GARDEN UPDATE FEBRUARY 2014

What is happening in the garden…

The farm is alive with people from all around the world working like bees, bringing grapes in to make delicious wine. The evenings are starting to cool down as we near that beautiful autumn time with mild wind, warm days and cool nights.

The garden is producing abundant crops with the kitchen pickling to preserve the delicious squash and cucumbers. The spring planting of tomatoes are picked up to the fourth truss with four more to go to the top of the support where they have been tipped and any side shoots removed to give all the energy to the fruit. All the zucchini are at their peak and keeping the kitchen busy and inventive as to what to do with them. Salads are happier with the cooler weather with rocket and mizuna lettuce tending to go to flower and create seed to be collected for the next planting. The beetroot planted in December are now getting picked and young leaves used in the salads.

Snake beans and bush beans are pushing out pods daily and climbing the corn stalks to reach the sky. Watermelon, pumpkin and butternut are quietly doing their thing growing bigger and bigger and bigger. Banana capsicum are at size and have been given some shade to stop the skin from burning as they turn from green to their colours which should take a few weeks.

Thanks to the kids who helped plant snap peas in the spiral garden. These will help fix nitrogen in the soil as they grow, then mulched before flowering and dug in to the soil. I will let some fruit so they can reap what they sowed. We have our new Biodynamic information boards which look great as well some more of the herbs used for the preparations.

It is a good time to apply horn manure, make compost, transplant seedlings, pruning wine racking and harvesting for storage from the 8-19 of February. From the 15-28 it will be good time to apply horn silica, plant seeds, graft and harvest for early consumption.

WE ARE CURRENTLY HARVESTING…

Tomatoes, Zucchini, Eggplant, Squash, Cucumbers, Beans, Tatsoi, Mizuna, Rocket, Beetroot, Salad Greens, Herbs Galore, Flowers, Radish and MULLBERRIES!! Yahoo!!

If anyone has any queries in regards to the garden please feel welcome to ask…

Jaimie