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Egg shells used for pest control

Published June 17, 2014 at dimensions 336 × 336 in Using Eggshells in the Garden.

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leafrootfruit

Long time followers may remember my trials and tri

Long time followers may remember my trials and tribulations with Spike the Echidna. Last spring and summer the juvenile echidna kept getting itself into all sorts of trouble. It tunnelled its way into the chicken coop. It kept digging in the garden chasing ants. But the most frustrating moment was when Spike tunnelled into my potting mix.

When I conducted my potting mix trial, many years ago now, I found that Nature’s Soil was a great product that performed really well. I use it in various practical activities during my workshops, and my workshop participants find out how amazing it is. They want to use it too. It’s hard to track down (this product is mainly used by the horticulture industry but not widely available via retail). So I try to have a pallet or two of the potting mix available for workshop participants to purchase.

Earlier in the year, Spike decided that it would go looking for ants or termites in my potting mix. At the time, I thought it had only damaged two or three bags towards the bottom of the stack. However, as investigated further, I realised that Spike has tunnelled right through the pile of potting mix, completed a U-turn and come back out a via a different route. Over a dozen bags of potting mix were ripped open in the process.

So I began putting this spilt potting mix to good use when propagating seedlings for spring planting. But now another creature has decided that it really likes my potting mix.

Spotted Pardalotes create nests by excavating tunnels into earth. Dam banks and piles of soil are usually fair game. Well, now a pair are trying to nest in a bag of potting mix. There’s only about a quarter of the bag left. After I last used the bag, I wrapped it up to prevent wind blown weed seeds from finding their way in. but somehow the pardalotes have found a way to gain entry and are busy building their nest. Ironically this is one of the bags that Spike has already tunnelled through.

The pardalotes can have it for now. There’s plenty more of Spike’s damaged goods to use in the meantime.

🌸 Longtime readers may remember that last sprin

🌸 Longtime readers may remember that last spring my apricots had hardly any blossom on them. It led to a citizen science project via social media and it turned out that my trees weren’t the only ones taking a year off.

🥳 Well, the good news is that the apricot trees are more than making up for it this year. They are covered in blossom.

🐔 However, this is no time to be counting chickens. There’s still a long way to go before I can enjoy apricot abundance. Apricot trees are not overly resilient (apples, pears and nashis are far more reliable in cool temperate climates). So much could go wrong with my apricots between now and January, when the fruit should ripen:
🐝 Poor pollination
💮 Blossom rot
💔 Snapped branches
🧟‍♀️ Gummosis
🟫 Brown rot
🐀 Rats
🐛 QLD Fruit Fly

⛈ So, compared with growing say apples, it’s a bit more challenging to ripen and harvest apricots in this part of the world. The weather plays such a large role in apricot success. The past few years have been less than ideal and I’ve hardly picked any fruit since the trees were planted. I’ll be crossing my fingers that the rain will fall at just the right time and in just the right amount to enable a bumper harvest of delicious fruit from my apricot trees this summer.

❓ How's your apricot trees looking this year? Have they covered in blossom?

📖 Read more about my apricot issues in my September planting guide and garden update

➡ Link in bio

#apricotblossom #backyardorchard #springblossom #beesknees

⏳ Is spring early this year? 🌸 As of the fir

⏳ Is spring early this year?

🌸 As of the first of September, in Australia it’s now officially spring. And spring has certainly spung. Many of my stone fruit trees are blossoming. The nashis are also about to bloom. Every year I see social media posts of stone fruit blossom accompanied by claims that spring is early this year and it’s no different this spring. However, my data shows that some of my fruit trees are flowering earlier than other years, and a few are flowering a bit later. I’ve been reviewing blossom dates for six of my stone fruit trees for which I have the best long-term data records.

📊 This table shows some of my fruit tree flowering dates for the past five years. The last column shows how this year’s blossom relates to the average of the previous four years. A negative figure indicates early flowering, a positive figure indicates later than average flowering.

📉 The overall trend for 2024 is that the stone fruit trees are blossoming a bit on the early side, but not by much. I’m surprised at how averaging the flowering date for multiple trees like this makes the pattern overall so consistent year after year. That is, when you look at a bigger data set, flowering seems to occur at around the same time.

🍎 I’ll look forward to crunching the numbers for the apple blossom later on in October as I have a bigger data set for apples.

❓ Has spring sprung in your garden?

#phenology #earlyspring #gardenrecords #gardentrend

💨The wind. Gosh I hate the wind. I can garden i

💨The wind. Gosh I hate the wind. I can garden in the rain (I’m not a paper bag). I can garden in the heat (the hotter it gets, the more active I become). But the wind drives me bonkers.

🌬 Once the wind starts howling, there’s no escaping it. It smashes me in the face, tears at my clothing, and like a ruthless older sibling poking their finger within an inch of your face, it screams into my ears “I’m not touching you”, but it may as well be. It’s an invisible force that exerts incredible influence. It seems like nothing will sit still in the wind. The branches of big trees are whipped into a frenzy, and being in close proximity to the foliage can feel like being in a washing machine. Small potted plants topple over and roll around. Nothing stays put, blossoms are ripped from trees, leaves swirl and dust gets in my eyes. I hate the wind.

🎣 Of course, the wind is not all bad. Some Indigenous cultures believe that the wind is a cleansing force. (That said, many of those same cultures make an exception for the dreaded east wind, which is considered evil. Many fishermen will agree, saying “Fish bite the least when the wind is from the east.”) Wind is useful for wind-pollinated plants such as sweet corn. It’s also great for reducing humidity and therefore limiting the impact of fungal diseases in the garden.

📅 Regardless of your take on the wind, it’s here to stay for a while. September in southern Australia marks the start of the winds. They’ll continue to blow and howl fiercely and frequently for the next seven months. I hate wishing time away, but I’m already looking forward to autumn and some respite from the wind.

❓ For me, it’s the wind, but what’s most likely to bring a halt to your gardening and send you scampering indoors? The wind? The heat? The rain? All of the above?

https://leafrootfruit.substack.com/p/september-2024-planting-guide-garden-update

#ihatethewind #windyseason #kyneton #weathercalendar

🌸 I love spring. I love watching the garden eco

🌸 I love spring. I love watching the garden ecosystem wake up. First the plants emerge from their winter slumber, followed by a slow but steady increase in insect life. I’m enjoying watching the dragonflies that are currently zipping all around the garden. The birds are getting busy breeding, fuelled by the new flush of protein-rich insect life. The mammals, such as my garden resident Spike the echidna, start becoming active. Finally, the reptiles crawl and slither from their winter hidey holes. It’s almost time to start watching my step in the garden.

🌱 This is an exciting time of year for my fellow southern hemisphere gardeners. It’s a time to start planting the summer vegetable crops. (But hold your horses on those tomatoes for a while longer yet – there’ll be no Fool’s Garden for me this year.) I love the blossoming fruit trees and I have high hopes for a huge harvest from them.

🐝 C’mon bees, get to it please!

📖 Check out my FREE monthly garden update and planting guide:

➡ link in bio

#gardensofkyneton #springhassprung #melbournegardens #gardenupdate

🌸 It’s spring and that means it’s time to g

🌸 It’s spring and that means it’s time to get planting summer vegetables. For Melbourne based folks, it’s still a bit early to start planting tomatoes into the garden. I reckon AFL Grand Final weekend is the best time to plant out tomatoes in Melbourne.

🌱 In the meantime, there are plenty of other crops you can consider planting. Check out my spring planting guide for more information on what to grow and how:

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

#springplanting #melbournegarden #whattogrow #vegetablepatch

👋 Well hello there, you’re a bit early.

🍓 I wasn’t even thinking about the prospect of strawberries this early in the season.

🐦This one is growing on a plant outside of my netted enclosure. It doesn’t have any protection from birds, but even they are not watching for ripening fruit. The fact that it was so well hidden probably helped me to beat them to it.

😋 It’s only one fruit, but I’ll gladly take it thanks, before the kids, birds, slugs and other marauders find it.

📖 Read my guide to growing strawberries
➡ Head to the Leaf, Root & Fruit webpage to find it.

#gardentreasure #BeatTheBirds #homegrownstrawberry #backyardberries

🏆 On Sunday I harvested our first asparagus spe

🏆 On Sunday I harvested our first asparagus spears of the season. It was only a small handful, but the kids especially enjoyed a change from our brassica glut.

📅 This initial harvest is much earlier than usual. My previous dates for the first asparagus harvest are as follows:
22 September 2019
9 September 2020
5 September 2021
24 September 2022
16 September 2023
25 August 2024

☀️ I’m putting this extremely early first asparagus harvest down to the mild winter that we’ve had. Soil temperatures are probably a bit higher, than they have been at this point in other years.

📖 Find out more about growing asparagus in my How to Grow Guide:
➡ https://leafrootfruit.substack.com/p/how-to-grow-asparagus

#asparagus #firstasparagus #howtogrow #homegrownasparagus

👨‍🏫 On Saturday I hosted a compost worksho

👨‍🏫 On Saturday I hosted a compost workshop. In the morning, participants had a great time understanding the science that underpins great compost. In the afternoon we consolidated that learning by making a huge hot compost pile.

🔥 I’m pleased to report that the efforts were very successful. I’ve been watching the temperature rise over the last three days and today it is officially off the charts. This morning it was steaming away at a toasty 73 degrees (see the last slide for a temperature plot of this pile).

🌡 The inner part of this compost pile should stay above sixty degrees for around a month and ensure that any weed seeds and pathogens are destroyed. The heat also helps to accelerate decomposition.

📖 Want to know more about hot composting and composting in general? Check out my guide to choosing the right compost system for your situation. There's even a video explaining how to set up your own hot compost.

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

#hotcompost #compostworkshop #steaminghot #gardenfun

🌬🌧 Wow, what wild weather we had across the

🌬🌧 Wow, what wild weather we had across the state yesterday afternoon and evening. For us, a sunny morning gave way to strong winds, rain, hail, a rainbow in the afternoon and then, a spectacular lightning show at sunset. 🌈⚡️

💧 Most of the rain bypassed us. There was only 5.5 mm in the rain gauge this morning, but that was enough to finally fill the tanks to the top. I was starting to worry that they wouldn’t be full before it was time to turn the irrigation back on. By comparison, my records show that in 2023 the tanks reached this point on June 8.

❓ How much rain did you receive from the storm? Did you have any property damage or power outages?

👨‍🏫 Want to know more about capturing rainwater and irrigating your garden? I’m running a workshop on November 9 all about this critical topic for home gardeners:

➡ head to the events page of my website to find out more and to book tickets.

#kyneton #wildweather #stormchaser #rainwater

The Great Wall of Straw! What do you think is goi

The Great Wall of Straw!

What do you think is going on here?

My stored bulbs garlic are shooting. There are tw

My stored bulbs garlic are shooting.

There are two main types of garlic: softneck and hardneck. The “neck” refers to the stem that grows up through the centre of the bulb.

Softneck garlic is great because it stores longer. Hardneck garlic has large bulbs with huge cloves. It doesn’t store as well, but I prefer it for how easy it is to prepare for cooking, and it has better flavour. I only grow hard-necked garlic because I'm after great flavour. But the downside is that my stored garlic bulbs are now just about done. It will be late November before we harvest the next batch.

Not to worry, in late October, hardneck garlic begins to flower (softneck garlic doesn’t flower). This process takes energy, directing it away from the bulb. It’s a good idea to remove emerging buds (scapes) to enable the plant to direct as much energy as possible into bulb formation.

The best reason for removing garlic scapes is that they are delicious! We fry them up in stir-fries, with or without other vegetables. The texture is a bit like that of a green bean, with a mild garlic flavour. It's a great garlic alternative, so our garlic famine won't last long.

#hardneck #garlicbulbs #seasonality #kyneton

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