the new (growing) year

Well it's the beginning of October tomorrow and that means in spite of the dreadful dry conditions, my thoughts are turning all green...

Acer palmatum in spring green attire

I'm starting to get itchy fingers to be planting out the spring garden. Over the winter months we have done an incredible amount of cleaning and sprucing up around our very large yard - laying tonnes of mulch, clearing out weeds, consolidating garden beds, pruning trees and hedges....

grevillea 'moonlight'

This growing season I'm going to attempt to keep better garden records - I'm inspired by my late grandfather, who was a spectacular gardener, and used to keep wonderful records of all his planting and harvesting times on the back of used envelopes - which he tucked into the local telephone directory... well new times call for new methods (I'm not knocking your envelope/directory system Pop!) so I'm going to keep my record of planting times, bed rotation, harvesting, seed varieties and such like - right here!

On a simple level I just thought it would be nice for me to keep accurate records of what's happening in the garden, so I can look back on things and keep an eye on what worked and what didn't - then I thought, if I'm recording it all here, maybe it might be useful or interesting for other gardeners - and well to be honest I thought that maybe it will help me stick to my 'to-do' list if I post it publicly!


So my plan is that once a week - on the weekend, I'll put up my 'to-do' list in the side bar of the blog, and in another part of the side bar I'll have a 'jobs completed' list - and here in the posting section I'll highlight some of those jobs with a few nice pics and maybe the odd instruction or two.... well that's my working plan - and as any good farmer/gardener is thoroughly aware - plans should always be open to change according to the prevailing conditions (that's my out-clause!)

Banksia baxterii

I think it could be loads of fun for all the family (hey I've got to motivate the mob here somehow...) and as I think this season is going to be terrifically tough, I think it's worthwhile documenting it....

So stay tuned - in the next post I'll try to give some basic information about the garden so that everyone understands the garden's state-of-play (and I'll have that first 'to-do' list posted... I promise!)

parsnips anyone?

The rapid onset of warmer weather has meant I've got some changes to make in the vege garden - first thing - all the remaining parsnips have to lifted right away... and just look at the size of some of them!




you'd think that a parsnip this big would be a hard and horrible creature - but no - this monster was soft and lovely from end to end - but what to do with such a HUGE specimen (there's only so much baked parsnip one can eat in a single meal....)

when faced with a parsnip deluge - my thoughts turn to...

SOUP!

and as I think my parsnip soup would make a convert of hardened parsnip avoiders, in the interests of parsnip appreciation I'm going to share it here:

Sams Creek Parsnip Soup (2009 version)

one monster parsnip (or about 6 ordinary sized ones!) - roughly chopped
3 small leeks (or one med. onion) sliced
1 small potato - cut into small pieces
1 litre vegetable stock (you can substitute water for a much milder soup)
1 teaspoon of each: mustard powder, tumeric, middle eastern spices, yellow mustard seeds
half teaspoon of each:mild curry powder, celery salt
salt and pepper to suit
dab of butter/olive oil



1. using a heavy bottomed saucepan - sweat leeks in butter/oil until soft (use a low temperature)
2. add spices and seasonings then parsnips and potato and stir - make sure spices coat the vege mix
3. add vege stock (this should just cover the vege mix - add water if more moisture is required) and bring to the boil
4. reduce heat and simmer until the vege mix is very soft and yielding (approx 40 mins)
5. roughly mash the vege mix - then blend the mixture until smooth




serve with a dab of greek/natural yoghurt or sour cream (serves about 4 hungry bodies)


yummmo!

pruning

I'm pleased to report that the pruning is now all done (whew just in time! spring seems to be rushing in)



I have a simple - 'one method fits all' style of pruning... everything gets the old 'vase' shape hair cut.... (yes I know some deciduous fruit trees would rather a different shape - but this is all I can do!)

I start by taking out with the long arm loppers ( that I affectionately refer to as 'the bolt cutters') and cut out any growth in the middle of the tree - next I go around the outside of the tree and remove long branches to keep the tree nice and compact (I've got a lot of trees in a tight area - keeping them neat and trim is a must - it also assists with superior fruiting). Then I reach way up high and take out the top. Time to stand back and take in the emerging results... anything that catches my eye as standing out from the crowd gets a bit of a trim.

Now it's on to the smaller secateurs... all the little weedy little growth gets the chop - so too all the damaged or diseased stems... chop chop chop.

Around and around the tree I go (singing 'here we go round the mulberry bush' of course!)


and voila!

Abas apple
whilst I love my pruning results here it's not a very productive tree...

it's all done.... next victim....

spring?

Its not spring until next week - but tell that to the trees...




the apricot began its blossom run a few weeks ago (and with it - so began the aphid invasion.... grrrrrrrrrr)



The white (or 'king shahtoot') mulberry (Morus macroura) is not far behind - the leaf bud is about to unfurl and with it will come the fruit.

But before I can gobble into their super sweet long fruits its neighbour the Black mulberry ( M. nigra) will be ready - look its already got fruit on the go...




YUM!

all this reminds me - I haven't pruned the trees yet - eeeeek! this happens every year...

note to self - DO THE PRUNING IN JULY...

more blossoms in the orchard

The second flush of blossoms is now moving through the orchard - Our deciduous orchard was planted 9 seasons ago - and we had a very big prune this past winter - but our thought has always been - keep the tree smaller with fruit easier to pick - and we are thinking to the future - when we may cover the whole area to create a chook paradise. We've planted early, middle and late season deciduous fruit trees to extend the eating season as far as possible - and if I include the citrus, I can't recall a time throughout the year when there isn't something to pick from a some tree somewhere in the garden

Now the first apples are blooming - our earliest variety is a Cox Orange Pippin (that Sass 'pruned' into an 'artistic' shape a few season ago... poor tree)

and second is the Granny Smith - what a large flower this has - I just love the pink tinges! It will be followed by our Jonathon, Abas, Lady William, Gala and others


Our larger pear tree is a busy place - both native and honey bees are swarming all over it (the pear has taken on a marvelous pendulous shape - we don't prune it as it is in another part of the garden)


The cherry is blooming - but we never hold out much hope of a crop - each year it blooms well and sets fruit - but our climate isn't really right for cherries and before they ripen, many of the little fruits drop (and anything remaining gets snapped up by birds before we can get to them)... maybe this year....




And some of the citrus are already blooming again - citrus are such great trees - the orange blossom smell is divine, and they're so productive - the small citrus grove is now in its fourth season - so we are expecting great things over the next 12 months!