• About
  • Archive
  • Contact
The Greening of Gavin
  • Home
  • Our Green Shop
    • Little Green Workshops
  • Green Workshops
    • Cheese Making
    • Soap Making
    • Soy Candle Making
  • eBooks
    • Clay Oven eBook
    • Keep Calm and Make Cheese eBook
  • Podcast
    • TGOG Podcast
    • TGoG Podcast Archive
    • Little Green Cheese
  • Vlog
  • Cheese
  • Green Living
    • Chickens
    • Gardening
    • Soap Making
    • Recipes
    • Climate Change
    • Peak Oil
    • Solar Power
  • Resources

Planting Time for Brassica and Allium

April 7, 2014 @ 21:36 By Gavin Webber 13 Comments

In our temperate climate, it is now time to plant vegetables of the Brassica and Allium families.

Common members of the Brassica genus is Kale, Cabbage, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, and Kohlrabi.  These are only a few cultivars.  You may also be surprised that mustard is also a member of this family.  So is Swede/Rutabaga.

Common members of the Allium genus is Onions, Leeks, Garlic, Chives, Shallots, Wild Ramp, etc.  There are just so many Allium cultivars that it would take a few pages to name them all.

Anyway, where is this botany lesson leading?  To my front yard veggie patch of course!

After I harvested all of the beautiful Queensland Blue pumpkins, I prepared the two garden beds for the next crop of home-grown veg.

Improving fertility in garden beds for Brassica and Allium crops

At the start of each season, I improve the soil fertility.  To each of these beds I added a bag of well-rotted cow manure, a bag of sheep manure, a couple of small flower pots of blood and bone, and then a couple of handfuls of dolomite lime per bed.  Both Brassica and Allium like a little bit of lime, and are heavy feeders, especially the Brassica.  Then I dig the beds over with a garden fork down to the depth of the prongs.

Prepared garden beds for Brassica and Allium

Once both beds are dug over, with all dirt clods broken down and raked to a smooth tilth, I usually add a thin layer of mulch in the form of sugar cane mulch.  I only apply a thin layer during winter for two reasons.  It allows the light rain we get here in winter to penetrate into the soil, and it provides less cover for insects like earwigs that may eat the seedlings.

Then I water the bed well to ensure it is moist before I plant anything.

Australian Purple Garlic ready to plant

So on to the planting.  Here are some garlic bulbs that I saved from last years crop.  Garlic is easy to plant and grow in the home garden, and you can see how I grow it in this post titled How To Grow Garlic.

Planting leeks

Leeks are just as easy to grow.  Just separate each seedling and then get a broom handle and push a hole into the soil, as deep as the seedling is tall.  Then just dropped the seedling into the depression, water the hole and the dirt fills in around the seedling.  If you would like to see a successful crop that I planted a while back, check out this post titled Taking A Leek!  I haven’t planted any for the last couple of years, so they are back by popular request from the good lady wife.

Bed of leeks

The reason I plant leeks like this is to maximise the white part of the leek.  Some growers wrap newspaper around the stem of the leek to blanch the stem, but I find that that technique attracts too many wood lice and earwigs that feast on the leek.  Initially planting the leek deeply does the same job and protects them at the same time.

Brassica bed

Finally, the Brassica bed.  I planted red and white cabbages, mini cauliflower, sprouting broccoli, and kale in the Allium bed (ran out of space).

I am keeping an eye out for cabbage moths to make sure that they don’t decimate the seedlings with their caterpillars.  As it is cooling down now, there shouldn’t be too many of them around, but I will check none the less.

So dear reader, that is what has replaced the pumpkins in the front yard veggie patch.  Over the coming weekend, I will take photos of what I have planted in the main veggie patch.  I have been a busy boy.

What have you been planting lately in your neck of the woods, even if it is as small as a balcony garden, or as large as an acre?  I am always interested to read what others are planting around this time of year.

Will this article help someone you know? If so help them out by sharing now!

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Gardening, Organic, vegetables

← Harvesting the Pumpkin Patch The Great Mushroom Experiment →

About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. Clare says

    April 7, 2014 at 22:23

    Thanks for your blog – long time reader finally thought I should say thanks 🙂 Your blog is practical at an achievable level and always thoughtful. Here in northern NSW planted garlic and sprouted potatoes, kale, turnip and tatsoi (new to me). My first garden was in Perth – complete contrast to here sand vs clay, summer dry vs wet though this year not holding true only just got decent rain. Leeks are a new discovery for me, subtle yet flavourful – you can even cut them off and let them grow back, tough.

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      April 7, 2014 at 22:28

      You are most welcome Clare, and thanks for your comment 😉 Yes, leeks are very versatile and full of flavour. Sounds like you have lots of goodies in the garden. Here’s to a wet winter!

      Reply
  2. Kim says

    April 8, 2014 at 07:02

    Just about to the same! We have a group of homeschoolers visiting the farm this week and we are going to be planting the winter crops of broccolli , cauliflower and kale. Then later I will plant my garlic in the next chicken tractor bed.

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      April 8, 2014 at 23:57

      Snap! Good luck with your seedlings

      Reply
  3. rabidlittlehippy says

    April 8, 2014 at 08:37

    I have been slowly working my way through pating out brassicas and alliums too. Garlic don’t like the brassicas as a companion but onions do and I figure I will plant the onions around the brassicas and I am hoping the onion smell will deter the pests like cabbage moths and aphids. 🙂 I’m planning carrots around someo of my alliums too – again great companions although I’m sure you know that already. 🙂 Autumn planting is so great, particularly with the thought of nature doing the hard watering work. 🙂 Here’s to a wet winter but not too wet please. 😉

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      April 8, 2014 at 23:56

      Did you get some rain today Jessie. We got a bit today, will have to check the rain gauge in the morning. I do love not having to water the garden 😉

      Reply
      • rabidlittlehippy says

        April 9, 2014 at 08:26

        It rained all day! Not much but pretty much solidly. My gardens will love it!

  4. theresa says

    April 8, 2014 at 08:45

    Always like to know WHAT to plant and WHEN, you keep it so simple and easy that you just want to go out and start planting, I will defiantly be planting leeks so I can make Kims Anglesey Eggs again that was delicious…. not sure which is the best recipe, Kims Anglesey or Bens Pesto pasta, will have to make them both again and see 🙂 Thank you

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      April 8, 2014 at 23:52

      You’re welcome Theresa. Glad you like the recipes. We love to cook the veggies we grow, so it is only natural to share our successes and failures.

      Reply
  5. Jason Dingley says

    April 8, 2014 at 13:56

    Gavin, I always plant a large variety of things, and mix them together in the same bed to help with pest control. Recently I planted broccoli, cabbage, cauli, kale, carrot, onion, spring onion, potato, lettuce, beetroot, garlic, snowpea, sugar snap pea, radish, and parsnip. Best wishes to your seedlings.

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      April 8, 2014 at 23:51

      Good plan of attack Jason. I think I will need to plant something in between the rows of brassica. I did this last year with radishes, which worked a treat.

      Reply
  6. Bacon Brown says

    April 11, 2014 at 20:45

    I wish I had raised beds in my front yard. Maybe one year. I have planed most of my root veg (carrots, beets, radishes, turnips) as well as lettuces, and spinach. I also have the garlic popping up that I planted last fall. So excited that spring has finally arrived.

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      April 13, 2014 at 22:09

      Or autumn in my case!

      Reply

Comments build lively communities. Let me know your thoughts, but keep it clean and green! Spam is removed instantly. Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search This Blog

Follow my work

About Gavin Webber

About Gavin Webber

An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

Delve Into the Archives

Visit Our Online Simple Living Shop

Little Green Workshops

Latest Podcast Episode

Subscribe on iTunes

Top Posts & Pages

The Seven Stages Of Change
How To Remove Scaly Leg Mites
Strawbridge Family Inspiration
Chicken Hygiene
2 Fruit Marmalade
Clay Oven First Layer
Selling Your Own Soap in Australia
Infinite Growth on a Finite Planet
Grow Food Not Lawns - 4 Reasons Why You Should Dig Up Your Lawn
How To Regrow Spring Onions

Recent Awards

Recent Awards

Local Green Hero

Categories

Favourite Daily Reads

Debt Free, Cashed Up, and Laughing

The Off-Grid Solar House

Greener Me

The Rogue Ginger

Little Eco Footprints

Down To Earth

Surviving the Suburbs

Little Green Cheese

Eight Acres

The Witches Kitchen

TGOG Readers On-line

Podcast Reviews

  • Always inspiring and entertaining!
    August 4, 2016 by floriographer from Australia

    I've crowed about Gavin's podcast before but I just have to recommend it once again - I love that he shares his learning as well as his successes - it helps the rest of us try try try again! Thanks Gavin!

  • ms
    July 22, 2016 by Ketaea12 from New Zealand

    I really enjoy listening to Gavin, he has a kind lovely voice. He covers some great relevant topics for the everyday greenie. With lots of tips or how to or what not to do. Thanks Gavin, love it!!

  • Well worth your time to tune in
    October 23, 2015 by A Vision Splendid from Australia

    I can highly recommend Gavin’s podcast ! I have followed Gavin’s blog since the very beginning and have loved to see his journey unfold. Gavin has a lovely speaking voice so this podcast is always very easy to listen to. Gavin has a very authentic approach to his green living lifestyle. He shares the ups and downs but always provides motivation and practical steps that we can all implement.

  • very good
    June 28, 2015 by Scared pax from United Kingdom

    This is a great podcast if you want to improve your life in so many aspects and become a more sustainable person. I love the soothing voice, the good pace, and it contains lots of useful information. Recommended!

  • opened my eyes
    May 25, 2015 by Gorn4lyfe from Australia

    A wonderful show!

  • Inspiring
    April 30, 2015 by Alan Whelan from Ireland

    This is a great podcast if you're looking for practical info on saving money by living more sustainably from someone who's made that journey over the last few years. Told in a nice, easy conversational style

  • Green Living, inspiring and practical
    January 8, 2015 by EliseMac from Australia

    Thanks Gav for sharing what has (and hasn't) worked along your journey for living a greener lifestyle. Inspiring and achievable for anyone, I look forward to this podcast weekly.

  • Local food equals less waste
    December 27, 2014 by allotmentadventureswithjean from Australia

    Another brilliant podcast from Gavin Webber encouraging us, and showing us how, to cut down on food miles, growing our own food, and cutting down on food waste. Gavin is a really interesting speaker, showing us how to eat better, growing our own food and how to live more sustainably.

  • Honestly australian
    December 15, 2014 by HodgepodgeOz from Australia

    Fantastic podcast, with a wide variety of well thought and researched topics. Gavin is a honest, forthright pod aster with a genuine interest in helping others get green. Like a day alongside is a day wasted, so too is a week without listening to Gavin. Highly recommended for people starting out, or those in the midst of their new lifestyle. Keep it up Gavin, wish there were more great reviews! Kimberley

  • Morning motivation
    December 8, 2014 by Bunnyworm from Australia

    Gavin has a great passion for living this greener lifestyle that motivates others to do the same. The podcasts are always interesting and informative. :)

  • Passionate Advocate
    October 18, 2014 by BoomOpGirl from Australia

    Gavin's enthusiasm and passion for creating a more sustainable world is nothing short of contagious. Thanks Gav, you are my weekly source of motivation for living a sustainable life! :)

  • Gavin speaks from the heart
    October 13, 2014 by Green gavin from Australia

    Gavin's podcasts are required listening for anyone planning to live a more sustainable life. He doesn't preach, but tells you his story from the heart. You'll laugh, smile, share in his concerns and along the way you'll pick up some great tips on living a simple life.

  • Green thoughts, so well iterated
    October 9, 2014 by Kwasikwami from Australia

    This is a wonderful podcast. Not only does Gavin talk knowledgeably on a range of sustainability topics from gardening tips all the way to the issues facing humanity as a whole, but he does so in such a wonderful voice, it's like listening to my Dad, love it!!

  • Easy listening inspiration on being green
    September 24, 2014 by Broomedy from Australia

    Gav knows how to share his journey to a more sustainable life in a manner that shows just how easy it really is. Not to mention healthier, economically beneficial and generally rewarding. The podcasts are an easy way to absorb Gav's great lifestyle. I recommend to anyone.

  • Thanks Gavin!
    August 31, 2014 by Honeywoodmilk from Australia

    Great practical advice for a greener lifestyle. This podcast is for anybody interested in growing their own food in suburbia, saving electricity, brewing beer, making cheese, all that wonderful business and most of all, saving money! Thanks Gavin, love the podcast mate!

  • Enjoyed those ideas for staying warm
    August 15, 2014 by enduringdragon from United States

    Like you we are having winter here in Chile—brrr! Every bit we can save on heating we will.

  • Green Podcasts
    July 26, 2014 by Carneu from Australia

    Excellent podcasts, which are full of information to help get started on a sustainable lifestyle.

  • Practical ideas and inspiration
    July 19, 2014 by HeathrowHeath from Australia

    I highly recommend Gavin's podcast and blog. Down to earth, entertaining and inspirational. Thank you.

  • Interesting & easy to listen to
    April 27, 2014 by Velocity3 from New Zealand

    Gavin & his guests make this green journey lots of fun.

  • Great green listen
    April 18, 2014 by Obscurenickname from Australia

    Gavin is a great down to earth, tell it like it is aussie with a passion for sustainability and growing food and making cheese

Carbon Offset website

Copyright - Gavin Webber © 2023