Planting in the Rain

Laying out the packets, deciding what to plant.

Planting in the rain is as much fun as a kid playing under the overflowing tank – well nearly!


Yeah…it’s raining again and one month has passed since my last feverish planting effort - that crop is powering, almost waist high corn…yippee!


So yesterday I planted more corn, beans and a couple of different types of lettuce. I should plant some more carrots while the rain is here too.


Remember best time to plant small seeds is during a wet period as they need to stay moist, planting now can sometimes cut germination time in half.

Also now is kind of last chance in these parts (SE QLD) to plant potatoes, next time I get to town I’m going to get some seed spuds to plant, can’t wait.

So, c’mon get planting - don’t wait another day!

Wet, lush, green and powering - I love the rain!

Dagun Growers Market

We took the family for a drive this afternoon and checked out the Dagun Growers Market. It's only about fifteen minutes away and only held once a week at the train station. The town itself basically consists of a small local school, saw-mill, a dozen houses or so and the train station. The regular tourist train isn't running out this way anymore, so the growers market is a relatively new initiative to bring the community back together and showcase their 'home-grown' goodies. We even spotted a few unique salad greens amongst the mix which has motived us to diversify with our garden like 'endive' and 'mizuka'.

Everyone was friendly and the kids had a play on the dis-used railway tracks. We picked up some potatoes, cucumber, honey, a pineapple and pumpkin bread! The prices were really good - but the food mileage is awesome - all the stuff for sale had been grown within a really close radius of the town!
Not having any expectations, all in all, the experience was pretty good - but in reflection, it would of been great to have some fruit trees for sale (I know there is a grower only 10 min away) and dairy produce (semi-big company only 5 min away who does a whole plethora of goodies).

Some would argue the point of buying everything local - but we don't live in a commune and sometimes it is not entirely possible! We don't get too hung up on buying and eating local, but perhaps having one meal a week with local or homegrown stuff is a start. For instance tonight we had toasted pumpkin bread, topped with local bacon (Langshaw Pork), rocket and beet leaves from our garden, drizzled with local olive oil (Fat Hen Farm)! Dessert will be mango sorbet that I made a few weeks back using local mangoes!

A Spiritual Moment

Some may remember that little over two weeks ago the very first seeds where planted in our new garden. I'm wondering how many others planted back then, and if so are about to enjoy the spiritual moment we had last night…

Yes, our first harvest - albeit some small leafy greens… It was still just a moment of pure bliss to have some mouth watering tender new leaves that we grew from a tiny spec of insignificant nothingness - amazing!

Now this might not top the charts of 'first' moments in life, but it's up there! Having such a long break of growing with extreme heat and lack of rain in December, to now be rewarded.

For those who don't 'grow' I would like to quote Stephanie Alexander (Author, 'My Kitchen Garden') which sums up our thoughts pretty much about how we feel…

"Developing your own product kitchen garden is very satisfying, and nothing tastes as special as home-grown produce. You and your family can be confident that the food you are eating is not only fresh and seasonal, it is also free of any harmful chemicals, it has not been transported long distances…"

So get out there, no matter what scale and plant a seed or two!

Giving the Seedlings a Boost

Yes allot of the seeds planted a week and a half ago are well and truly up, especially the corn, beans, zucchini and cucumber. So now is the time to push these suckers out of the ground and upward!

Our rows of corn - less than 2 weeks ago just a seed...

A mild fertiliser will help them along! I reckon the best stuff to use is seaweed/fish fertiliser or good ol' thrive (not organic). If you use thrive use it at half rate to avoid risk of burning. You need to apply these weekly for the next month. Also as the beans and corn get up they only need a good fertiliser once you may have done this as a “pre=planting fertiliser” or you can do when the plant has a couple of sets of “true leaves” then apply a side dress of blood and bone or similar all round gear. Phosphorus or Potash is good too depending on the crop. Will talk fertilisers more soon as I will do my crops within a week using blood and bone.

In the meantime don’t drop the ball, push them plants out of the ground and look out for grubs on the attack!

Salad Greens