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Home » Edible Gardening Blog for Melbourne Based Gardeners » 2015 » September » 24

Daily Archives: September 24, 2015

How to Grow Cucamelons in Melbourne, Mouse Melon, Mexican Sour Gherkin. — Cucamelons are becoming an increasingly popular edible plant in Melbourne. More and more people are asking me how to grow them, and from where to source the seed. Last summer, I grew cucamelons for the first time, they were amazing. Here’s our guide on how to grow them, it’s pretty […]

How to Grow Cucamelons in Melbourne

This entry was posted in How to Grow on September 24, 2015 by Leaf, Root & Fruit

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This evening's quick autumn harvest. Broccoli is

This evening's quick autumn harvest.

Broccoli is plentiful at the moment, especially the sprouting variety 'Di Cicco' which I find to be one of the quickest to harvest.

The first cauliflower of the season 'Snowball'

Our autumn raspberries are at peak production. We have to harvest every second day to prevent them from rotting on the canes due to the high humidity. We picked over 400g today, mostly from 'Jan's Raspberries' but also 'Heritage Everbearer' (which is a different variety to 'Heritage').

What's happening in your patch at the moment?

#raspberries #cauliflower #broccoli #autumnharvest #quickpick #frommypatch #harvest #kyneton #centralvictoria #winteriscoming

Gosh Dora (The Explorer).... you are not the most

Gosh Dora (The Explorer).... you are not the most fashionable of chooks... what with your '80s hairdo and all... But I've got to say... right now.... you are one ugly chook!

You might notice that your chooks have gone off the lay of late. That's because most chooks moult at the end of autumn. Moulting involves replacing all the old feathers with new ones. It takes a lot of protein to grow new feathers, and chooks can't eat enough to lay eggs and replace feathers... hence the break that they take. Some heritage breeds take long spells over winter, other breeds take shorter breaks. If you have hybrid chooks such as ISA browns or Hylines then you might only notice them slow down a bit a this time of the year.

Your heritage chooks should start producing eggs again in spring.

Dora is an Araucana. She and her two sisters lay blue eggs (when they're not moulting). We also have a Barnavelder, Australorp, Dorking, Scott's Greys, Marans and a Rhode Island Red. This motley crew gives us quite a colourful array of eggs. We also have a separate flock of Hylines that are fantastic foragers and useful for pest control, preparing garden beds and turning compost.

What breeds of chooks do you keep?

#araucana #backyardchooks #moulting #uglychook #kyneton #doratheexplorer #rainboweggs #protein #heritagebreed #heritagechickens

Last night at around 8:30 I clicked 'schedule' on

Last night at around 8:30 I clicked 'schedule' on our latest newsletter so that it would arrive in your inbox this morning at 7am.

In the 10 or so hours in between those events we had a visit from Jack Frost. It was quite a severe frost this morning and will wipe out most of our summer veggies that were still productive, including basil, zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers. This year the first frost has arrived quite late... last year we experienced our first frost on the 21st April. That means we've had an extra fortnight of summer abundance this year.

Eagle eyed readers of our newsletter may have noticed the following paragraph....

"Our summer veggies are slowly grinding to a halt. The first severe frost of the season is due any day now and the summer veggies will come to a complete stop."

Here's an admission that I'm not awake all night typing the newsletter so that it arrives for you first thing in the morning! That being said, a lot of time and energy goes into producing each one and I'm always grateful for the fantastic feedback I receive from our readers.

Did Jack Frost visit you this morning?

#jackfrost #autumn #goodbyesummer #frostdamage #takethataphids #white #newsletter #gardeningguide #kyneton #victoria #centralvictoria #cabbage #zucchini #echinacea #rhubarb

My first ever Hyakume Persimmon... I love persimmo

My first ever Hyakume Persimmon... I love persimmons and have helped to manage many trees over the years for clients.

We grew several persimmon trees in pots during our days as renters. The trees always looked healthy enough, but never flowered. Since moving to Kyneton, most of the potted trees have been neglected. They have remained hooked up to an automatic irrigation system and largely ignored. Imagine my surprise when I walked past the trees yesterday and saw one lonely little fruit hanging from a naked tree branch. What's amazing is that I spotted it before the birds did!

Last year we planted two bare rooted persimmons into our orchard and we are looking forward to an abundance of the fruit in coming years.

What "firsts" have you achieve in the garden lately?

#persimmon #hyakume #autumn #beatthebirds #backyardorchard #kyneton #autumnharvest #backyardharvest #myfirstever #cantwait #neglected #macedonrangesfood

Hello friend... I see you there! We see our prope

Hello friend... I see you there!

We see our property as an ecosystem rather than a garden. This approach allows room for all manner of creatures to live and thrive. Creating habitat and encouraging all creatures great and small to take up residence helps to keep everything in balance.

I recently spotted this Southern Brown Tree Frog hiding among some apples in our orchard. It is probably enjoying feasts of all manner of invertebrates that could become pests if they increase to significant numbers. In turn the frog will provide food for something else, such as a snake, kookaburra or other predator.

Every garden ecosystem needs a balanced population of predators and prey. Our upcoming workshop in the Science of Edible Gardening Series explores predator/prey interactions as well as enhancing your garden ecosystem to reduce damage from garden pests.

#predatorprey #treefrog #balance #gardenworkshop #kyneton #apples #pestcontrol #nospraysneeded #ecosystem #pestmanagement #centralvictoria

Homegrown fruit salad.... Watermelon Rockmelon App

Homegrown fruit salad....
Watermelon
Rockmelon
Apple
Pear
Nashi
Mandarin
Raspberries
Blueberries
Strawberries
Plum
Chilean Guava
Finger Lime

A dozen fruit, all freshly picked from our garden... Ready for dessert tonight.

What's happening in your patch?

#fruitsaladyummyyummy #homegrown #centralvictoria #abundance #igrewitmyself #kyneton

Our biggest watermelon ever! At 7.5kg this monste

Our biggest watermelon ever!

At 7.5kg this monster was too heavy for the kitchen scales. We had to resort to the bathroom scales to get a rough approximation.

In past years, heavy rainfall in late March has usually resulted in many of our watermelons splitting. This year has been great for growing all sorts of melons.

Of course, both kids wanted turns at trying to lift it, and push it in the wheelbarrow. Miraculously it made it inside, unharmed.

Watermelons are pretty easy to grow, even in the short growing season we have in central Victoria.

#watermelon #kyneton #wegrewit #whopper #gardeningwithkids #autumnharvest

Since early January it has been rather quiet in th

Since early January it has been rather quiet in the strawberry patch. However, the early autumn rains have brought on a flush of new growth and a crop of very large strawberries.

This huge find was quickly devoured by our resident "strawberry monster" as she likes to be called. Not many strawberries will make it inside!

What's happening in your patch?

#strawberrymonster #berrynice #whopper #autumnharvest #growyourown #gardeningwithkids #kyneton

When you are fortunate enough to be near and dear

When you are fortunate enough to be near and dear to us AND your Birthday happens to be in March just as our garden has hit peak productivity for the year....

This quick harvest as a birthday treat for someone is a great snapshot of what's happening in our garden at the moment. What's happening in yours?

#frommygarden #gardensofkyneton #summerflowers #summerharvest #heirloomvegies #birthdaygift #happybirthday #somuchcolour #kyneton #withlove #grownwithlove

We have two established pear trees in our orchard.

We have two established pear trees in our orchard. The fruit on the first one is just ripening this week. Both pear trees are laden with fruit this year. They are both in the same biennial cropping pattern. That is, they will produce a huge crop this year, virtually nothing next year (2023) but probably a large crop again in 2024.

We have picked boxes of fruit from the first tree and should do the same from the second. This has provided us with an opportunity to bottle plenty of fruit for use in winter and beyond.

We use the Vacola preserving system, with most of the bottles and equipment handed down from grandparents. After decades of use it is still going strong.

At 5 years old, our eldest child is already helping out with the harvest and preserving. I'll look forward to the day that I hand the equipment down to both our children for preserving produce from their own garden.

#vacola #preserving #gardeningwithkids #gardeningwithangus #catchandstoreenergy #builttolast #handmedown #sustainableliving #retro #vintage #cookingupastorm #waterbath #aspoonfullofsugar #pears #bottledpears

Sweet corn perfection... What's happening in your

Sweet corn perfection... What's happening in your patch this weekend?

#sweetcorn #zeamays #mellowyellow #max #summerveggies #sundayroast #organic #permaculturegarden #growiteatit #kynetonfood

A quick pick of some "pretty much" ripe plums befo

A quick pick of some "pretty much" ripe plums before the rains arrive this evening and potentially cause splitting or brown rot.

There's decent rainfall forecast for the next 24 hours. It's a good idea head out there now and harvest any fruit prone to rain damage (such as stone fruit, raspberries and tomatoes).

#backyardorchard #mysteryplum #harvest #therainsarecoming #fruittree #birdnetting #maybesatsuma #kyneton #abundance #gumtreesandplumtrees #weatherforecast #catchandstoreenergy

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