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Backyard Vegetable Gardening & Livestock Raising & Sustainable Living

What's good to put in around the southern part of aus in the next few months as well as kale? Am thinking peas, spinach,chard, coriander maybe some sweet potato. When do regular potatoes go in?

Those kale punnets look pretty decent. Not like the shit you get from the big chain stores where they just chuck a handful of seeds in one tiny square pot and hope for the best.
 
Kale tastes best in coolish weather. Sweet potatoes take a lot of heat to grow. I'm not sure how your weather is this time of year though. I'd think local nurseries would carry appropriate starts for the upcoming season.


My peas had excellent germination. I stand a chance to pick some by the 4th of July.

I got in a couple 25 foot rows of both carrots and beets. 2 kinds of each.

Took a chance and planted some corn. It's a little early but the weather has been on my side so far.

I seeded winter squash, cukes and melons inside in pots. They'll go out after the get a true leaf. I find it's better to give them a head start against the damn cucumber beetles.
 
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^ You have snow where you live don't you mate? :)


I'm on the verge of sub-tropical/temperate but just put in Silverbeet, Cabbages, Garlic, Spring Onions, Garlic Chives and some thyme which isn't doing so well. They are all powering.

Potatoes... seed potatoes in the start of spring. Coriander is good at this time of year because it doesn't bolt.
 
ugh, my container blueberry bushes aren't showing any signs of life yet and i'm starting to get very worried. It's already mid may and not a single leaf has grown on either of them, yet they have green branches and when I scrape some of the brown branches, they are green underneath. That means there is some life, except they seem to be stuck in dormancy for some reason? What could cause that?

wtf is going on! We had a really cold winter that lasted a long time but this just seems a bit ridiculous now, considering it's been in the 70's during the day and 50's at night for the past few weeks.
 
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^^ bummer, I hope they pull through for you. It would be nice to go out and pick some for muffins, pancakes or to put in cereal.

Klue said:
^ You have snow where you live don't you mate? :)
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Usually from November/ December until March/April.
 
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No veggies this year.. but managed to get some spinach and lettuce growing... I haven't grown either before. Gonna add arugula or basil.. not sure if arugula does good in real hot weather.. gotta check.
 
^^ psst. Spinach and lettuce are veggies, CS.


Peas are growing good. Can't wait!

Corn is coming along.

Beans are up.

Potatoes have been doing well so far. They've had plenty of rain.

Squash is up and looking healthy.

Cukes had a setback. Lost about 1/3 of them. Will plant a few more seeds in a few days.

My carrots are swamped with weeds. If they don't hurry up and put on a few leaves I'll till them under and replant.
 
flyhighk said:
Does anyone here raise quail ?
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i'm looking for some button quail. mostly for pets, but i'd like to attempt a quail tractor. the ultimate experiment is to see whether i can partially fence the flower beds and have enough live in there to be a sustainable colony.
 
i have a lot of back reading to do, but here's my sit:

got out of prison to my family farm, my father is 81. about 5 acres arable, all fenced. this is N GA, btw. since i'm going to inherit the farm and i was phd ecology before prison, trying to turn it into something profitable and sustainable is, well, kinda destiny shit, what else am i gonna do? my father grows tomatoes and watermelons and a few peas for sale. he nukes his plants with pesticide, based on his wisdom, not the recommended usage, but the man grows pretty tomatoes. last year i started some heirloom tomatoes, which sold well....in the roadside stand, at $1/lb for regular and $2/lb heirloom, $3/watermelon. this year i ain't studyin sitting in the hot sun giving away luscious fruits for less than malwart sells them. i'm going to craigslist, local supermercados, everywhere.

i've started some experimental plots of high dollar crops. put in a 5'x5' patch of slowbolt/summer cilantro today (cilantro is $20/sqft profit), i know i can sell that at the mercados. i have a row of three different kinds of basil, i'll make pecan pesto from the pecans and sell that. i'm trying to grow some lavender, little luck thus far.

i'm also looking into creating bonsai from airlayering. i have one on an old lilac and i talked a neighbor into letting me try it on her little giant japanese maples. if i can start propagating for those 3 japanese maples, airlayering off new trees, that's a lot of money.

just started a 3 layer worm farm, just a test, from three stacked 5 gal buckets. will try it with red wrigglers in vermicompost, if that works, build larger beds and have at least one of african nightcrawlers (best fishbait, tropical, more difficult). not my idea, my father thinks worm farming is the key to easy money. but diversity is resilience, so i'm with it.
 
tantric said:
i have a lot of back reading to do, but here's my sit:

got out of prison to my family farm, my father is 81. about 5 acres arable, all fenced. this is N GA, btw. since i'm going to inherit the farm and i was phd ecology before prison, trying to turn it into something profitable and sustainable is, well, kinda destiny shit, what else am i gonna do? my father grows tomatoes and watermelons and a few peas for sale. he nukes his plants with pesticide, based on his wisdom, not the recommended usage, but the man grows pretty tomatoes. last year i started some heirloom tomatoes, which sold well....in the roadside stand, at $1/lb for regular and $2/lb heirloom, $3/watermelon. this year i ain't studyin sitting in the hot sun giving away luscious fruits for less than malwart sells them. i'm going to craigslist, local supermercados, everywhere.

i've started some experimental plots of high dollar crops. put in a 5'x5' patch of slowbolt/summer cilantro today (cilantro is $20/sqft profit), i know i can sell that at the mercados. i have a row of three different kinds of basil, i'll make pecan pesto from the pecans and sell that. i'm trying to grow some lavender, little luck thus far.

i'm also looking into creating bonsai from airlayering. i have one on an old lilac and i talked a neighbor into letting me try it on her little giant japanese maples. if i can start propagating for those 3 japanese maples, airlayering off new trees, that's a lot of money.

just started a 3 layer worm farm, just a test, from three stacked 5 gal buckets. will try it with red wrigglers in vermicompost, if that works, build larger beds and have at least one of african nightcrawlers (best fishbait, tropical, more difficult). not my idea, my father thinks worm farming is the key to easy money. but diversity is resilience, so i'm with it.
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So envious. As much as I love living in the city, I'm really starting to get antsy to have some sort of land. I do amazing things with my balcony but I have zero space left for growing.
 
grow gourmet mushrooms and tropical bonsai - get a grow table. you can use normal light fixtures with some kind of reflector and get spiral plant grow compact fluorescents that will grow the piss out of tropicals, and dirt cheap, too. you learn bonsai these days with garden hut shrubs - there are whole books about it. get into scented pelargoniums. i knew a guy in a one bedroom who grew these:


nuhe9yba.jpg


in pink and red and all and sold them and made mad $$. get *really* good at one plant like that, and you can do it.
 
I have a ficus and chinese elm bonsai currently. I don't really know anything about bonsai though, for now I'm just keeping them happy and alive. If I had more space indoors I would grow more things but we have a tiny apartment. Just enough space to start my vegetable and flowers seeds indoors.


I make pretty good use of my 4 foot x 14 foot balcony though. I know I'm forgetting a few but I currently have the following in containers. 2 blueberry bushes, 2 elderberry bushes, 2 lingonberry bushes, 2 sungold tomato plants, 1 scorpion pepper plant, 1 kumquat tree, 1 meyer lemon tree, a grape vine I just started, 1 musk melon plant, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, cat nip, lavender, marigolds, geraniums, tons of petunias, a few coleus and some more flowers coming soon!

Wow, after typing that out I just realized how fucking crazy I really am lol
 
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tantric said:
i'm looking for some button quail. mostly for pets, but i'd like to attempt a quail tractor. the ultimate experiment is to see whether i can partially fence the flower beds and have enough live in there to be a sustainable colony.
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If you have some extra cash, build a simple incubator and hatch eggs in it (eggs are much cheaper than birds) and you'll be able to indefinitely grow your colony without having to buy any eggs or birds.

All you need is :
a wooden box/chest
a thermostat
an electronic thermometer
a light bulb with a socket
some wires and a normal plug

You can also cut a hole on one side of the box and add a double layer of glass so you can look inside without having to open it every time. The double pane will reduce heat loss.
 
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did you grow the lavender from seed? i'm doing an experiment to determine which factors contribute to germination - cold, presoaking, soil vs paper towel.


i LOVE kumquats! chocolate covered kumquats should have been on the table for the last supper.


YES flyhighk - until i read your post, i thought eggs had to be turned to hatch, and thus not something i could build.....oh, wow, the things i can order....
i'm about to be expelled from a bonsai forum for venturing the opinion that you can't go on ebay and buy a pot that captures Zen.
 
Cherry tomatoes are taking off! These are almost 3 feet tall already. There are a bunch that have reached full size, now the ripening waiting game lol

QpUte3A.jpg


I just noticed that squirrels have found my balcony too. This morning I saw one running around but then my cats ran to the window and scared it. Hopefully window cats will be enough to keep them away.
 
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Both. The two heirloom zukes are in the ground but the yellow zuke is in a half barrel--simply because I didn't have room for it anywhere else. As long as you have the space and plenty of sun though a container should work fine. BTW, my son and his girlfriend just about had a heart attack finding out they had to pay a $14 toll to get across the Staten Island bridge, but they made it to NY so it's all good. I sent them a link to your posts on Azure's thread so maybe they will get something helpful from it since it can't be easy to be on a tight budget when you don't know the city.

Garden update: STRAWBERRIES every morning!
 
herbavore said:
Both. The two heirloom zukes are in the ground but the yellow zuke is in a half barrel--simply because I didn't have room for it anywhere else. As long as you have the space and plenty of sun though a container should work fine. BTW, my son and his girlfriend just about had a heart attack finding out they had to pay a $14 toll to get across the Staten Island bridge, but they made it to NY so it's all good. I sent them a link to your posts on Azure's thread so maybe they will get something helpful from it since it can't be easy to be on a tight budget when you don't know the city.

Garden update: STRAWBERRIES every morning!
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Nice, might try doing it next summer then. I should be able to make room for another pot.

The tolls suck! Hope they find some of it helpful.
 
Tonight I am making a stir fry with fresh picked snap peas, broccoli, and cayenne peppers from my garden, probably along with some of my thai basil, spicy basil, and lemon balm, and a salad with lettuce (romaine and mesclun). With that Ill probably throw in some bought shrimp and pasta. It will be the first meal assembled largely of garden ingredients though so I am excited
 
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