I'n in Melbourne in the Dandenong Ranges and I started at the end of
Autumn with a vegie patch. I had to build a little framework covered
with chook wire to keep the possums / wallabie / rabbits etc out. Before
that they ate all the seedlings and completely ravaged two young apple
trees.

Now my broad beans are half a metre high, as are the snow peas, but they
are a little bit slower, some broke their stems and had to start again.
The bok-choi that I grew from seed shot through this week so it ended up
pre-maturely in the stir fry. Still good but only small leaves. Some
things I can't recognise yet, all was planted from seeds, but I believe
to have 2 broccoli's, three brussel sprouts and some spinach. I have to
find yet the onions, celery and caulieflower, therefore I probably have
also some weeds that are very healthy looking.

It is drizzling here now, can't complain about water, we are on the
border of the Sherbrooke Forest in a micro-climate with a lot of ferns
and generally cope well on our tank water.

I have to dig a second patch and build another "cage" to allow me to
alternate the plots and plant seedlings early spring. But this winter we
will first put in bare rooted gooseberries and two grafted aplle trees
from Petty's Organic Orchard with old varieties on them.

It has been a while since I was growing vegies but it starts to come
back and now I've started again I'm keen to keep this up. Our compost
bin is full and squirming with wormies so the new plot will get a good
feed.

Ernie




"Chookie" wrote in message
...
I planted some more seedlings ahead of the supposed heavy rain, which
has now
become showers, and by tomorrow will probably be occasional light
showers...
sigh. Today I planted a few more punnets' worth of seeds, and did a
bit of
direct sowing. Here's the list:

Mixed brassicas and a few lettuces (both seedlings and seeds)
Climbing snow peas
Spinach
Black Spanish radishes
Beetroot
Chives

Also, Global Garden Planting Guide said to plant seeds of:
Capsicum
Chilli
Tomato

So I did, but I wouldn't have bothered without my new heating pad.
I've tried
planting seeds in punnets in Jul/Aug and they come up, but grow very,
very
slowly, even in a warm sunny position. My later seedlings invariably
overtake
them. We'll see what happens to this lot. I'm keen on early
capsicums and
tomatoes as late ones cop fruit fly (apart from last year, when it was
so dry
we didn't get fruit fly... or many tomatoes, because of lack of
moisture!).

In the vegie patch, the rhubarb crowns have struck, broad beans are in
flower,
and one trellis of peas is doing really well, though not yet
flowering. The
brassicas have been very slow to grow (sunshine and warmth balanced
out by
high winds and water restrictions). And there is heaps of parsley.

Pulled a few carrots out from a patch I planted last spring. OK,
they're
painfully slow to grow and didn't look too flash, but the TASTE...
even if
carrots are $1.60/kg, it's worth growing more. The new lot I planted
aren't
up yet.

How are the other vegie patches going?

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Life is like a cigarette -- smoke it to the butt." -- Harvie Krumpet