NOVEMBER PLANTING GUIDE

Successive planting for a family of 4...

Week 1
Lettuce 10 seeds
Carrot 20 seeds
Silver beet 1 seed
Beetroot 6 seeds
Spring Onion 12 seeds

Week 2
Turnips 4 seeds
Beans 6 seeds
Broccoli 6 seeds
Coriander 2 seeds
Cucumber 3 seeds

Week 3
Lettuce 10 seeds
Cabbage 3 seeds
tomato 3 seeds
Kohlrabi 2 seeds

Week 4
Parsnips 12 seeds
Potato 8 tubers
Carrot 20 seeds
Leek 8 seeds
Peppers and chili 2 seeds
Silver beet 1 seed
Beans 6 seeds
Broccoli 6 seeds
Cauliflower 8 seeds
Celery and Celeriac 4 seeds
Coriander 2 seeds
Beetroot 6 seeds

OCTOBER PLANTING GUIDE

Successive planting for a family of 4...

Week 1
Peas 10 seeds
Turnips 4 seeds
Parsnips 12 seeds
Potato 8 tubers
Leek 8 seeds
Beans 6 seeds
Broccoli 6 seeds
Cauliflower 8 seeds
Celery and Celeriac 4 seeds
Coriander 2 seeds
Corn 20 plants
Cucumber 3 seeds
Melons 4 seeds
Pumpkins 6 seeds
Zucchini 4 seeds
Basil 8 seeds
Spring Onion 12 seeds

Week 2
Lettuce 10 seeds
Cabbage 3 seeds
Kohlrabi 2 seeds

Week 3
Carrot 20 seeds
Peppers and Chili 2 seeds
Silver beet 1 seed
Beans 6 seeds
Broccoli 6 seeds
Coriander 2 seeds
Beetroot 6 seeds

Week 4
Lettuce 10 seeds
Peas 10 seeds
Turnips 4 seeds
Tomato 3 seeds

Week 5
Cabbage 3 seeds
parsnips 12 seeds
potato 8 tubers
Leeks 8 seeds
Beans 6 seeds
Broccoli 6 seeds
Cauliflower 8 seeds
Celery and Celeriac 4 seeds
Coriander 2 seeds
Kohlrabi 2 seeds

INSPIRATION!

I have had a few people tell me they can't afford to grow there own veggies, as the start up cost of a patch is too much, and this can be true! I think you can be creative about it, you don't need raised beds, or a designated veggie patch at all. Do you have an existing flower patch? Have you thought of growing 'ornamental' fruit or veggies in that space so you can serve a dual purpose?

How about Rhubarb, beautiful red stems with bright green leaves.

Kale, purple or green always looks pretty.

Stick some garlic in the ground, no one will know that it's a bulb of garlic instead of a daffodil (well i won't) and garlic flowers are so pretty!

Who said veggies need to be grown in a veggie patch?

Globe artichokes are such a feature! Big and bold and you can get a purple variety as well!

A bay tree makes a great screen, perfect for winter soups and flavoring stocks and stews. Mine cost me under $5 and is now huge, and produces enough leaves for me to pick from it a couple of times a week!

Rainbow silver beet are so so pretty, with shades of red, pink, orange and yellow, why not add a splash of colour to your flower garden through winter? Something similar would be beetroot, great splash of colour!

You can get some wonderfully bright and multi-coloured chilis! And they do magnificently well inside on a warm window sill! move them outside in summer and you will enjoy you chili plant for years!

Cabbages look great as a boarder, get one like a savoy, bluey, pinky, purpuley with beautifully crinkled leaves! LOVE!

I grew my cucumbers and pumpkins over an arch last summer, why not so this in your yard, no patch required and not much space is used up, just dig a hole and plant your creeper in! I had so many cucumbers i couldn't keep up!

Herbs do so well in a window box, inside or out, in among your flowers!

So who cares if you have no 'patch' and get creative inter-planting in your flower garden and reap the reward of home grown veggies!

CUCUMBER GLUT - HOMEMADE PICKLES

I have a beautiful cooking and gardening book by Stephanie Alexander called kitchen garden companion. I love this book because it not only tell you everything you need to know about that particular plant including the soil type, soil preparation, climate, position, when to grow it, water requirements, how to plant it, successive planting, when to fertilize, harvest period, pests and organic control, companion planting, and the quantities you need to plant to sustain a family of four. It then has a detailed section on growing and harvesting, container planting, preparing and sharing and then gardening and cooking that particular plan with children. What i love is it also has a handful of recipes using that ingredient. So if your stuck with a heap of it you can use it without thinking too hard about it. 

This year i found myself with over 10 kilos of cucumber - yikes how on earth am i going to use all those cucumber?? Well in my trusty book Stephanie has a recipe for bread and butter pickles from her sister and i would like to share it with you!

I made this recipe times 5, so it is very easy to multiply if you have had as many cucumbers as i have. 

500 mls freshly picked young cucumbers unpeeled and sliced very finely -you could use a mandolin or a slicing attachment of your food processor - but i don;t have either of these so i did it with a very sharp knife!)

1 large onion very thinly sliced

1 1/2 tbs salt

1/4 hot water

Pickling liquid:

1C white vinegar

1C white sugar

2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp chopped dill

1/4tsp ground turmeric

1 fresh long chili (her recipe calls for 1/4tsp dried chili flakes)

Mix cucumbers and onion in a bowl. Dissolve salt in hot water in a stainless-steal sauce pan over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until completely dissolved, then pour this mixture over cucumber and onion mixture. Mix thoroughly and leave for 3 hours, rinse saucepan. 

Tip cucumber and onion into a colander resting over a plate or bowl. Press with back of spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. 

To make pickling liquid, mix all ingredients together in rinsed out saucepan. bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Tip the cucumber and onion into pickling liquid and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove from heat and leave to cool in the saucepan, then spoon into sterilized jars, ensuring the cucumber mixture is covered with pickling liquid. Seal, label and date the pickle.

TIME TO PULL THE SUMMER VEGGIES!

Well we have had a very sad wet summer in Melbourne, great for the catchments but my patch just didn't preform very well. My pumpkins and zucchinis suffered from powdery mildew and the few pumpkins i harvested split. I barley harvested any zucchini which are usually a bumper crop! The best performers this year were cucumber with half retiring to the pickle jar! I've also had an abundance of chilies with more that half still hanging on the tree begging to turn red! So with the great fluctuation in weather my patch is confused,  one week the veggies are dying off as the conditions are not right for the crop and the next weeks it is a flourish with new growth and the plant looking healthy and productive. But as we head into autumn I think i will be pulling my zucchinis and tomatoes to make room for winter cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower surrounded by spinach, silver beet, beetroot, turnips, parsnips, garlic, onions and celery to name a few. Last week i snuck  a few bulbs of garlic in the ground and already they are sprouting to life. My cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower seeds have germinated and are growing strong! In a few weeks they will graduate to the garden!

Just one of my chili plants that are heavy laden with fruit!

For the labour day long weekend my family went camping around Marysville and stumbled upon a market. a stall holder was selling heirloom seeds and is known as the pumpkin lady! She gave me great tips and i bought a beautiful french heirloom pumpkin seed pack called bumpkin pumpkin! Cant wait for next spring to sow these seeds and have some weird and wonderful pumpkins adorning my garden! This year I grew my pumpkins and cucumber up a garden arch which worked perfectly! It made the veggie patch a little different to the standard patches and saved so much room! It also offered shade to those veggies that like a little shelter from the elements.This winter i will reuse the arches for my peas.

The end of my cucumbers climbing up my garden arch, still bearing fruit as the cold weather sets in!

I found a great supplier of hay for my chicken coop last weekend! I was paying $12 a bale at the local pet supplier and this lady was selling hay for $3.50 a bale! Awesome I bought 10 and stock piled them in the chicken coup! These will also be fantastic mulch as the weather warms up in 6 months time!

My chooks - I'm lucky to have a friend that works for an animal rescue center and when she get's chickens in she calls me up and see's if i'm interested in giving them a home! In return I get beautiful fresh eggs and manure for my garden!

I am after some compost worms as I lost mine in the extreme heat this summer! I am willing to trade heirloom seeds or eggs or comfrey roots for some so if you have surplus compose worms please contact me! I use the casting as a medium to spout my seeds, and the liquid is a great fertilizer for the veggie patch! If you have any knowledge please feel free to share!