What Veggies can we plant this time of year ?

[zenwood]

Plane Shaving ... Brilliant mulch ...

Trouble with plane shavings is they tend to blow away in the wind (you can ask me how I know this).

Nobody mentioned the old favourite - sweet corn.

Yes, I did. Nothing better than going out and picking an armful of corn, bringing it straight inside and into the boiling water, and eating it.

I used to wait til the corn was up 3 or 4 feet then plant climbing peas & beans next to the corn, makes a good trellis

Now that's a good idea. Wish I'd thought of that. Will try it out in a few weeks time.

[fenderbelly]

Only plant something that you eat on a regular basis.

My favourites are,

Tomatos = cherry- roma - appolo
Zucchini = Blackjack
Lettuce = Red and green.
Pumpkin = Butternut
Sweet corn = If you have the water!!!!!!!
Carrots = Home grown are so sweet.
Egg plant
Potatos = if you have the space.

[JDarvall]

Plane Shaving Jake Plane Shavings

Brilliant mulch breaks down fast enough to be good fertiliser

All you need to do is find a woodworker who is into that darkside stuff

If not chips from your Jointer thicnesser are are really good too

Studley

not saying your wrong. I just don't know.... something I'm confused about.

Cause some people have told me that shavings arn't good. Cause I've got a big pile of the stuff I wanted to throw in these raised beds, but some said it may dry out the bed......So, I ended up just filling it all up with top soil from a farm.

.then maybe too much is no good. are you only supposed to throw a bit in on top around the plants ? (just don't know what I'm doing)

But, I did get in the good books with that outdoor sink I put in. Can see it there between the beds.......I'll show it off.......its an old laundry tub with swivel like tap above it so the misses can wash her veggies from our rain water tank...save her back a bit.

[Grunt]

Cause some people have told me that shavings arn't good.

As wood shavings decompose the take nitrogen out of the soil. Once it is fully decomposed it releases the nitrogen back to the soil. To get around this add plenty of chook poo to the shavings before you add them to garden.

Don't plant all of the same plants together. Plant other things in between. This makes it more difficult for pests to destroy the lot. This works for everything except corn which is pollinated by the wind.

Plant basil next to your tomato. They help each other grow and as a bonus they taste really good together. This is called companion planting. Here are some examples.

• Beetroot: Onions, Lettuce, Cabbage, Silverbeet
• Cabbages: Beans, Celery, Beetroot, Onions, Potatoes
• Cauliflower: Celery
• Celery & Celeriac: Chives, Leeks, Tomatoes, Dwarf Beans
• Carrots: Lettuce, Peas, Leeks, Chives, Onions, Cucumbers, Beans
• Broadbeans: Potatoes, Peas, Beans
• Tomatoes: Asparagus, Parsley, Broccoli, Sweet Basil
• Sweet Corn: Potatoes, Peas, Beans

Mulch, mulch and mulch. Saves water and work.

[Grunt]

Oh, and beans (most) are really good for the soil as they fix nitrogen. That is the get nitrogen from the air and put it in the soil.

[Studley 2436]

Here in dry old Adelaide mulch is a real must have thing.

Woodchips plane shavings etc are all good as a topper that you put on top of the beds to keep the sun off and the water in. They will break down over time which is good to for us here because our soil is heavy in clay so it needs as much plant material in it as you can get in to keep it open.

Just get a nice cover on the top Jake that's all there is to it. Stuff like Pea Straw is good too. You will find stacks of different mulches in your hardware/garden store. Bit of blood and bone or cow manure is good tossed on and watered in too.

Studley

[JDarvall]

Ta for all that. Studley and Grunt.

We're thinking of making a trip one day just to pick up cow dung in the ute...just for the garden.

Mixing chook poo in ......We'll have to get more chooks. Even though we live right in the middle of town, the very night I forgot to lock up the pen, foxes took the lot !....Feed costs so much nowdays. So we havn't been keen to get any more despite missing the eggs. ........ but if we can use up those shavings better with the poo, then maybe we should.

I like that little list there Grunt. I'm going to print that out and stick it on the shed door.

How about sweet potato. Can I grow that ok here ? Thats my favorite......roasted with pumpkins with plenty of butter.

[Grunt]

ABC

[JDarvall]

thanks.

[fenderbelly]

If you grow zucchinis wait until you pick the first couple of zucchinis
then remove the the leaves from the root end until you only have 4/5 leaves left on the growing end.

The plant will keep on producing as long as you strip the old leaves off and will grow to about 1 1/2 to 2m long.

[JDarvall]

Thanks for your tip. 2 metre long zucchini !

[watson]

G'day Jake,
Just as an aside, when I was learning Veggies 101 (back in the 70's) I planted 16 Black Jack zucchini seedlings.(more is better....so I thought) All survived.
At harvest time...I picked in the morning before work.......picked in the afternoon after work......day after day after week after week.
End result....none of my kids (now in their mid fourties) will even contemplate eating a zucchini!!
Stubbornly, I still love 'em.

[JDarvall]

...yes I gota admit I'm not a big fan of them either.

And I get quite cross at myself for not eating them too, cause I know there good for me. And I got to set a good example for my kids.

And squash as well.....any watery green snoty sort of veges

But I like everything else. Can't stop eatting those little tomatoes (forgotten what there really called)......bit bigger than grapes. Used to stand around my mothers beds just eating them all day.

[zenwood]

Cherry tomatoes

[fenderbelly]

...yes I gota admit I'm not a big fan of them either.

And I get quite cross at myself for not eating them too, cause I know there good for me. And I got to set a good example for my kids.

And squash as well.....any watery green snoty sort of veges

But I like everything else. Can't stop eatting those little tomatoes (forgotten what there really called)......bit bigger than grapes. Used to stand around my mothers beds just eating them all day.

Sliced length ways and put on the coolest part of the BBQ they are so tasty.