Dear Diary: autumn harvests

OBSERVATIONS:

Nice cool weather, then suddenly a mad heatwave.

The CORN in the APPLE-CREPE is growing decently but not super-well. I think it may need a more steady water supply: that was what did it for the vegepod corn by the driveway. I haven't worked out how to do this from the water tank right now, but I guess I'm going to need to.

CHOOKS:

Looks like Haamyu has finally laid! We found a very long, oval-ish egg, along with the two from our regular Lockdown Ladies (Gladys and Kerry). Siyao does a slightly longer egg, and Goong does a perfect but petite egg. So we think it must be Haamyu,because she was feeling very 'full' a day or two ago and she seems to feel better now.

I finally dealt with the weevil-infested chook seeds. A giant sack of them that was basically riddled. To the point where the dead piled up thick enough that you can barely see the tile underneath. Maybe I can now start sorting that corner of the porch?

PREPARING:

Set up a garden bed under the frangipani, but it's not very deep. I really do need to get a mattock and dig the soil up properly, to give vegies a decent chance.

Planning to put a garden bed in between the APPLE ESPALIER and the DUAL STONE, although the watering will, again, be a problem. May need a sister's help.

Netting over the seedlings to protect them from brassica moth.

SEEDING:

Planted out a bunch of other BRASSICAS about a week ago: CABBAGE: golden acre, red acre. MUSTARD GREENS yukina Savoy. BROCCOLI sprouting (home seed) – all of them have geminated, CAULIFLOWER macerata greens.

I have a feeling at least some of the failed ones should probably be grown later in the season. But I'm too busy trying to work out what should be planted when.

PLANTING OUT:

The various BRASSICAS have been planted out. Note: leaving them in the seedling tray for another couple of weeks helped them grow that much more sturdy before planting out. Unfortunately, I planted them out right before a heatwave weekend, so...we'll see how many of them survive! BROCCOLI is Monty F1, CAULIFLOWER is F1 Serenity, and maybe one CAULIFLOWER Snowball

HARVEST:

PERSIMMONS are still going. The ones that are under the netting are ripening so much slower – and also growing so much larger than the ones that came before. It's kind of amazing.

Have finished harvesting APPLES: the last of the golden delicious, and they are huge!Dark spots on the skin appear to be like some kind of spore that rubs off with a cloth. I have no idea what and should go look it up.

The POMEGRANATES were amazing this year. I got at least twenty of them, and turned about 8-10 of them into pomegranate molasses. Used it for basting goose with a little left over and it was amazing.

Otherwise, there are two PUMPKINS (galeax d'eysine) and a handful of RASPBERRIES – I think they're the autumn canes, not the spring ones. We seem to have more Autumn canes than spring ones. A TOMATO here and there. A couple of EGGPLANTS, a CUCUMBER, but not that much.

FEEDING:

The big thing right now is watering. All the seedlings need seasol, especially the BRASSICAS in the DRIVEWAY bed.

PRUNING:

I can get the garden guy to do the pruning, but the chipping is going to be a different matter. I wonder who up and down the street might have an electric/petrol chipper... That, or working out who can do some electrical/motor repairs...

THOUGHTS:

What if, for planting, I set up envelopes by month? JANUARY – roots, fruits, leaves FEBRUARY – roots fruits leaves, etc. And then ALL YEAR or something like that? IDK. Maybe it needs to be more carefullly managed than that.

Planting mixed seeds in a tray of soil, then planting that out seems to work pretty well for things like lettuce and beetroot – those have been doing well. Not sure about the onions. I have yet to manage some good onions that I didn't have to leave for two years to get to a decent size.