Living In The Land Of Oz: Spring has Arrived in Oz

Spring has arrived and with it the first of the spring rains. Its lovely and everything is fresh, clean and watered. Its been quite a dry Winter and I've only watered lightly. I didn't realise how dry the soil was until i went to pick some lettuce yesterday. I'm beginning to think that one of the biggest items on the list of Cons for raised garden beds is that the water just drains away. I thought that i had sufficient compost, mulch, and humus throughout the soil but I think I might need even more. There needs to be a moisture barrier to keep it in the top half of the beds. Perhaps some of Chel's Ollas from Going Grey and Slightly Green. Any more ideas?

I've been playing around with Smilebox creating collages from my own pictures. I really want to blog with my own where possible, so I'm trying to improve my knowledge base. What programs do you use? I really want to know. Some of my fellow bloggers have amazing pictures and artwork and I'm not sure how you are doing it. The Toolbar in Blogger has so few options.

Looking at the collage above I certainly have a blue/purple colour pallet going on. I've looked at the packets of seeds I have on hand and there are more of the same.

This lovely little metal plague was found in a discount bin for $3 on the last day of trade for our local Sam's Warehouse. I also picked up some hand fishing reels for $1 each. Since Tom broke my fishing line last time we were out fishing, I thought I might just give them a go. Tom and I are not serious fishermen and we just drop a line off a pier, throwing the fish back in or giving them away. Actually its been a little while so hopefully with the warmer weather we might get back out there. If i pick a pier a few hours away then we can combine it with some driving experience. Tom now has 72 hours in his log book but must reach 120 by 28th Feb next year.

I've been browsing my Gardenate App on my Iphone and planning my Spring garden.

Planting in September for Australia - temperate regions

Amaranth (also Love-lies-bleeding)	sow after risk of frost has gone	Harvest from December
Artichokes (Globe)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from August
Asparagus	Plant in garden.	Harvest from 24 months
Asparagus Pea (also Winged bean)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Basil	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Beans - climbing (also Pole beans, Runner beans, Scarlet Runners)	sow after frost	Harvest from December
Beans - dwarf (also French beans, Bush beans)	sow after frost	Harvest from December
Beetroot (also Beets)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Broccoli	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Burdock (also Gobo (Japanese Burdock))	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February
Cabbage	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, )	Plant in garden.	Harvest from January
Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers)	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Carrot	Plant in garden.	Harvest from January
Celeriac	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from January
Celery	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from February
Chicory (also Witloof, Belgian endive)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February
Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers)	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Chives (also Garden chives)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Coriander (also Cilantro, Chinese parsley)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from November
Corn Salad (also Lamb's lettuce or Mache)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from November
Cucumber	Bring on in pots	Harvest from December
Daikon (also Japanese radish, Lo Bok)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Dill	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Eggplant (also Aubergine)	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from January
Endive	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Fennel (also Bronze fennel)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from January
Horseradish	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February
Jerusalem Artichokes (also Sunchoke)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February
Kohlrabi	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Leeks	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from January
Lettuce	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Luffa (also Loofah, plant sponge)	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from January
Marrow	Frost tender	Harvest from January
Mint (also Garden mint)	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Mustard greens (also gai choy)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from November
NZ Spinach (also Warrigal greens)	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Oregano (also Pot Marjoram)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from November
Parsley (also curly leaf parsley or flat leaf (Italian) parsley)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Parsnip	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February
Peas	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Potato	Plant in garden.	Harvest from February
Pumpkin	Frost tender	Harvest from January
Radish	Plant in garden.	Harvest from November
Rhubarb	Plant in garden.	Harvest from 12 months
Rocket (also Arugula/Rucola)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from November
Rockmelon (also Canteloupe)	Frost tender	Harvest from December
Sage (also Common Sage)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from 18 months
Salsify (also Vegetable oyster)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from January
Silverbeet (also Swiss Chard or Mangold)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Snow Peas (also Sugar Peas, Mangetout, Chinese Peas)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from January
Spring onions (also Scallions, Bunching onions, Welsh onion)	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Squash (also Crookneck, Pattypan, Summer squash)	Frost tender	Harvest from December
Sunflower	Plant in garden.	Harvest from December
Sweet corn (also maize)	sow after risk of frost	Harvest from January
Tomatillo	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Tomato	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Turnip	Plant in garden.	Harvest from November
Winter Savory (also Savory)	Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks.	Harvest from December
Zucchini (also Courgette/Marrow, Summer squash)	Frost tender	Harvest from November

Looks like there is lots to keep all of us busy and out of trouble in the next few weeks. Happy Gardening everyone!

Thanks for Visiting Living In The Land of Oz

5 comments:

Nanna Chel1 September 2014 at 05:43
Lynda, I was wondering how you did your collage of photos so I must check out Smilebox. I use Picmonkey which has quite a few options for free and you can pay to use lots more if you choose to. Give a couple of Ollas a go and see if they work for you. I am still burying some of mine and the ones I have on the go are doing well so far.
Chris 2 September 2014 at 18:47
First time I've visited your blog, but I know I've seen you around my blogging friend's circles - and you may have even visited my blog before too? I know a lot of Lindas/Lyndas and may have confused you with someone else. Nice to visit your blog and meet you.

I'm looking into keeping raised beds too, only I think wicking beds are only the real way to water them efficiently. It's a bit of extra labour and materials, but may be worth it in the end. I hear wicking beds are great.

Another option with raised beds is to do a hugelkultur improvisation. Where you're going to site your bed, dig down another 30cms (if you have 30cms raised bed) and stick some old logs, leaves, maybe even some half rotted compost that's not quite ready to use. Then give it a good soaking. Put your raised bed on top and fill with your growing medium of choice.

I'm going to try something similar this year with hugelkultur because I have a huge excess of rotting wood on our land. Even where there is wood lying on the surface, it develops a beautiful soil underneath. This is even when the wood is lying on top of sand!

Once wood is wet and is underground, it takes a long time for the moisture to dry out, especially if there's a raised bed on top. The plants roots can go down to the wood layer and drink from there. I hear raised beds with some kind of organic fill underground, needs less watering too.

Maybe next time you clear a bed you can experiment?
Leigh8 September 2014 at 08:45
I love reading the spring gardening posts from the lower hemisphere. It starts me planning ahead to my next spring! Always lots of good ideas to be found.
Paul26 May 2015 at 21:18
Nice post!