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Summer Arrives Early In My Garden

October 14, 2015 @ 18:23 By Gavin Webber 7 Comments

Summer has arrived two months early here in Melton.  With temperatures sometimes 15°C above average over the last two weeks, I have started planting our summer crops.

Normally I plant my tomatoes in the first week of November (around Melbourne Cup Weekend), which is the old gardeners axiom here in Victoria.  Not so this year.

I have turned over a garden bed that has been sitting dormant for a year and put in my first seasons tomatoes.

Big red and cherry grape tomato plants

Big red and cherry grape tomato plants

They’re small, but growing well.  Thanks to our friend Stacey for donating them out of her vast collection of seedlings!

I’ve also planted my chillies which normally don’t go in until around mid November as the ground is just not hot enough.  They have doubled in size since I planted them two weeks ago.

Chilli plants

Chilli plants

The self-seeded Basil has gone bonkers, with more plants than I’ve ever grown from last years seeds.  The soil has to be between 18-35°C before Basil germinates, and rarely do any sprout before December.

Basil

Basil

The Rainbow chard has bolted to seed, as has the perpetual spinach.  I’ve been picking off the largest leaves for the chooks to give them an iron and calcium boost, which has improved their laying output to three eggs a day from four chooks.

Rainbow Chard

Rainbow Chard

My Dwarf Beans are growing strong.  The only trouble I’m having with these is keeping the slugs away from them.  Now the first true leaves have emerged, they are a lot taller, and the slugs are having issues getting to the new leaves.

Dwarf Beans

Dwarf Beans

Where there are gaps in the back row, I replanted more Dwarf Beans on Sunday past.  They should start to poke their little heads through the soil by the end of the week.  The Lazy housewife beans I planted had 100% germination failure, so the seed must have been too old.  Only good enough for the next Minestrone soup.

Thankfully, Jessie from Rabid Little Hippy dropped by to collect some coconut oil for soap making, and brought her seed collection.  She had a variety of climbing bean seeds, so I took about 5 of them, mixed them up and planted them to replace the failed ones.

She also gifted me a hops bush last year for my birthday which I planted in this bed.  It is much taller this year than last, and has about 3 runners from the single plant.  I should get a lot of flowers from them this year for beer making!

Hops - Americana

Hops – Americana

The first lot of Terrific Sweet Corn is growing strongly in between the leeks.  So far so good, and there seems to be no companion issues at the moment.  There are about 10 plants in this bed, and this weekend I will plant some more into the small wicking bed in the pool area.  They are very hungry and thirsty plants, so they will be less likely to wilt in the hot summer sun this year.  Should get a great crop.

Sweet Corn - Terrific

Sweet Corn – Terrific

And finally, my feathered girls.  They are coping with the early heat due to their thoughtful owners forward thinking and providing them with ample shade in the form of a Mulberry tree in their run.

Babs, Bunty, Edwina, and Chooky Chook

Babs, Bunty, Edwina, and Chooky Chook

They’ve been getting lots of greens, snails and bugs from around the garden, and lots of fresh water.  Chooks don’t particularly like drinking warm water, so we replace it first thing in the morning and late in the afternoon so they get their fill.

It’s going to be an angry Summer when it really gets here after the solstice, so we are going to have to devise some shading methods this year for the garden beds and fruit trees.  Not sure what I am going to construct yet, but it will be something that can withstand the strong northerly winds we get here when it gets above 35°C (95°F).

We are in for a heck of a killer El Niño this season, with crop losses already on the slate.  It’s predicted to be hot, dry, with below average rainfall.  Welcome to climate change, right here, right now.  I hope they reach a global climate agreement at Paris and actually take strong action to reduce GHG emissions.  Otherwise this sort of seasons will become permanent.

Not a happy place to be.

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Related

Filed Under: garden, Gardening, vegetables

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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. rabidlittlehippy says

    October 15, 2015 at 16:06

    My pleasure with the seeds. No point keeping them for years – they lose viability too quickly.

    As for the hops, mine is already 2m tall (I think it goes to 15m if you let it) and I think I have 4 times the shoots of last year. It’s trying very hard to become an invasive weed, not that it can be. 😉 I think I need some beer making lessons so I can branch out and make beer using real hops. 😀

    Everything is sprouting fast here too, despite the 2C we had Monday night that also brought frost but thankfully the soil held enough heat as did the mulch to keep my pumpkin seedlings safe. Still, we have 2C-13C forecast next week. Thankfully it brings rain with it though. Lots of different tomato seedlings to share if you’d like. There’s about 9 varieties I have I think.

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      October 18, 2015 at 12:46

      Thanks Jessie again. I forgot about the tomato seeds. I’m going to plant them out this afternoon into seedling trays for succession planting.

      Reply
  2. John says

    October 18, 2015 at 05:09

    Hey Gavin,

    Do you use your hop for making beer?

    Greetz,
    John

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      October 18, 2015 at 12:45

      Hi John, I’m definitely hoping to make beer with the hop flowers. Once they develop, I will write a post about the process I use to make the beer.

      Reply
  3. Fiona says

    December 15, 2015 at 13:36

    Great looking garden there Gav. How exciting your own hops. Do you just Dry the flowers? I might have to consider them for Hubby when we move to NZ.

    Reply
  4. Fiona says

    December 15, 2015 at 13:45

    Yes it is hot here too and I am watering my styrofoam box veggies at our rental every day mainly on the big leaved plants like eggplant and cucumber.

    Reply
  5. Eve Inbetta says

    August 8, 2016 at 14:33

    Do your chickens eat snails? I have 7 hens and a duck and they all turn their noses up at snails!

    Reply

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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.

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