Taking Stock in the Garden as Winter Settles in.

It's now well and truly winter and the cooler weather is setting in. We're still not getting an awful lot of rain for the time of year, but luckily the cold means we're not really having to water as much. Some morning fogs have meant a good dew covering on the ground too, helping to keep the moisture levels stable. As usual, I'm getting less done than I'd like, but now that hubby is back at work I guess its not so desperate that our garden feeds us, so I've been focusing more time on my daughters.

To avoid feeling like I've been completely lax in the garden I thought I might try and go for the positive and take stock of what is looking good and what bits have been done. So looking around I'm reminded that the oranges are near to harvest. There I was thinking that the only thing the garden was producing was chard and rocket.

On the front the calendula is looking cheerful; it's over a year since I planted this plant's seed and it's still going. Annuals have been doing odd things in South Aus of late, like not being annuals! I also noticed that the rosemary was flowering. They're really quite striking little flowers.

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Mostly I've been weeding, also known as harvesting food for chooks and rabbits. Living in the driest state in the driest country weeds aren't something I feel I should complain about, because anything growing should be celebrated! Winter is the only time I really need to weed anyway, so I don't mind it too much for the short time of the year that they're growing.

I dug up most of the potato plants that were started in summer. They weren't the best size after struggling through the heatwaves and drought, but something is better than nothing. Freshly dug potatoes always clean up nicely so I chucked the tiny ones into a stew still in their skins. I've started digging up the sweet potatoes too and they haven't faired any better. The best ones were the size of carrots.

Sweet potato in flower.

I was clearing a small area of pumpkin and melon vines in the hopes of planting more seed potatoes, but I came across a cluster of roots, probably from a melon plant, which were infested with root knot nematodes. It seems it's spreading further than I thought. Thankfully it was only a small area of infection, so I'm moving some onion seedlings in, as I carelessly planted them near the pea plants forgetting that they are bad companions. The root knot doesn't seem to affect them, so hopefully they'll have starved out by the time the onions have reached harvest. Onions take about a year to grow from seed so I'll just have to make sure I keep it well weeded to keep the nematodes from finding a place to settle.

Onion seedlings.

Talking of root knot, I even found signs of infestation in one of the planters, so I've planted it with some really strong flavoured mustard tasting plants that self seeded last year and they're popping up everywhere now. Mustard is said to kill off the root knot nematodes.

The mustard seedlings are taking well.

I'm still periodically digging over the main bed that had the worst root knot infestation, so I now have three experiments going. It will be interesting to see which one works the best. Hopefully I'll have a good article to write next year!

I've transplanted some lettuce seedlings from the run I'm getting ready for the chickens to move into and I finally found some lemon balm for the front garden.

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So I guess I've been a bit more productive than I thought. Next up is getting some more beetroot seeds in. It's a good job the seasons here are so forgiving of my lackadaisical planting schedule!

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