spring vegie patch

In the last couple of busy weeks I have managed to snatch a couple of days to devote to planting this years veggie crop in my patch at home. After being somewhat fully neglected over the winter (apart from some spinach, broccoli and beetroot) I needed to devote almost a full day just to weeding, as the patch has become overrun with mainly Sorrel (Acetosella vulgaris) which I remember Laurie saying is an indicator of acidic soil and would fit with our sandy soil here. Also there is lots of grass and the odd Narrow Leaf Plantain (Plantago lanceolata). Now I've completed my weeds unit - it's amazing how many weeds I notice now! For example a few tiny Petty Spurge (Euphorbia peplus) are popping up in the roots bed and I find myself reciting it's botanical name out loud before I prise it from it's spot. Unfortunately no one was around to be impressed by my new found knowledge. The majority of the weeds are growing in the wood chip paths, rather than the beds, and the best thing to do is hand pull so I get to it. Sorrel grows on runners that are bright orange and very easy to pull up in the soft bark. I know I will be back doing the same thing next year though, as it's impossible to get every tiny bit and the broken root sections will re-shoot. I do prefer this to spraying poisons around my organic patch however! After clearing the paths I top up the wood chips from a pile of chips we had done from a felled Blue Gum we had to remove, that is now breaking down nicely for later use. 

My veggie patch.

This is my forth year of veggie growing. The first few have been a real learning curve but I am feeling more confident and a bit more ambitious now, applying my failures and successes from previous years. The soil is getting better each year after regular applications of manures and compost and green manures and is now riddled with big fat worms and has good aggregates. 

The four main beds are organised loosely into a rotation system. I don't really know what I'm doing but I think the main thing to follow is not to plant the same crop in the same position in successive years. After readinhg numerous books and talking to Adam sat RTBG I have decided to stick to this loose formula: 

Bed One - Potatoes - has had a green manure and then topped with compost, straw and horse manure.

Bed Two - Legumes - has had a green manure over winter, topped with compost.

Bed Three - Miscellaneous - topped with compost.

Bed Four - Roots - (carrots, leeks, onions - members of the APIACEAE family) no compost.

Next year - Bed One will move to Bed Four and so on in a counter clockwise direction.

Other permanent beds include:

Raspberries - Along the back wall. Pruned, weeded and compost added. Shoots removed from path.

Blueberries - Weeded, blood and bone and mulch (had a load of compost last year)

Asparagus - Planted and mulched this winter in raised rows (see earlier post), now sprouted and just needing a light weed and fertilise.
Rhubarb - is planted outside the patch as the wallabies don't eat it.

And two smaller overflow beds this year used for:

Strawberries - These were planted at the start of winter and mulched with our Plane Tree leaf litter.  These will be moved again every 3 years.

No-Dig Bed - Has had a green manure crop, now with Lettuce and Pumpkin.
Tomatoes - will be grown in pots by the front door which is the warmest north facing sheltered position for them until the our polytunnel is constructed. This year I am trying an old fashioned favourite KY1 and a tommy toe for the kids to graze on. Last year's Grosse Lisse didn't ripen but we did have some fantastic green tomato chutney from it.

Bed One - Potatoes ( a bit late this year! Too busy studying!!)
Pinkeyes and Dutch Cream.

Bed Two - Sugarsnap and Snowpeas against a trellis,
yellow and green french bush beans, A block of sweetcorn
and zucchinis (one needed, three planted for insurance)

In bed three - winter broccoli, mini and globe beetroot,
dwarf beans (separate crop to bed 2 for insurance against the slugs)
some lettuce and cream marigolds.

Bed four - Orange and purple carrots, radish
garlic, leeks, chives, parsley and spring onions 
and the odd flower seedling tucked into the corners.

I decide to put my new found course knowledge into practise this year and convert one of the beds into a no-dig. I use 3 layers of spent grass hay, chicken manure pellets and dolerite rock dust, sprinkled with compost. Each layer is thoroughly soaked with the hose. Into pockets of compost go some heirloom lettuce and two Kent pumpkin seedlings. I only need one plant but have planted another for insurance (something I learnt from losing seedlings to the slugs last year) This will be allowed to trail down off the bed and along the side wall. I may even gently tie it to the fence to keep it neat.

My first No-Dig!
And check it out Marcus.... I even made hay sausages!

In the centre of my patch I have a tiered herb garden with a standardised bay tree in a pot at the top. The idea was to provide a designated area for companion flowers and herbs in a central position. On the sunny side I plant all the sun loving herbs like rosemary, oregano, sage and thyme. On the back shaded side I plant common mint and chocolate mint. For flowers this year I have planted Portulacas in the base of the pot. Dahlias in the first tier (they remind me fondly of my grandfather) and a row of cream marigolds at the bottom. I have also dotted a few different seedling punnets of flowers throughout the other beds to attract beneficials. I have also filled an old metal wheelbarrow with some foxgloves, celosia (for cut flowers) and asters for some more colour and attraction. The outside two edges of the tiers have English Lavender trimmed into spheres for interest.

Herbs and flowers.

When i first planted strawberries I can't remember which types I brought 3 yrs ago. I remember planting Tioga, Red Gauntlet and one other and forgot to label them clearly (lesson for the future!) Two out of the three were favoured by slugs and got quite a bit of grey mould. The third variety was fantastic. Hardly touched by the slugs and fruited prolifically with smaller sweet fruit. Consequently I only saved offshoot runners from this one for transplanting to the new bed and pulled the rest out and threw them away.

New strawberry bed mulched with leaf litter.
Asparagus bed beyond this planted with successive heirloom varieties
brought from the Froghollow Nursery Stall at the RTBG winter festival.
Only two more years  to wait before yummy spring asparagus soup.

My gorgeous kid Otto trying to sneak into my healthy
broccoli shot! These have been slowly grown (not Otto - he has shot up fast!)
with just rainfall over winter and there is not a slug or snail hole in them!
Not quite sure why they haven't touched them but they look fantastic!  

A few other happenings in my garden include some succulent propagation (isn't that the world's easiest propagation?) and some corms I brought from Voglevry at the market in winter are starting to flower. I love this time of year.

My succulent propagation efforts doing well.
Tucked in some Pansy seedlings for colour soon.

Some of my favourite ruby Ranunculus have just come out.

And hot of the press, I managed to score an original Huon pine laundry trough from the local antique dealer for a bargain price yesterday. Greg is keen to restore it to it's former golden glory and mount it on a nice frame in the patch as a feature to use for washing the dirt off the veggies before bringing them inside. The water used will drain into a bucket that will be recycled back into liquid feeds onto the garden. Here is a 'before' shot -will post an 'after' shot as soon as it's complete. :)

Our Huon pine restoration project.

japanese garden rotation - wk 5

Today is my last day in the Japanese Garden for this rotation and it's all systems go. All the water in the pond has been drained so that maintenance can be done and first on the list is the wheel house. The large wooden wheel hasn't been turning for a while and needs to be taken away for repairs. It takes about 8 of us to manoeuvre it out of it's holdings, through the garden bed (amazingly no plants were squashed!) and over to the fence to be lifted onto the truck. 

The large water wheel is heading off for repairs.

Next up on my jobs list is cutting back a large clump of  Miscanthus sinensis. This herbaceous perennial grows in clumps from underground rhizomes. This particular one is quite big so I start down in the pond behind the clump cutting everything back from that level before coming back around to the front. 

Miscanthus sinensis

New shoots have already begun to sprout from the base so I make sure to carefully leave those and only remove the long dried spikes before making a bundle and hauling them out to the cart. 

Interestingly when the storks are cut I notice 

they 'bleed' with a red ring around the outside. 

Seven bundles later the job is complete and it opens up the view of the pond considerably. Something to note for next time, always cut Miscanthus back keeping your arms covered, as I notice later in the day all the tiny cuts from the grass irritate my skin in a red stinging rash!

Nearly finished.

On the way back from lunch Jeremy and I take an leaf sample to Natalie (the garden's resident botanist) to identify. She thinks it is one of the yellow flowering Iris's (possibly Iris pseudacorus?) and note it is suffering from a bacterial disease of some kind.

Natalie giving us her verdict.

The strappy leaves of the Iris show dark black inky spotting typical of a bacterial disease. Jeremy will figure out how to treat this later once some research is done.

Bacterial spotting on these Iris leaves?

Next up on the jobs list is fertilising the water lily's (which Jeremy points out are from the Nymphaeaceae family). Now the pond is drained it is the perfect time to give them their annual feed. We use a pelleted form of fertiliser that looks like a small disc. These are inserted in the raised lily beds with a sharp spade.

Inserting the fertiliser discs into the Water Lily beds.

After this I do a quick weed around the edges of the pond as it is the perfect time to do it whilst the water is gone and we have easy access all the the hard to reach spots in the garden beds. There are not many weeds though as the area is regularly mulched but I manage to prise the odd baby Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) and some Winter Grass (Poa annua) out with my trowel making sure to catch all the roots so they don't spring back later. I use gloves and carry a bucket to put the weeds in so I can dispose of them in the correct greenwaste bin back at the storeroom. When we get back there, I also make sure to carefully hose off all the tools that are caked in pond mud in the wash down bay before placing back in the racks. As we are always reminded and rightly so - good hygiene is very important.

Clean tools ready to store back in the shed
at the end of the day.

Big thanks to Jeremy and Kath who have looked after me for this rotation. I've learnt a lot from them both and have loved hanging out in the Japanese Garden which is such a beautiful collection and about to burst into spring colour. My next rotation will actually be on the job as I've managed to score myself some work in my local nursery. I'm hoping this will help to rapidly increase my plant knowledge in a short space of time. It's a fantastic nursery and has a huge array of plants with a high turnover I'm sure to be very busy in the next few months. I will post some pics and details soon.

japanese garden rotation - wk 4

Today's rotation day is a group effort in a large bed just down from the main gates. Some big trees were recently removed from the bed and needs some new soil added before replanting a large amount of Helleborus that have been dug out and put to one side. Today the team of willing workers consists of (the multiple lovely) Kath, Jeremy, Adam and Daniel...... (and if Margot was here she would definitely be lovely too!) 

Adam arrives with a load of top soil.

Where the large trees have been removed there are now some depressions in the soil level that need levelling off,  so we climb on to the back of the ute and start shovelling into the wheelbarrows. After three ute loads and multiple wheelbarrow loads, the soil is spread and the surface raked beautiful (Kath is a pro on the rake and show us how it should be done!) An even surface is important as the bed is on a slope and the irrigation may pool in the dips and make muddy wet patches instead of spreading evenly down across the bed.

Helleborus for replanting.

Now it's time to begin the large re-planting effort and I start to transport the heavy sections of mostly Helleborus orientalis down to the front of the bed in the wheelbarrow. Kath then marks out an curved area that we will being to fill in. We get into a nice rhythm where mostly Kath digs the holes and I select and plant a Helleborus to match it. We try and evenly mix the colours and large and small specimens so it looks as even as possible.

A beautiful white Helleborus orientalis.

My favourite colour is the deep burgundy. 

Planting notes include using a safe back when lifting them, making sure I support the root ball, being very particular about the holes soil level matching the plants soil level and back filling carefully without too much compression. The watering in will remove the air pockets and settle everything nicely.

Getting to the end of the planting.

This is obviously not the most ideal time to transplant them as they are in full flower at this time of the year but we have to get the bed repaired now and Kath ensures me they are quite tough and will cope with the shock of being moved just fine with a little TLC. 

Today's planting team finishing up.

It's now time for a clean up and Jeremy mans the hose and start the large job of cleaning all the tools and restoring the path behind the bed to it's former glory after having to dump soil there for easy shovelling.

Jeremy has the path and beautiful stone wall behind looking immaculate.

A big job well done and the large drift of Helleborus look great now we have finished. Kath hasn't quite decided what else will go in the bed with them yet but has a few ideas she is thinking of, in line with the surrounding Chinese collection. I will check back later to see how the Helleborus recover and what else finds a new home here.

The finished bed looks great.

lillium scaling - wk 19

Today we are learning how to propagate Lilliums. Before we start, we learn about the differences between the types of bulbs. True bulbs like Daffodils, Alliums, Tulips etc.... are known as 'tunicate' bulbs. These look like an onion when cut in half with a base plate (a modified stem) at the bottom where the roots come out from and where the fleshy onion like layers of the bulb (modified leaves) attach to. To the side of the base plate is where small offshoots (called bulblets) will form to create new bulbs.



Lillium bulb with side bulblets that have started to shoot.

Lilliums spp. however are different and are known as 'non-tunicate' bulbs. This means they are made up of a group of fleshy 'scales' that can be peeled off and propagated to create a new bulb. Lilliums have what's known as 'meristematic' tissue, which basically means the cells in the tissue can change and may be different from the original tissue, much like stem cells. Other types of bulbs called  'corms' (Anemones etc...) are basically modified stems that have nodes on the surface of them where new cormlets can form.

Marcus runs us through the procedure before we start.

Propagating Lilliums is a process known as 'Vegetative Propagation' where a section of the vegetation of the plant is used to create a new plant. Best time to do this is in the cooler months from autumn until around mid July. Any later and the bulbs will be starting to shoot.  An interesting point about Lilliums bulbs as well, is that they have contractile roots that grow in a manner to anchor the bulb downwards in the soil and counteract the vigorous growth of the stem from pulling the bulb to the surface. Ahh.... nature really has got it all worked out hasn't it!

Wash the bulb first to reveal the best scales for selection.

Now to the process (known as Scaling). First up wash the bulbs thoroughly in water. Select the fattest scales that show the least damage and gently peel them off the base plate. Put gloves on and place the selected ones into a mild bleach solution to remove the possibility of transferring any pests or diseases. 3 mins of soaking should be enough. Rinse them thoroughly in fresh water (still wearing gloves!) and you are ready to begin. Firstly prepare the propagation mixture in a plastic bag of about 2-3 cups of fine, high grade vermiculite. This is so fine is feels silky and almost weightless to touch.

Mix in a little water until the mix feels just damp but definitely not wet. Too wet and they would rot and too dry and they will not have enough moisture to feed the root growth.

Next you take a scalpel and cut a fine sliver off the bottom of the scale to

reveal new flesh that hasn't been burnt by the bleach.

Dip this edge straight into a hormone gel.......

....and then place it in the bag with the mix. Repeat this until you have up to 20 or so in the bag.

The finished scales in the mix.

Lastly and importantly, seal the bag, wrap in silver foil so no light can penetrate and place on the heating and misting bed which sits at around 20 degrees. We label ours M.E.M which stands for Michael, Emma and Mark and the date. We will visit back in 6-8 weeks to check if they have taken. Important points I have gleaned from this lesson include the differences in bulbs and how they grow, the actual propagation process step by step and very importantly, the attention paid to hygiene to give you the best chance of success.

Our little babies tucked into bed in the nursery.

soil excursion - results - wk 18

Soil testing day!

Today we are testing our soil samples collected on last weeks excursion. We lay them out in a row on the table, each with an example rock and three levels of the profile tests (apart from Alluvial which is only one sample) and the differences are great to compare. Laurie runs through each profile type briefly and I decide to put my hand up to test the sandstone profile, as this one sounds most like my soil type at home.

Mudstone - Sedimentary

Dolerite - Intruded Igneous

Basalt - Extruded Igneous

Alluvial - Mix of all of the above!

First up Josie and I start with a ribbon test for each of the three sandstone samples. The soil section I begin with is the deepest profile. When added to water it feels very sticky and clay like and the ribbons I make are extremely long before they break. I can almost mould the whole piece without a break so we decide on the classification 'Medium Clay'. Josie does the top profile that is a dark black/brown colour with quite a bit of organic matter in it. This Josie feels should be classified as a 'Sandy Loam' with the gritty large sand particles clearly felt. I do the middle section of the profile which is much paler and very sandy and hardly stays together at all. The soil is also quite water repellent and takes alot to work it in. The ribbons are barely 1-2cm long so decide on the classification of 'Loamy Sand' after referring to our list. Laurie explains that sandstone soil typically has these 3 distinct layers to it. The top is a very sandy 'hungry' soil that will darken in colour when organic matter is added to it but as it is so free draining the nutrients will quickly be depleted and need repeat applications. The middle layer which is very sandy and poor, acts as a sort of filter or sieve where the nutrients quickly pass through and are washed down and retained in the richer clay base.

The difference between a sandstone (L) and dolerite (R) soil type.

I know which one I'd rather have!

This is exactly like my soil at home.- hungry on top and constantly requiring the addition of organic matter that never seems to last very long. When we dig a hole there is an almost chalky white compressed layer of pure sand just beneath the top layer, that looks very poor and whitish, before you strike orange sandy clay about a metre down.

Phillipa and Josie examine our pH colour metric results.

Next job is to test the pH of the samples. We start with a colour i-metric test and then follow up with a meter test, which is 20gm of soil mixed into 200mls of distilled or rain water. The colour i-metrics test show up at 5.5 (top), 5.5 (middle) and 4.5pH (bottom). The meter test for the 4.5pH sample comes out at 6.0pH so quite a difference between the two!

The final number for the sandstone meter test is 6.0 pH

The final test to do is a salinity test. Laurie has a meter probe that works in the same water mixture as the pH meter so that is great. Measuring parts per million (ppm) the sandstone profile comes out at 39ppm. All of our samples fit roughly within normal parameters (33 - 60 ppm) so there are no salinity problems as we might expect here in Tas. All in all it's been a great day of learning and I think it is all starting to settle down and bed  into my grey matter nicely :)


The results of our hard day of testing.



soil excursion - wk 17

Today we head off on a soil excursion with Marcus and Laurie to improve our knowledge of the different types of rock and soils around the Hobart region. We will be taking soil samples from each area to analyse and assess at a later date.

Stop 1  - Mudstone

Our first convoy stop is a mudstone cutting on cascade rd heading towards the mountain. Here we look at the mudstone parent rock profile and the surrounding Silver Peppermint forest that is found on this soil type. Also here we find the Bush Cherry (Exocarpos cupressiformis) which is an hemiparasitic tree.  Marcus points out how we can recognise different rock/soil types based on the dominant plant growth in the area.

All the Eucalyptus tenuiramis 'Silver Peppermint' growing

in this area thrive in the mudstone soil type .

Mudstone is identifiable by it's white, chalky colour 
and how it breaks apart easily into layers. 
The mudstone here also has a sulphur smell due to 
being laid down in anaerobic conditions.

The groups checks out the roadside cutting.

Being a sedimentary rock type, it is laid down
over the years in layers that can easily be seen here.

We take a soil sample from the shallow profile to find what Laurie describes as a 'duplex' profile. This is where the soil colour changes suddenly.  At the deepest tip of the sample the soil turns from white to orange. Mudstone soils typically have a pH of around 5 - 6. Sedimentary parent rock layers such as mudstone, sandstone and limestone are laid down over thousands of years of melting and erosion.

Mudstone soil profile.

Stop 2 - Mudstone Mt Wellington

Next stop was further up the road at the base of Mt Wellington where there is a fantastic cutting in the roadside carpark. Here there is a much higher rainfall and so a different concentration of plants thrive here.

This is a great photo to highlight the years and
years of sedimentary layers that have built up .

Stop 3 - Dolerite

Next up we park on the side of Summerleas Rd to eye spy a large exposed dolerite hillside. Here we observe the rounded red dolerite boulders that Marcus explains are intruded igneous (volcanic) rock that was formed and cooled under immense pressure but have been forced up from deep below during volcanic action many hundreds of years ago. Dolerite crushed rock has a pH of 8-9 where the dolerite soil is around 6.5 - 6.8 pH.

Dolerite hillside.

Now the rocks are up on the surface and no longer under the same kind of pressure, they literally start to expand and peel away from the bluestone core like an egg. A process known as exfoliating.

A classic 'egg' shaped dolerite rock showing a hard bluestone centre,
with aged outer layers that will easily peel and break off. 

The outer layers of dolerite rocks are more red in colour because they have been exposed to the rain and the high iron content in the rock is beginning to oxidise or 'rust'. Dolerite soil colour is typically browny/black. Dolerite rock is high in minerals and the rock dust can be beneficially added to compost or to contribute to clay soils.

Dolerite profile.

We take a dolerite soil sample and Laurie explains that this profile is more of a 'gradational' one which means that there are no clearly defined layers, more of an even gradual mix of the profile as it goes down. Trees that are happy growing on this bedrock type include Eucalyptus globulus (Bluegum), Eucalyptus pulchella (Narrow-Leaf Peppermint) and the registered weed Spanish Heath (Erica lusitanica).

Stop 4 - Basalt & Sandstone

Our next stop is another cutting just up from the Kingston on the Huon Hwy. Here we can see a section of Basalt bedrock that stops abruptly and turns into Sandstone. The Verbascum weeds growing along the top of the bank that prefer the volcanic soil also stop suddenly.

Here the Basalt soil on the right stops in the middle
and the pink sandstone on the left begins.

Basalt rock.

Marcus explains that Basalt is also an Igneous rock but 'extruded' rather than the 'intruded' Dolerite. Extruded means it is formed on the surface -  basically it is quickly cooled volcanic lava. It will also exfoliate and has a high iron content. Very high in nutrients, the basalt soils are the rich red volcanic soils that dominate the agriculture north of the state. There is also a large dolerite pocket in the valley near Richmond heading out to Campania. This is a blacker soil because of the lower rainfall and has a higher salt content. When the soil dries out it will crack or become sticky in the rain. Will benefit from the addition of gypsum.

Basalt is clearly identified by it's porous appearance.

The soil we take here is also a even gradational profile and you can tell it is a much richer, more desirable type than our previous two samples. Basalt soil is typically 6.5 - 6.8 pH, brownish and crumbly in texture with good aggregates - ideal for growing. It is a bit dangerous to cross the highway and take a sandstone profile but Laurie assures us he will do this later.

Basalt soil profile.

Stop 5 - Alluvial

Just a bunch of soil nerds hanging out in Browns Rivulet.

Laurie and Marcus are not entirely happy with the profile we find here. There has been some flooding in previous weeks and a lot of debris has been washed up alongside the banks. A better spot for a sample is perhaps on the other side of the river and seeing as no one brought their waders (or swimmers!) we are making do with this one and pop it in the bag for testing later. 

The dark Alluvial profile.

So that's it. We have come to the end - it's been a great day all up and I feel like I have a MUCH better understanding of the different types and how to identify them. I'm looking forward to getting into all the samples and testing them. Will have to wait till next week though.........