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Suburban Food Farm – December 2014

December 10, 2014 @ 20:58 By Gavin Webber 4 Comments

Finally I managed to get into the garden and give it a bit of TLC.  After completing the morning postal run, I had a couple of hours to myself, so it was into the veggie patch to weed and just generally tidy up.

Due to working the last seven weekends in a row, the patch was probably looking a little neglected.  But after two hours solid work, I had all the pathways and beds weeded.  I also managed to tie up all of the tomato vines as they are starting to get a bit leggy.

So here is a photo expose of my gardening handy work.

Suburban Food Farm - December 2014 - Garden Bed One

Garden Bed One

This bed has two types of capsicum, some spring onions (shallots), and two random potato plants.  All looking quite healthy.

Suburban Food Farm - December 2014 - Garden Bed Two

Garden Bed Two

Bed two has heirloom tomatoes planted.  They look a bit shabby in this picture, but that is because I just tied them to their stakes.  They were starting to trail everywhere.  All of these plants have small tomatoes on them already.  I accidentally snapped off the main runner of one of the plants, but easily fixed by just tying up one of the side shoots which will now become the main runner.

As for the one left in my hand, I just snapped off the lower leaves and planted it deep into the soil.  It will grow as a clone of the original plant.

Suburban Food Farm - December 2014 - Garden Bed Three

Garden Bed Three

Moving along the path, bed three has more heirloom tomatoes that were gifted to me by Jessie (aka Rabid Little Hippy).  Under the trellis are climbing and bush cucumbers to make use of the available vertical space.  Around the bed are wild nasturtiums that pop up every spring.

Mayer Lemon Tree

Meyer Lemon Tree

In between bed three and four is my abundant Meyer Lemon tree.  Still going strong after seven years in a large pot.  I think it needs another dose of worm wee tea to give it a boost!

Garden Bed Four

Garden Bed Four

I pulled all of the red spanish onions in this bed today and left them for a day to harden.  I will chop off all the stalks tomorrow night and put them away in the pantry for summer eating.  Not sure what I am going to put in this bed.  It is a toss-up between chillies and maybe some more cucumbers for pickling.

Suburban Food Farm - December 2014 - Western Garden

Western Garden

This is the entire view of the western garden.  I weeded the path—but left the warrigal greens—that had sprung up as weeds.  It was very overgrown with Italian parsley plants that had gone to seed, which I gave to the chooks as a snack.

Wicking Bed

Wicking Bed

Ben weeded the next bed for me.  It was full of pick-and-come-again lettuce that had gone to seed.  Another feast for the chooks.  At least the lettuce will get converted into wholesome eggs!

Suburban Food Farm - December 2014 - Chicken garden Tomatoes

Chicken garden Tomatoes

Finally, for today anyway, is the Chicken garden.  You may remember that I planted more tomatoes gifted to me by our friend Stacey.  They are all growing well and are loving all that chook poo.

There you have it friends, the Suburban Food Farm – December 2014 update.

I will stop there for today, but I have swags of photos of the fruit trees laden with summer fruit to put up tomorrow.  I don’t want to overload you with gardening goodness!

How are your gardens going?  Hope you are getting lots of rain to keep it all growing well.  If no rain, have you been putting your grey water to good use?

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Filed Under: garden, Gardening, Organic, Seasons, Suburban Food Farm

Summer Solstice

December 22, 2011 @ 16:30 By Gavin Webber 8 Comments

As Christmas approaches, this event is often missed by many people.  Today is the Summer Solstice.  According to the Museum of Victoria, and in our part of the world…..;

On the day of Summer Solstice, the Earth’s south pole is tilted towards the Sun. The Sun rises south of east, sets south of west and reaches 75 1/2° above the horizon at noon. This is, usually, the longest day of the year.

Artist: Frey Micklethwait. Source: Museum Victoria

 It occurs just once a year in late December.  Here in the south eastern part of Australia the day reaches its maximum of 14h 47m 21s.  The actual solstice itself occurs at 1630 which is about the same time this post was published.  This mean the inverse in the Northern Hemisphere who are celebrating their Winter Solstice and their shortest day of the year!

What does the Summer Solstice mean to me?  Well it means that summer has really started in earnest, and it is about the latest time in the season that I can plant any vegetables.  Any later and they usually do not make it to maturity unless we have a really warm autumn.  It means less rainfall (usually) and that I have to start to use my water reserves in the rain water tanks to keep everything alive around the garden.

It also means that the evenings have more light due to the long days and daylight savings.  Time that I can spend in the garden, pottering around and enjoying our bounty and time to talk to the chickens.  We have been harvesting self seeded beetroot leaves and rainbow chard for salads, and are just about to get stuck into the garlic and onions that are now dry and ready to use.  We have also been enjoying peaches for about two weeks now and the nectarines and apricots should be ready in the next week or two, if we can keep the birds off of them.  Our first tomato for the season should not be very far away!

I feel the most grounded at this time of year as well.  We have a simple lunch on Christmas Day, so there is not much to prepare for.  I have lots of home made beverages ready to enjoy by the pool whilst I am on holidays over the next two weeks, and we are just going to wind down until we get itchy bums and need to start a new project.  All external commitments are on hold until February 2012.

I get time to make cheese, read (in fact I just read 7 books in 21 days), relax, and enjoy time with my family.

Happy days!

What does the solstice mean to you?

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Filed Under: Seasons

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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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