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Purple sage growing in a raised herb planter box

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Herb grown in a raised garden bed made form up-cycled pallets

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Are you laughing at me? I’m incredibly proud of

Are you laughing at me?

I’m incredibly proud of this image for so many reasons.

I’m grateful for the time that my son Angus and I spent together making the nest box and the skills that I have passed on to him.

I love the care and collaboration that Angus demonstrated when we installed the nest box, high up in a tree adjacent to our dam. He held the ladder and passed me the tools and equipment that I needed.

I feel the connection to country that small projects like this help to foster by increasing the diversity and resilience of our ecosystem.

I’m excited that so quickly a thriving young family has decided to call our nest box home.

I’m surprised it’s Laughing Kookaburras that have taken up residence. We based this nest box on a design in The Nestbox Book, published by the Gould League (it’s out of print but still available as a PDF). The design is intended for ducks, and that’s why I chose it. The Wood Ducks looking for nesting sites on our property find no suitable options (but provide a handy reminder to plant my tomato seeds). I wanted to give them a place to nest. Alas, no Wood Ducks. But the Kookaburras are way more impressive in my opinion. Their choice of home is most surprising because The Nestbox Book states that Kookaburras are very particular when it comes to nest boxes. Based on the specifications, the duck nest box shouldn’t suit them at all. Perhaps someone forgot to tell our Kookaburras this?

Kookaburras have a complex social system, especially when it comes to breeding. They hold strong family ties (just like my own family) and the offspring from previous years usually hang around and assist with sitting on the eggs and feeding their younger siblings when they hatch. If our family had a totem, it would be the Kookaburra.
Our whole family are captivated by this recent discovery of the nesting Kookaburras. We’re really looking forward to watching the family dynamics in action as the young hatch and grow.

For so many reasons, this is a happy memory that I’ll hang on to for a long time.

@gouldleague_vic

#nestbox #kookaburra #gardenhabitat #nestingseason

🥬🥕 You’re probably noticing vegetables sta

🥬🥕 You’re probably noticing vegetables starting to flower and set seed (bolting). Many of mine are. 🌸

Leafy greens such as silverbeet, beetroot, carrots, rocket, parsley and coriander are all bolting. This is a seasonal event caused by lengthening days (photoperiodism). When vegetables flower and set seed like this their leaves can become bitter. Root crops can become tough and woody. Many of these vegetable flowers are great for attracting beneficial insects. I’ll look forward to seeing plenty of ladybirds and hoverflies visiting them soon. 🐞

Are you noticing vegetables bolting in your patch this spring?

#photoperiodism #reachforthesky #vegetableflowers #signofthetimes

Growing apricots in this part of the world can be

Growing apricots in this part of the world can be a bit hit and miss. But I’m quietly hopeful that these will lead to jam and bottled apricots aplenty this summer.

I've previously highlighted all the issues that could prevent the incredible blossom event on my apricots from becoming an abundant harvest. Well, the good news is that all my apricot trees have cleared the first few hurdles. They have flowered abundantly and the incredible fruit set shows that pollination has been great. The relatively dry spring, with low humidity, has prevented an outbreak of blossom rot. There are still plenty more hurdles to come but I’m a few steps closer to apricot abundance.

How are your stone fruit trees looking? Have they set a lot of fruit?

#backyardorchard #homegrownapricots #fruitthinning #stonefruit

🥦 The brassicas, such as broccoli and cauliflow

🥦 The brassicas, such as broccoli and cauliflower, are coming to an end. Some of the older plants are sending up such tiny little side shoots that it’s not worth harvesting them.

🐝 The yellow brassica flowers that they develop are utter bee magnets.

⚠️ But I need to be careful to not allow the plants to develop seed. If this spills into the garden and allows self-sown plants to form, it can create issues for future crops.

🧟‍♂️ Brassica seed often doesn’t come out true to type. Seed-saving from these plants is not advised unless you take specific measures to prevent cross-pollination. I directly sow my brassica crops, so allowing cross-pollinated seed to fall from this year’s crop would contaminate my garden beds and may result in broccoli or cauliflower that is bitter or has other unwanted attributes next year.

#beemagnet #yellowflower #bolting #seedsaving

October is a busy time in the garden. My to-do lis

October is a busy time in the garden. My to-do list this October includes:

💧In my part of the world, the soil moisture can flip from waterlogged to bone dry in the blink of an eye. Two years ago, this brought me unstuck when a sudden warm and dry period in November caused my summer raspberry canes to abort their developing fruit. Lesson learnt: now, every October, I now check my irrigation is optimised, fix any leaks and flush all the lines, ready for the summer ahead. Come along to my upcoming irrigation workshop on November 9 to learn more.

🌽 Sweet corn is a little more tolerant of cool soil than most summer vegetables. I grow several crops of sweet corn in succession to ensure a very long harvest period. My first crop will be sown this week into Hiko pots and placed in the greenhouse.

🥒 At the same time, I’ll be sowing some of my early cucurbit crops, such as cucumbers and zucchini, into pots in the greenhouse. I’ll sow super-fast-growing cucurbits such as pumpkins and spaghetti squash directly into the garden, under the protection of my polycarbonate pumpkin tunnels.

🐔 There’s plenty of planting to be done over the next 12 weeks. I’ll need to keep the chickens and their mobile tractor rotating through the garden to help with soil preparation. It takes a fair bit of planning to maximise their contribution to clearing beds, working the soil and fertilising.

🌱 Weeding, weeding, weeding. October will see the need to weed increase. I’ll switch up my strategies over the coming month to more broad-scale, low-input weed control, including solarising and smothering some weedy areas.

🧄 In October, the garlic plants begin sending up their scapes (flower stalks). I love harvesting garlic scapes – they’re delicious. Removing them allows the plant to invest more energy into forming a large bulb.

🍓Watching the strawberry plants. I normally don’t harvest many strawberries until November, but last year we harvested a few handfuls in the last fortnight of October. I’m hoping for the same again this year.

📖 Read my garden update and planting guide for October here:
➡ Link in bio

#plantingguide #melbournegarden #gardenupdate #whattoplant

My partner Caryn complains that I never do the fin

My partner Caryn complains that I never do the final 10% of any task. I’m a perfectionist. So it isn't a case of the final 10% becoming “near enough is good enough”. The first 90% of my work is spent being meticulous and focussed. But then another “shiny thing” appears on the horizon, and I become distracted. I love starting new projects. The “current project”, quickly becomes the “old project” and it languishes.

This was certainly the case with my dragonfly sculpture. The structure is made from reclaimed bits of steel, galvanised sheeting and wire mesh. It took me ages to put it together and I had a lot of fun constructing it as part of my journey of teaching myself to weld. I completed the sculpture itself in November 2023 in a mad rush to enter it into the Kyneton Show. It scored “Best Exhibit” and I am quite proud of the achievement.

Yet, when I brought the sculpture back home (see final images for the spectacle this created in the back of my ute) I just plonked it in the garden on its temporary stand. Yes, it looked great in the garden, but it wasn’t my original plan. The initial vision was for it to soar, very high up in the air, not languish a meter above the ground, swamped by plants.

This week I ticked off another “ten-percenter”. It’s only taken 10 months, but my dragonfly is finally where it belongs, soaring over the garden.

#tenpercent #kyneton #gardenart #gardensculpture

🏉 Tomorrow is Grand Final Day. I don’t care m

🏉 Tomorrow is Grand Final Day. I don’t care much for footy these days, but this weekend is an exciting time for Melbourne based gardeners.

🌱 I reckon that AFL Grand Final weekend is a great time to plant a few early tomato seedlings into the garden. This gives you the best chance of harvesting a ripe Christmas Tomato.

🍅 However, before you race out and get planting, I wouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket. Planting too early may result in stunted growth and issues with diseases. I believe the best time for planting tomatoes in Melbourne is around mid-October. So plant a few plants this weekend and the rest of your crop in a fortnight.

⏳ Folks in the outer suburbs may need to wait even longer to plant. I’m based in Central Victoria. So at start of November, I’ll pay more attention to the weather forecast to make the decision. But it is likely that I’ll plant in the first or second week of November.

☠ What harm can planting early do? A lot more than you think. It’s not so much about the risk of frost, it’s more about cool soil temperatures. My Fool’s Garden experiment shows that planting early can set back tomato plants too far. Seedlings planter later, at a more optimal time soon overtake early planted seedlings and become more productive.

👀 If you’re going to forge ahead this weekend and pop a few plants in the ground anyway, then have a read of tmy guide to growing great tomatoes.

➡ Head to the Leaf, Root & Fruit website to read it.

#aflgrandfinal #tomatotime #vegetablepatch #homegrowntomatoes #melbournegarden

These school holidays the kids have really enjoyed

These school holidays the kids have really enjoyed harvesting asparagus. Which is a good thing because we’re drowning in the stuff. Every second day we head into the garden to pick. They hold the stalks, while I snip them off at the base.

This bunch weighs 850g, two days ago I picked 1100g. That's nearly two kilos of asparagus in three days.

Growing asparagus is almost perverse. You sometimes need to wait years for the crowns to establish and become productive. But once they have established, in spring you can almost see the spears growing. At this point they are great for engaging children with short attention spans.

Check out my How to Grow Guide for plenty of hints and tips about growing asparagus. Head to my Substack to read it.

#schoolholidayfun #homegrownasparagus #gardeningwithkids #spearheads

🍊🍋 Last week I posted an update on my passi

🍊🍋 Last week I posted an update on my passionfruit vine and explained how the suckering rootstock indicated to me that it's time to give my citrus trees some love.

✂️🎥 I pruned my lemon trees this week and made a quick video showing you how to prune both small and large citrus trees.

📖 You can read more about citrus pruning and maintenance in Part 4 of my 5 part guide to growing citrus:

➡ head to the Leaf, Root & Fruit webpage to read it

🐔💩 While you’re at it, now is the perfect time to give your citrus trees a nitrogen rich feed. My preferred option is Chicken manure, but you can use an off the shelf fertiliser too.

#citruslove #howtoprune #lemontree #fruittreepruning

A few aerial images from the garden that I took la

A few aerial images from the garden that I took last week with the drone. It was a rare day for this time of the year. Calm, without much wind.

There's blossom everywhere, the bees are buzzing and everything is springing back to life.

How's your garden shaping up this spring? If you're keen to get planting, then my spring planting guide will help with what vegetables you can plant now:

https://www.leafrootfruit.com.au/spring-planting-guide-for-melbourne/

#kynetongardens #aerialimage #backyardorchard #mygardenstyle #spingtime

🌸 HAPPY SPRING EQUINOX! ☀️Today we have an

🌸 HAPPY SPRING EQUINOX!

☀️Today we have an equal amount of day and night. For the next six months the days will be longer than the nights!

🌏 The Earth tilts on its axis throughout the year. This makes the Sun change its path through the sky at different times of the year. In my part of the world, the vernal (spring) equinox occurs tonight (Sep 22) at 10:43pm. At this point the Earth’s axis is pointing neither towards or away from the sun. On this day we have experience equal amounts of night and day.

❄️ In winter the Sun rises very north of due east and sets very north of due west. At midday on the winter solstice it appears very low (28 degrees) on the northern horizon.

☀️In summer, the Sun rises very south of due east and sets very south of due west. At midday on the summer solstice it appears almost overhead (75 degrees).

📐Today at midday the sun was 52 degrees above the horizon.

📏 In the next day or so, go outside at midday (if the sun is shining through the clouds) and mark our where the shadows are in your garden. Any areas in full sun at midday are likely to be in full sun at midday for the next six months. This helps you to analyse your site and decide where to locate elements such as vegetable garden beds.

💻 It doesn’t matter if the sun doesn’t come out, or you are too busy at midday. You can look up the angle of the sun at different times of the year for your latitude. This enables you to calculate the length of shadows cast by objects of various heights (at midday). There’s finally a use for your high school trigonometry! This image shows the calculations for MELBOURNE (and all locations on the same latitude).

🌳The amount of sun your backyard receives at different times of the year is influenced by many factors. These calculations are only for sun angles at midday. They don’t take into account morning and afternoon sun, the influence of trees (deciduous vs evergreen) and other complications.

📖 Read more about site analysis of your garden in Part One of the Vegetable Patch from Scratch series.

➡ Head to my Substack to read it

#equinox #melbournegarden #highschoolmaths #siteanalysis

❄ My grafted passionfruit have struggled with th

❄ My grafted passionfruit have struggled with the cold this year.

⛏ I planted them last November and they thrived all summer and autumn. But over the winter they have suffered frost damage to most of the tender young leaves and growing tips. That being said, they’ve survived, which is better than the previous few plants that I have tried. The difference has been the timing of planting of these more recent and successful crops.

🌱 Now I’m noticing a few rootstock suckers emerging. It’s common for this rootstock to become quite invasive and weedy in the garden. Normally gardeners wouldn’t be happy to see this occurring and I’ll be keeping on top of the suckers by carefully weeding them out.

🌸 But I’m also excited by the suckers. This is because the suckers show that the plants are responding to the warming soil temperatures of spring. In this part of the world, most evergreen trees such as passionfruit and citrus go into a state of cold induced dormancy in winter. When any tree breaks dormancy, be it deciduous or evergreen, it tends to put energy into root growth for weeks before putting energy into growing new foliage.

⏰ To me, these rootstock suckers are a sign that the passionfruit, citrus, avocados and other subtropical plants in my garden are slowly waking up again. They have survived another winter. It’s now time for me to get busy with some maintenance activities on these trees:

💩 It’s time for a feed. Citrus, passionfruit and avocado trees are hungry feeders. So I’ll be giving them all a good dressing of chicken manure to give them the energy to put into the new growth

✂ Snip snip. It’s also haircut time. I don’t need to touch the avocados or passionfruit, they’re still too young. But some of my citrus need to be reduced in size. I’ll be getting the hedge trimmers out (this is the tool I recommend for pruning citrus) and getting my citrus trees in shape for spring. Pruning citrus now should stimulate a flush of new growth, but by the time the new growth emerges, most of the frost danger will have gone.

👀 Check out my guide to growing citrus
➡️ Head to my the LRF webpage to read it

#passionfruitvine #microclimate #rootstock #sucker

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