Volunteers and Patience – Day 22 NaBloPoMo

22 Nov 2016 4 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Produce, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , , , , ,

Hi everyone,

I spent a lovely day out in the yard today – no uni work to do. Woo hoo! So I had a chance to actually pay attention to a few things.

Like the worm farms. I’ve got two of them I bought a few years ago for converting all the kitchen waste that my chickens can’t have, (tea leaves, coffee grounds, potato peelings and so on) into lovely rich compost. I haven’t really taken a lot of notice of them since I emptied the bottom trays some months ago and put the compost out for the potato beds and wicking barrel fruit trees.

Well, imagine my surprise when I looked closely at the plants coming up in the gap between the trays today.

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In the picture above are mostly Roma bush tomatoes that I dried back in autumn, and after saving what I thought was the best of the seed, put in the rest in the compost bucket. Note a tiny potato plant in the right half of the photo – that has come up from a peeling! I’m planning to pot the strongest tomatoes up and let them do their thing. I’ve found Roma is a great variety for growing in tubs.

Volunteers are actually really common in my garden beds. At the moment, I’m picking from several Golden and Ruby Silverbeet (Rainbow Chard) and Curly Endives that have popped up in quite unlikely places and every autumn I have Corn Salad (Valerianella locusta) and of course, there’s the potatoes.

It’s really hard to find all the potatoes at harvest time and it only takes one to see a new plant sneak up in the middle of whatever’s in the bed next. Usually, I pull these out as they are like weeds – unwanted interlopers! On the other hand, in spring, I always find new plants of the perennial Wild Rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) that has made a home in front of the asparagus bed that I like to transplant or put in pots.

This is the asparagus I grew from seed last spring and planted out in autumn. Despite needing a thorough weeding, it’s doing really well – much better than first year crowns should – but I did spent quite a few months preparing the bed with copious amounts of sheep manure, seaweed and spent straw from the rabbit hutches. Also, I haven’t seen any berries yet (which identifies female plants) but with the slow start we had to spring, they might not appear until next month. The biggest stem was about pencil thickness so I might take a stem or two next spring but I won’t start cropping properly for another couple of years.

Most of the food I grow is fast to produce and crop – gone in a season. Apart from the fruit trees, asparagus is the only really long term food project I have, but I know it will be worth it. After weeding, I’ll be piling more manure and seaweed over it – and wait.

Patience is a virtue 😀

Speaking of which, this young fellow has no patience! This is Bernard Black charging in to eat ALL the food this morning, giving me the “get out of my way woman!” look on the way ❤

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Winter, Seeds and Sunshine

01 Jul 2016 7 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Chickens, Produce, seed saving, Tasmania, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Well, we’re over halfway now – past the winter solstice! As I said to the chickens this morning, that means the days are getting longer again and they should start laying a few more eggs soon. At the moment most of my girls are freeloading but one of the Isa Brown hens (affectionately known as B1) is still laying about five eggs a week, for which I’m very grateful ❤

Although we’ve had some cold weather, it’s been surprisingly mild the last week or so, with cold mornings and mostly sunny days. But this is Tasmania, and we usually get our worst weather through July and August.

Also, I’ve been sick again. There’s been some horror viruses doing the rounds and I seem to have caught most of them this year! Nevertheless, my immune system is better than it was. A few years ago I would’ve ended up with bronchitis or pneumonia instead of a cold, and I’m sure these last few years of eating mostly home grown, organic produce has contributed positively.

Today, I spent some time in the yard after feeding the animals and really enjoyed the sunshine. The mild weather has seen new (and relatively large) spears on the asparagus, heaps of growth on the cabbages, broccoli and salad greens and flower buds forming on the broad beans. Unbelievably, there’s still a few raspberries on my neglected canes but I’ll be cutting them back over the next week, weeding the bed and mulching it heavily in preparation for another summer of delicious berries.

In the greenhouse, I collected another pocketful of fresh chilies, which is incredibly impressive for July and some of my potato experiments are starting to shoot. I also did a quick check of some blueberry cuttings I did in autumn and they look very promising. Some of the chilies are starting to show classic signs of magnesium deficiency, yellowing of the leaves.

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This is really common in pot grown heavy feeders, such as chilies and citrus is an indication that the plants have exhausted nutrients in the potting mix. It’s also quite easy to rectify, with a foliar spray of manganese sulphate, (aka epsom salts) and feeding with a nitrogen-rich fertiliser. In the case of this particular chili, it’s been flowering and fruiting non stop since last September. I’m planning to cut it back at the end of winter and repot into a fresh, rich mix for the growing season as well. Epsom salts is easy to find in supermarkets or hardware stores and I mix two tablespoons in a bucket (about nine liters) and use a misting bottle to make sure both sides of the leaves are covered.

The rhubarb is still an ongoing project – I got sick in the middle of lifting and dividing all the crowns but the ones that don’t have new homes yet are heeled into the side of the bed until I’m well enough to get that job finished!

Wandering around the garden in the sunshine did get me thinking about what I want to plant this spring and summer and seeds arrived in the post today from Rangeview Seeds who are up in Derby in northern Tasmania.

So tonight I’ve sat on the couch and sorted through all my packets of seeds, something I do every winter. It’s a daunting but oddly satisfying task, working out what’s out of date and what to keep. This year too, there’s been an outrageous number of my own packets, particularly with chili seeds! (I will do a post devoted to propagating chili seed in the next few weeks too).

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I think it’s the sheer potential embodied in all those packets that intrigues and inspires me. All the possibilities of delicious salads and preserves, food shared with loved ones and flowers that occasionally grace the table too ❤

Tomorrow, Australia votes in the longest federal election campaign in something like 80 years. Frankly, I’m well over it, despite being a student of politics and having worked as political analyst many years ago! I’m not a big fan of either of the old parties and sadly, I think it unlikely that the Australian people will be winners no matter who forms government. Nevertheless, I refuse to submit to cynicism and intend to make my vote count – particularly in the Senate. And after the mandatory voting, I’ll be retreating to the garden for some more sunshine therapy 😀

As always, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing on this beautiful planet, go gently, be safe, happy and well ❤

Rain!

06 Jun 2016 3 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Chickens, Inspiration, Produce, Rabbits, Tasmania, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I caught a break in the mad weather we’re having to take a few pics of the garden and a short film of the Ladies Who Lay, who were looking quite bedraggled this morning. Being down in Hobart, I think we haven’t had as bad a time of it as friends up north or on the east coast. Nevertheless, the tropical low that’s torn down the eastern seaboard of Australia has left it’s mark here too. The rain gauge was overflowing and my water tanks are (thankfully) filling again, but normally free draining areas are starting to pool, particularly in the chicken’s run. I’m also worried about the rhubarb bed as the crown’s are overdue to be lifted and divided. But as the changing weather patterns keep telling me, it will be what it will be and we’ll cope with it 🙂

Italian Purple Savoy Cabbages with baby weeds!

Italian Purple Savoy Cabbages

Further to my post last night, some of these photos will give you an idea of how much things have grown in the last month. Especially the weeds! It’s hard to imagine I had most of the beds clear three weeks ago, but with the mulch it’s fairly easy to remove them and the chickens love the tender new shoots.

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Some of the Kale in the foreground, looking to Silverbeet, the remaining Leeks, mini Broccoli and Garlic in the next bed. And thriving weeds!

Also, I checked the new asparagus bed, which I top-dressed with seaweed and aged chicken poo from Cluckingham Palace. I’m thrilled but also slightly disturbed by some of the shoots the bed is still throwing up.

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The crazy asparagus bed

Given I’m in Hobart, asparagus should be well and truly dormant by now but these barely six month old crowns are still throwing up new fronds – and some ridiculously big ones too! Since planting them out in March this year when it was still very dry (and abnormally warm), the plants have thrived. To get an idea of how much growth they’ve put on have a look at them here.

The rabbits being mostly sheltered from the north easterlies are doing fine and I suspect wondering what I’m fussing about – they are getting more than their usual ration of greens at the moment because of all the sudden growth. I should point out too that after consecutive days of frost last week, yesterday and today have been very mild. I was out in my wet weather gear and sweltering!

I’ll leave you with my lovely little hens, who are still laying enough eggs for my needs despite a statewide shortage of free range eggs ❤

My heart goes out to all the folks who are inundated across not only Tasmania but the entire east coast of Australia, as well as France, Germany and parts of the US. Wherever you are on this beautiful planet, take care ❤

No Rest for Gardeners! – The Truth About Growing All That Food

14 Mar 2016 6 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , ,

 

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The uninitiated – that is, non-gardening friends – often say things to me that make me giggle. Things like, “you must be glad it’s autumn, you won’t have to be in the garden so much”. It got me thinking though that my busiest times are usually spring and autumn, preparing for the frenzy of summer and the hard graft of winter, when I’m more inclined to do heavy building work to keep warm, while trying to grow winter food. I feel there’s always things that should be done no matter the season and, dealing with a physical disability, things that I have to take a long view on completing.

One such job has been The Corner of Shame. I think every largish garden has one, that back corner, usually furthest away from the house, that gets overgrown and forgotten about because there’s so many other things that take your time and attention before you can walk that far! Well, after months (literally) of chipping away at it, my Corner of Shame is no more!

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The picture above shows the now Corner of Care that was started as a long term project by two of us in November last year. I had to get a second load of pine bark to finish top dressing around the plum tree and opted this time for the fresh rather than the composted, darker mulch. Also, I’ve planted an English Lavender (in the bottom right corner of the photo) and started pruning the plum tree. The netted area is half a huge bed that I left fallow for a season and built up with compost from the chicken coop, spent straw from rabbit hutches and a few good handfuls of dolomite.

Last weekend I planted leeks, silverbeet (chard), celery and some bunching broccoli in there and this weekend I finished it off with garlic. Next weekend, I’ll be doing a similar netting job on the other side but I’ll be waiting for a few more weeks for the next round of seedlings to be big enough to plant out.

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The two nursery trays above (ten punnets of winter vegetables and ten of onion varieties) were planted on March 8th, only six days ago. This morning, nine of the winter vegetables were up and big enough to handle and six punnets of the onions. Hopefully, I’ll get some time during the week to prick some of the kale, savoy cabbage and endive seedlings into toilet roll grow tubes and get them ready for planting out across five beds before the soil starts cooling off!

The other long term project I’ve brought to a close in the last few weeks has indeed been a labour of love. My all-time favourite vegetable is asparagus and at the beginning of spring, I took the plunge and planted some seed rather than wait until winter and buy (in my opinion) very expensive crowns. Asparagus seed is notoriously difficult and has a very short shelf life but either I chose well or got lucky – probably a little of both!

I ended up with 51 asparagus seedlings!!!

So, a dedicated bed had to be found, dug over, built up and dressed with sea grass – and quickly! I decided to use the bed that had garlic in last year and started the preparation in November, almost as soon as I’d lifted the huge heads. Digging is something I generally avoid these days because of my spine and arthritis unless it’s absolutely necessary – and this was necessary! It took up until the end of December to dig the previous mulch in, feed with copious amounts of sheep poo and mushroom compost, throw some dolomite over it and dig it over again. Then I covered it all with some sea grass I gratefully accepted from extended family who want to be paid in asparagus – long term investors! Then I left it to settle and every time I watered the garden, I spent some time watering the sea grass to remove the excess salt and stop the bed drying out completely. This is what it looked like after the sea grass mulch –

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In the meantime, I spent quite a bit of time teasing out the little seedlings into individual grow tubes as you can see from the picture below.

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Finally, a seriously diseased cherry tree had to be taken out from behind the bed before I could plant my babies out. Thanks to my wonderful son and other family members, I had some help with this and didn’t do anything my doctor wouldn’t approve of!

And then, at last I started planting these precious little seedlings out. It took me a few weeks to get it all done but they’re doing well – all 51 of them!!! At the moment they’re very tightly planted but as the crowns grow I’ll take over the rest of the bed and give them more space to grow. Asparagus is dioecious – it has male and female plants – and I’ll be removing most of the female plants as I work out who’s who. Male plants don’t have to expend resources to produce fruit, so can crop up to three times more than a female plant.

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Now all I have to do is top dress with more sea grass, manure and spent rabbit straw at the end of this winter and the next. If I’m lucky and careful, I should be able to take one spear from each that spring and by 2018 have my first crop. Asparagus will produce good crops for around 20 years. It will be worth it 😀

What’s your favourite vegetable and how do you like to eat it? Please leave a comment – I love to hear your stories! 

 

The Joy of Passions – Day 11 NaBloPoMo 2015

11 Nov 2015 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Baking, Biography, Creative Writing, Produce, Urban Farming, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

I consider myself a very lucky woman.

I’m surrounded by loving friends and family; I have ready access to good, clean food; I’m studying things that move and inspire me and I get paid to do things I love.

This was driven home yesterday when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Listened-To made his first ever Lemon Meringue Pie. I made the pie crust and stepped him through the process of separating eggs (something he’d never done before), making the curd, getting the meringue the right consistency and so on. He is a very accomplished cook but hasn’t much experience with baking. We used a recipe from and old CWA (Country Women’s Association) cookbook and reduced the sugar to suit our tastes. It was good for me as I realised that as bullet proof as the CWA recipes are, there’s a lot of assumed knowledge in them about technique.

The lemons came from my friend Sara, so we knew they were clean and chemical free and it was another way to deal with the ongoing egg glut. It was a very fun afternoon, with my son turning up halfway through to make everyone cups of tea, poke fun and offer suggestions. We had a great time 😀

The result was delicious, though we’ll reduce the sugar even further next time.

Smiley Meringue

Smiley Meringue

Healthy new Eggplant growth

Healthy new Eggplant growth

This morning I had a brainwave in the garden about my uni assignment – that I confess I haven’t fully written up yet but I’ll get there! And there were two delightful surprises that any gardener will recognise and understand.

Firstly, a well established finger eggplant in the greenhouse I thought was beyond hope has started shooting again. I grew three from seed about four years ago and because of the unpredictable weather we can get in southern Tasmania, I kept them in the greenhouse. All three overwintered quite well the first year but I lost two this last, very hard winter. At least there’s one left to gather seed from at the end of summer.

Secondly, and to my absolute delight, I discovered a punnet of very healthy asparagus seedlings at the back of a tray. Asparagus is probably my favourite vegetable, but I really can’t come at the shop bought article. It’s one of those things I only ever want to eat fresh from my own garden. It’s a slow process growing from seed, the viability is usually best in the first year and it takes 2-3 years to get plants to maturity. Then, you have asparagus for years!

I’ll be pricking these out into home made grow tubes in a couple of weeks and putting into a permanent bed in

Delicate Asparagus seedlings

Delicate Asparagus seedlings

December. The bed will be very heavily dug over and filled with as much old chicken poo and rabbit straw as I can lay my hands on. At the moment it’s full of potatoes that are in full flower and due to be dug in the next few weeks. Potatoes grow very well here and have been my “go to” crop for reclaiming lawn areas ever since I moved in but they do strip the soil of nutrients and asparagus are notoriously hungry feeders!

I’m incredibly grateful for all the good things in my life, it’s something that tends to get overlooked in the fast pace of the modern world. There never seems to be enough hours to do it all! Meanwhile, I’m hoping to get some more uni work done, some music rehearsal and just an hour or two of gardening later…….. 😉

What are you passionate about? Let me know in the comments – I love to hear from you all!