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