Saturday, May 8, 2010

Back in the Vegetable Garden

Today I got out into the wan autumnal sunshine to do a few hours in the vegetable garden. Tomorrow is Mothers Day and I know I won't be allowed outside - at least for the morning! I planted some seedlings of Bastoni (like Broccolini) and Rapa which is a member of the turnip family apparently - its a new vegetable with which I am not familiar. I mounded up the soil around the leek seedlings and gave them another dose of pelletised chook poo. This is supposed to lengthen the white bit of the plant which is apparently desirable - I have only grown leeks once before and that was ages ago. I also mixed up some BT (Bacillus thuringiensis - otherwise known as Dipel) and sprayed this on all the brassicas as there seem to be so many cabbage white butterflies around at the moment. A mature savoy cabbage that was not harvested looks like its leaves have been made of green lace! I also gave the yacon a drink as it is beginning to flower and was drooping as we have had no rain recently. I have to wait for it to turn brown and die down before I can harvest the tubers. The carrots are forming and are nearly ready to harvest and I am awaiting the first frost before harvesting the parsnips as this is said to sweeten them. The pumpkins are waiting for me to cut them off the vine and bring them inside and the corms of last years garlic harvest are beginning to sprout, signalling that they need to be planted soon! The crimson flowered broad beans are just beginning to show above the ground and the tendrils of the snow peas are waving around in the air looking for something to hang onto. After the late summer lull it's all go in the vegetable garden!

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