets! Clearly my compost bin isn't getting hot enough to kill off seeds in the mix. I also wonder whether tomatoes have an ability to prevent the germination of other seeds. Many plants release toxins into the soil to reduce competition from other plants (it's called allelopathy) but I haven't heard of it in tomato plants before. 

Anyway, I got cranky and pulled out most of the self-seeded tomatoes. As I'd built the garden bed using compost for multiple layers, I started seeing tomatoes coming up in there as well. I gave up and just let them go, not expecting much. Little did I know, this would be the most successful tomato season I'd ever had! These self-seeding plants produced a better crop than any expensive seed I'd ever mollycoddled into existence.

The zen of vegetable gardening. Sometimes you just have to let things go.

SkillCycle II - frugal gardening and more

So, the second SkillCycle day was a success! We covered pasta making with Kate, knot tying with Kerry, bliss balls with Bron (yum!), green cleaning with Jessie and I did frugal gardening. 

My session covered a range of bits and pieces you could collect from around the home/in the bin/on the kerbside throw-out to make gardening cheaper and more sustainable. I went through different options for growing containers like olive oil tins, small tins, yoghurt containers etc., and making your own pots out of newspaper, toilet rolls or egg cartons. Then I discussed making labels for your pots out of recycled food containers (like milk bottles and yoghurt tubs again) as well as old venetian blinds you find on council kerbside recycling days.

I spoke about saving seeds and my general motto of 'give it a go, you never know'. Some seeds are easier to save and grow than others but you'll never know until you stick some in the ground. Remember to try the pantry and your spice rack.  


We also covered protecting your garden from bush turkeys and possums. I absolutely love bird netting for this purpose. I had little success with my veggie beds until I covered the whole garden in netting. Now I only have to fight caterpillars and grasshoppers; much nicer than the total annihilation you get from the possums and turkeys! The stuff is very cheap at your local hardware store or nursery. You do have to keep it quite low and watch no birds get tangled in it though.


All in all it was a lovely, inspiring day. I went home and planted some seeds, made some bliss balls (recipe to come in a later post) and generally felt like I'd accomplished something.