Dave's Seed.

Dave's Seedlings has been pumping out the seedlings at market over the past two years, and now I am selling the seeds I have via Dave's Seed. You can find the website at www.davesseed.com

6 years inactive

It has been 6 years odd since I last posted on my blog. It is hard to believe but it was interesting sitting down on the deck and looking at some old posts and thus I have decided to start posting again.

What has happened in those 6 years. That will be info for many future posts. The most immediate change is I took over from a good friend Dan in growing organically raised vegetable and herb seedlings. After Dan moved back to the Adelaide Hills, I have spent many months preparing the infrastructure (with thanks to local Carpenter and mate Damien), learning and keeping notes and photos on everything I do for future reference.

This venture is called Dave's Seedlings. You can follow my facebook page here if you are interested. https://www.facebook.com/tassiegerminations/  I will be at Cygnet markets selling seasonal seedlings and will venture further afield when I have the desire or levels of stock!.

Cheers
Dave

Spring is in the air and so is the summer plantings

Things are beginning to turn the tide as Spring is at hand. The silver wattles (Acacia dealbata) are starting to flower, the Dusky Robins are as active as ever and the first arrivals of the striated pardalotes have been heard. All that is needed now is for the welcome swallows to return to my shed.

This all signals the return of the preparation for the summer harvest. The coming months are vital in the success of your summer harvest. This is where my diary of sowings, when, the results etc since I moved to Tasmania has become very handy. A review of my diary shows that I had better get moving, and last weekend was the start of the coming months of dedication to the patch.

The weekend past saw the preparation of one bed which will receive the pink eye potatoes. My spud harvest last year was down on the previous two years harvests, likely a result of my lack of irrigation and the driest summer I have seen since arriving (note to self, run that dam pump for irrigation more). However the pink eyes were excellent in yield as they are early maturing are mature nicely before the onset of potentially dry weather post xmas.

This weekend may also see the first sowings of the peas and snow peas. I have opted to go with these varieties this year and I am aiming to sow triple what I did the previous year to increase the amount for freezing.

• Pea (Greenfeast)
• Snow Pea (Oregon Sugar Pod)
• Peas Sugar Snap (Cascadia)

 Other tasks on the horizon (within 2 weeks) is to finalise tomato varieties and pot up to go into hot house for germination (followed by pumpkins/capsicums a few weeks later), sow spinach, lettuce radish and silverbeet.

Currently in the hothouse are broccoli and onions which are growing well ready for late August planting.

FRUIT TREES

This is the time you should look to spray your fruit trees as prevention for various fungal issues seen on peaches (leaf curl)/raspberries (rust)/apples (scab) etc (only if you want to go organic methods that is!!!).

I adopt the burgundy mix as recommended by Peter Cundall. I found the lime method much weaker in years past and moved to burgundy which i have stuck with since (plus the mix does not get stuck in the sprayer). It is important to get this onto the buds before they burst into life. Once they burst into life do not spray. If your too late tell yourself to try and remember the next year. The down side at the moment is all the showers we seem to be getting on a daily basis down in the Huon. Rain can dilute or wash off completely the mix, but any is better than none so don't delay. Plus the washing soda does seem to help the mix stick unless the rain pours!.

extract from Gardening Australia website
Bordeaux Mixture:

1 Dissolve 100 gram of builders’ (hydrated) lime in half a standard (plastic) bucket of water. (About 5 litres).
2 Dissolve 100 grams copper sulphate (available at garden centres) in a separate half bucket of water.
3 Keeping the lime mixture agitated to prevent settling, pour it steadily into the half bucket of dissolved copper sulphate.
4 If necessary add enough extra water to make up a total of 10 litres. This is Bordeaux mixture. It is at its most effective strength when freshly mixed so must be used immediately or within a couple of days.
5 It is sprayed to completely cover the main (bare) branches of peach, nectarine and other stone fruit trees to help control leaf curl and brown rot disease. It is also sprayed over raspberry canes in late July for control of raspberry rust.

Bordeaux mixture colours the sprayed plants blue. The spray can withstand light rain. However a disadvantage with this mixture is that it tends to quickly settle so must be constantly agitated during spraying operations. The lime content also tends to easily block the fine nozzles of sprayers.

Burgundy Mixture:

This is virtually the same except that lime is replaced by washing soda (cheaply available at supermarkets in 1kg packets as a water softener).

The amounts are the same, as is the method of mixing. Always use non-metal buckets – standard 10 litre plastic buckets are ideal. If the water is slightly warm the washing soda and the copper sulphate dissolve more rapidly.

Slowly pour half a bucket of (100 grams) dissolved washing soda into half a bucket of (100 grams) dissolved copper sulphate and add more water if necessary to make up 10 litres.

The advantage of Burgundy mixture is that it does not block sprayer nozzles. It is also a little stronger and must never be used on plants in leaf.

leaf curl on peach tree

July Weather Averages

July saw a great deal of rain and the dams and tanks fill which is greatly welcome for the coming summer. It also was on average warmer than the preceding year.

July	2013	2012
Max Avg	14.6	13.7
Min Avg	4.7	3.0
Highest Max	19.3	17.0
Lowest Min	-2.1	-1.6
Rain	143.7mm	24.6mm
Rain YTD	454mm	317.7mm
Avg Wind	3.3 km/h	2.2 km/hr

June Weather Averages

This is a little late but for those locals who have some weather interest (since our closest weather station is at Grove and not the best of comparisons).

As I post this, today (July 21) has been our wettest day of the year with the heavens opening. So far we are nearing 70mm for this rain event (8mm which was ast night). The dams I see from my window have topped up nicely and are overflowing.

June	2013	2012
Max Avg	13.9	13.5
Min Avg	4.6	3.4
Highest Max	19.2	21.9
Lowest Min	-0.5	-3.1
Rain	59.5mm	25.2
Avg Wind	2.1 km/h	2.5 km/hr

The Plight of the Honeybee

Even tho bees are numerous in my patch, especially through the warmer months of the year, bees worldwide have been on the decline for quite some time. many of us are aware that this is occuring, but some of us may not know why.

The following article is an excellent review of the bee decline and highlights some interest research that is occurring around the globe.


The Plight of the Honeybee

Gasland (2010)

This is a fascinating documentary on the move to natural gas in America and the impacts that fracking (is that how it is spelt?) especially on agriculture.

With Australia moving more and more towards natural gas, it poses many questions we should consider asking the regulators before permits are approved. Gaslands 2 is about to air in America so if you have not seen this here is the youtube version.

How low will the snow go?

Winter has well and truly arrived with an Antarctic blast currently hitting Tasmania. It is 5 degrees as I write this with squall after squall coming from the mountains out west. It is times like this that the wood fireplace works overtime and makes the house a cozy 20 degrees and those days of wood chopping in summer well worth it.

When I took the picture above, it was sunny with light winds, but as I type now, this front has arrived, is blowing winds up to 60 km/hr and driving horizontal rain. The forecasters are saying snow tonight will fall down to 300 metres, but some trusty weather people I know think it may dip to lower than 200. By tomorrow will shall find out. My place is situated around 100 to 120 metres above sea level. I am unlikely to see snow on the ground from this event, tho last year we did have some snow fall and melt on impact. The kids really want to see some snow on the ground at home, but it is only a short trip up towards the surrounding hills if we really want to see it.

Today I was planning on digging up the ground between two posts in preparation for my new berry area. I have 10 chilliwack Raspberries ready to go and a logan berry. I already have about 20 raspberries in the main patch but I did not plan their plantings the best when I was in the initial rush of setting. A friend has a neat set up which has inspired me to get at least one row in that I can be proud of. However in saying that, the berries produced well last year, the are just not set up ideally.

But alas, the weather is not conducive to me getting outside and my hands dirty. Hopefully the coming days I will find that motivation. Another task I must get to is

- planting Broccoli seed in punnets into the hothouse
- go through my seeds to check what I need for the coming Spring
- do a general weeding in the patch
- harvet (the best part)
- and prepare for the U14 Youth soccer game (I co-coach) and one of my boys 8th b'day party!!!

I also need to start considering the digging in of some green manure beds so the have time to compost in before the spring plantings.

With the wild weather fronts coming through, it was interesting watching the chooks and their antics. When the sun returned, they came out of the shed and searched for food amongst the pasture. When the front arrived, they rushed for cover and sat waiting for their return to the field. The only deviation from this was one stupid young rooster who would stay out and get soaked.

Two other projects I am aiming to keep up with over the next months is

1 - continue a list of all weed species I find popping up in the patch
2 - keep a list of all garden plants that my surrounding Pademelons (wallabies) will not eat.

I will post a blog on both of these in the future, but if you have any plants proven for success around pademelons, please leave me a comment.

Enjoy
Dave

May 2013 Weather Averages

I am a little late putting this up but below are the weather Averages for May and Autumn 2013. May was much warmer than the previous year, but the minimum were lower also. There were certainly many more sunny days (and less rain).

May	2013	2012
Max Avg	18.9	15.6
Min Avg	4.6	6.9
Highest Max	27.8	23.5
Lowest Min	-1.3	2.5
Rain	46mm	103.2mm
Avg Wind	2.3 km/h	3.1 km/hr
Autumn	2013	2012
Max Avg	20.7	19.2
Min Avg	7.4	8.1
Highest Max	38.8	31.8
Lowest Min	-1.3	1.2
Rain	186mm	186.9mm
Avg Wind	3.5 km/h	3.4 km/hr

The Broccoli is huge

Over the past few weeks the late Summer Broccoli plantings have really begun to head up big. I am hoping they can be picked weekly rather than all at once tho a couple will need picking soon. Today was also the last of the summer carrots picked. There are still a few rows of January plantings with most of the winter carrots about a month away from needed use. Summer Beetroot is also now fully picked, with those planted in February just as big and looking delicious.

Today was the first pickings of the Brussel Sprouts. I am the only one who will eat these so I do not go overboard with numbers in the patch (I planted three).

Note the carrot with many legs!!!

Kohl Rabi and 2 types of Broccoli (Marathon and Arcadia)

Winter has arrived (albeit later than usual)

The past two months has seen many sunny days and warmer than usual evenings for this time of year. Until the past week, we had only seen 1 decent frost and another very light one. However last week saw the rains return with over 70mm of rain and the past two days have dropped below zero Celsius and the return of heavy frosts or fog. In my patch the frost was not quite as severe as the fog settled in but the kids down the road played there 9am soccer games on a bed of crusty ice.

I have been a bit of a lazy gardener over the past month hence no posts. The soccer season kicks in at this time of year and I am usually busy getting the weekly newsletter for the Cygnet Sea Dragons out, coaching the U8 and U14 Youth team, maintaining the facebook page and generally helping out. https://www.facebook.com/CygnetSeaDragons.


What I have done lately in the patch is lay weed matting down over the paths and cover with sawdust. This will greatly assist my weeding chores come spring, tho there seems plenty of weeding to do at the moment.

So what has been or is being harvested at the moment as the winter solstice has arrived. Here is a summary:

- The Oca was recently harvested (Oxalis tuberosa) - If you do not know what this is (also called New Zealand Yam - but it is not native to NZ) it is a little tuber that mirrors I suppose sweet potato but I think much better in flavour. We roast it and love it

- Broccoli heads are being picked, Kale is plentful

- Winter carrots are growing well and we are getting down to the last of the summer planted carrots. same for beetroot.

- Brussel Sprouts are almost ready

- Cauliflower heads are forming

- Mizuna/Mibuna/lettuce/English Spinach

- Leeks

- Garlic is shooting up

- Potato Onions were plated last weekend. These are a little different to onion in that they are onions (Allium tribe) however you plant the onion and it forms about 8 to 14 onions at harvest. These type of onions also do not bolt to seed and are not as fussy as normal onions. Many in colder districts often find just as their onions are bulbing, they suddently go to flower which is a sign that something checked their growth along the way and set them into seed formation (common problem with celery also). Potato Onions do not have this problem and are fine planted in the cold moist winter soils. (I do still grow normal onions and have seeded them in the hothouse for planting out in August)

- Green manures are growing rapidly now

- Purple Sprouting Broccoli is large in preparation for covering our Broccoli needs in late Aug, Sept and Oct.

Recently I bought some Pink Eyes in preparation for planting out in August.

For the time being, I will continue to potter about and when the sun shines do a bit of weeding as well as harvesting, but this is the time of year I like to take as much of a break from veggie gardening as I can.

Till next time

Broccoli "Arcadia"

Jerusalem Artichoke - left in ground to pick as we eat

Kale "Borecole"

Mizuna and Mibuna

Turnip "Hakueri"

Parsley

Garlic

Leeks

Tic Beans as Green Manure

Brussel Sprouts

Kohl Rabi

Carrots "Merida"

Several Reasons Why Your Hens May Stop Laying Eggs - Poultry Articles from The Poultry Site

I have not yet introduced my chooks to this blog and I will do so soon, however came across this interesting article which may explain why i struggle to get a single egg at this time of year. The girls stopped laying about 4 to 5 weeks ago when the moulting kicked in. I have pure breeds (Wyandotte, Barnevelders and  two orphaned Buff Sussex) and I have noticed that they tend to not lay for a good 2 to 3 months at this time of year when the Isa Browns used to keep laying with minimal slow down. I have been told by local chook experts that this difference is why pure breeds have a much longer life span while the ISA Brown has been created for the egg industry to have a short life but to continue egg production.

Several Reasons Why Your Hens May Stop Laying Eggs - Poultry Articles from The Poultry Site

Silver laced Wyandotte

April Weather Averages

After a warm summer things really dropped off during April.

April	2013	2012
Max Avg	19.3	20.1
Min Avg	6.8	8
Highest Max	25.8	28.1
Lowest Min	1.3	1.2
Rain	61.5mm	52.2mm
Avg Wind	3.5 km/h	3.3 km/hr

Rainfall YTD - 213mm

Winter veg patch update

The past weekend saw the removal of the majority of the summer specials such as the tomato and pumpkins. But in the other beds all the winter crops are growing well and now take centre stage in the patch. I also have laid down weed mat over all the paths and will be putting sawdust on top of this. I hope that this will help on a number of front. 1 - reduce the slug wars an 2 - reduce the weed wars. More to follow on this soon. The following are some photos of how things are going.

Broccoli "Marathon" and Brussel Sprouts

Kale "Red Russian" and Turnip "Hakurei". This turnip is delicious eaten raw or raw in salads

Kale "Borecole"

English Spinach "Winter Giant"

Jerusalem artichoke soon to be harvested

Leeks with a rogue intruder

Lettuce and Collards

Oca and Purple Sprouting Broccoli

The chance of morning frost

In the last week we have had our first glimpses of the arrival of winter with a number of mornings nudging 1 degree, extensive frosts around the corner in Nicholls Rivulet, and heavy snow above 800m asl. The fireplace has also kicked into gear for the first time since last October. The forecast for tomorrow is possibly light morning frost and I think I have gambled with the pumpkin long enough.

Today I will be picking all left over pumpkins and tomatos, no matter how underdone some are. With pumpkins I will leave as much vine on the pumpkin as possible and bring undercover on the deck. I will leave them there for 3 weeks to catch the arvo sun and hopefully sweeten up just a little more.

All ripe or having turned colour Tomato will go into the kitchen, the balance will be picked and stored in a box to ripen slowly or left on the plant and hung under a tree. Each week I will go through the boxes of green tomato and take to the kitchen the ones turning colour. I trialled picking a few earlier in the season when they were very green. About 75% of them ripened in the kitchen before some of the green ones on the plant. This shows that temperature is a key factor in the ripening of Tomato and a higher average temp in the kitchen must be the reason.

I will also pick all capsicum and watermelon.

Tomorrow I will plant garlic where some of the tomato are growing. I planted garlic in early May two years ago and they grew just as well as the garlic i planted late March last year, so I have delayed planting this year to allow more beds to open up.

And with the onset of the risk of frost heralds the Oca harvest. Oca or New Zealand Yam tastes a bit like sweet potato but even better in my books. And frosts are the time to harvest when the tops are burnt down. If you have never tasted Oca I highly recommend it.

Happy gardening.

While most tomatoes still seem to be doing well, it is there time to come out with the risk of frost

Willie Smith Organic Cider

I could count on my hands the number of apple ciders I have purchased during my life. And the majoirty of those times has been since moving to Tasmania which is not surprising looking around the area at the number of apple trees. Last Sunday we ventured over to Grove where Willie Smith Organic Cider farm was having an open day.

I never realised how much equipment was needed for producing the levels of cider these guys produce. As I walked around their orchards and buildings it was obvious that a fair level of capital is required to set up an operation as impressive as this.

Fermenting storage

Obviously we sat down after the guided tour and enjoyed tasting their cider, and tasty it was. To go with this there were some artisan products for lunch and we tried a nachos that was quite delicious.

It was interesting to note that the majoirty of apples they grow are Gala, Golden Delicious, Fuji, and Pink Lady. There may be another one which I can't remember.

Even their straight apple juice was much better than the normal shop bought reconstituted stuff. Live music was also provided by Alan Gogoll, a local guitarist from Kingston. I highly recommend you check his music out. He creates a unique sound on his guitar and is a truly talented artist.  Check him out here. hhttp://www.alangogoll.com/home.htm

It is fantastic to see ventures such as this happening locally. The Huon Valley really has so much potential.

Pumpkins and the summer crop clean up begins

Last weekend I pulled the corn. I am currently processing all this by cutting up and adding to a compost heap which will be finished when i remove the tomato and pumpkin and take the mulch from this and add to the compost. The corn provided a reasonable harvest of cobs which have all been eaten, however I will be switching to a different variety next year as the corns lacked some sweetness we are used to from our crops when we lived in Qld. I have heard the open pollinated ones may be sweeter but need to be eaten on picking as they lose their sweetness quicker than the hybrids.

We have picked 10 kgs of pumpkins which are now in storage after having sat outside in the sun for 3 weeks. Today I picked another load of gold nuggets and buttercups. The butternuts are being left on the vines till the very last minute as they need all the time to sweeten their flavours in our shorter summers of Tasmania.

The warmer march and early April has extended the Tomato harvest which large quantities still being picked. While we had one morning this week get down to 2 degrees celsius, the majority of days are still warm enough to continue the ripening of fruits. In the next 2 weeks tho I will harvest the last lot of tomato for indoor ripening.

All of these summer crops have been and will be replaced with a green manure of tic bean which is perfect for my soils which are higher in clay and create a lovely loamy clay when dug in early spring.

The next couple of weeks I have to catch up which a number of clean up jobs as the start of the soccer season and being away for work has seen me not do a great deal in te veg patch apart from harvesting. However on my work travels we stumbled upon a wombat who seemed to be interested in our presence and wondered at a distance smelly our presence often. It is easy to forget how large wombats are and they truly look like little Australian Bears.

March 2013 Weather

The march weather results from my home weather station was as follows:

March	2013	2012
Max Avg	24.2	22
Min Avg	11	9.6
Highest Max	38.8	31.8
Lowest Min	4.4	3.3
Rain	78.3mm	31.5mm
Avg Wind	4.6 km/h	3.8 km/hr

It was certainly a much warmer March than the previous year but thankfully the rains returned. There has been some noticeable new growth on the pumpkins in particular and a late rush of fruit setting and growing large.

Rainfall year to date is  148mm compared to  113mm in 2012.

Summer winds down

Things are slowing down now. I have the bulk of the winter crops in, garlic will soon go in the bed I have capsicums and watermelon in, and tic beans as a green manure have started to be planted. My corn is on its last legs. This week will likely be the last of them. There are still a couple of weeks of tomato left. Once the corn and tomato are finished I will sow tic beans to improve the soil.  The pumpkins are also nearing an end.

Tonight we started eating the first of the seasons pumpkin. 3 weeks ago I noticed one of the buttercups ready. The little nodule that joins the pumpkin to the vine had shriveled so I cut the pumpkin (with some of the vine attached) and left it in the sun for 3 weeks. We  are fussy with our pumpkin finding a number of varieties not too our liking such as sweet gray. However we really enjoyed the buttercup tonight. It had a rich deep orange colour and was lovely roasted.

The watermelon experiment will soon be tasted. Over March the vines have set a number of fruit and I am hoping they mature before the cold/frosty weather may arrive. They are only small, but I am hoping the are sweet. Whether growing watermelons in Tassie is worth it is another discussion, but I have the space to spare and the taste of these little boys will be interesting.

The capsicum has been a success. There are about 15 on each plant and they have been turning red since late February. I will be growing this variety again (Antohi Romanian).  While I hope the frost is not too early, once the frost does arrive it will herald the Oca harvest (Oxalis tuberosa). More on that next time.

watermelon (taken March 22)

Morning fog

As the seasons change, sure enough comes the Huon fog. Lately there has been some signs of the Huon fog with it rolling around the Huon River as if it was alive. And bang. The other morning the fog rose and sat up to 150 m above sea level or even more. It was so thick you could not see 10 metres in front.

Below is a picture of the fog sitting on top of the Huon River.