As you sow, so you shall reap

[Ben]

Hi Dan,
My vegie garden is about the size of a modern suburban block. The big jarradales were from 3 or 4 plants which took over most of the garden. The smaller golden nuggets were much smaller plants in comparison. I tried a variety of giant pumpkins (grows to 600kg), unfortunately I couldn;t get any of from the packet to germinate. I think that come next Spring, I'll get about 10 packets and use some heated germination trays and plant them in different places around the campus.

Perhaps you should come down for a holiday. Its only 45 minutes from Melbourne and the photography opportunities are hard to beat!
kind regards,

Ben

[Dan74]

Yes, Tassie is definitely one of the next destinations. Maybe sooner rather than later. My wife really needs a holiday after her brother's passing - she spent many a night with him at the ICU. We also have parents of a dear friend of mine in Cygnet near Hobart and should pay them a visit, they are lovely people.

Good luck with those giant pumpkins! By the look of your current crop, you'll be able to feed the whole island with your next one!!

[Ben]

I am sorry to hear of your brother in law's passing, Dan. All my metta to you and your family.
Do let me know if and when you intend to come - it would be good to catch up. Also, if you need any holiday ideas/suggested itinerary - let me know.
Yes, I have big plans for the vegie garden for next Spring. I haven't yet got a winter crop in the ground yet and am wondering whether it will be worth it. If we don't get inundated with flood waters, the frosts can be very hard.
kind regards,

Ben

[Dan74]

I will do, Ben!

Looking forward to seeing that veggie "patch" with my own eyes.

[wizi]

Hi Ben, I am trying to start these bottle towers for container gardening.. just thought u might like to check them out for the winter season!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uDbjZ9r ... re=related

[Ben]

Hi wizi,
Thanks for the link but I can't view videos from my current location. I'll be waiting until tomorrow morning before it loads!
I think I know what a bottle tower is, and I wish you all the best with your vertical garden. I'd love to know how it progresses.
I'm still tidying up after a very productive summer. At the rate I am going - I don't know whether I'll get a winter crop in.
kind regards,

Ben

[Ron-The-Elder]

Hi all,
I thought I would share with you some photos of the pumkin harvest. I took this photo about an hour ago.

The blue/green variety are jarrahdale or "Queensland Blue" and I estimate they are between 5-10kg each. Some maybe more.
I harvested 18. There are some still in the garden but I think its too late for them to mature.
The smaller orange variety are known as golden nuggets.

pumpkin2.jpg

Hi, Ben. Glad to see that your pumpkin production is prolific. Here in my region of The U.S. there is a pumpkin related sport called "punkin chunkin' ", which you may want to give some consideration when breeding for size and configuration. The main event is held south of us here in New England in one of the original Thirteen Colonies: Delaware.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_chunking

http://www.punkinchunkin.com/

It's a sport which allows your supply of pumpkins to go a lot further.

[Ben]

Hi Ron,
So unethical but...oh boy do I love it!
I gotta get myself a trebuchet!
Thank you for giving me a smile on this ordinary evening.
kind regards,

Ben

[Kim O'Hara]

Hi, folks,
I don't grow much food - good intentions alone are not enough, apparently - but I do have tomatoes from time to time and something most of you can't grow ...

Bananananananas.jpg (111.44 KiB) Viewed 644 times

They all ripen at pretty much the same time. This lot will be ripe in a few weeks and I will then have about 150 bananas to eat or give away within a week or two.



Kim

[Ben]

Bananas, how cool!
Do the plants die straight after harvest?

I'd love to have a go at a vegetable garden in a tropical climate.
kind regards,

Ben

[Kim O'Hara]

Bananas, how cool!
Do the plants die straight after harvest?

I'd love to have a go at a vegetable garden in a tropical climate.
kind regards,

Ben

The plants are related to lilies and gingers and, like them, die back after flowering and fruiting. A new plant will grow as a sucker from the same root. I pick the bunch by cutting through the trunk and letting it collapse - as gently as possible - to the ground.
Vegie gardening up here is largely a matter of watering during the Dry season and avoiding waterlogging in the Wet, because there's always plenty of sunshine. Some things need cold to trigger growth, e.g. apples and stone fruit, so we can't grow them, but most things can be grown okay. Tomatoes, capsicums, lettuces, melons, citrus, etc are great, and then we have the 'exotic' tropical stuff - sweet potatoes, lemongrass, lychees, etc.


Kim

[Ben]

Hi Kim,
Where I live we can't grow citrus. Not just the hard frost but the exposure to high cold winds during winter. Apparently there is only one lemon tree known to survive in "the valley" and I think that its protected and gets plenty of TLC. I've got an orchard of approx 50 trees - apples and a variety of stone fruit. But they're still some way off from maturity.
kind regards,

Ben

[mikenz66]

Hi, folks,
I don't grow much food - good intentions alone are not enough, apparently - but I do have tomatoes from time to time and something most of you can't grow ...

Oddly, we have a banana plant growing happily in our lounge. It's getting a bit big though... And I doubt it will yield any fruit. But they are nice plants. I like the way the new leaves shoot up wrapped up like a newspaper, then unfold over a couple of days...


Mike

[Kim O'Hara]

I got back from a week away to find two bunches of bananas ready to pick - the one in the photo and another which was 1.5 times as big.
The bigger one was on the fence line and it had been eaten steadily by possums on the neighbours' side from us - I should have looked more carefully! - but there were still about 60 left for us, as well as maybe 100 on the other bunch ... that's a lot of bananas.

Mike, you won't get any fruit until your plant is big enough and warm enough to flower. If you take it outside, it will get too cold and die back; if you don't, it is unlikely to get enough light or water (they like wet feet) to grow big enough, and it might then be bumping the ceiling. (Some varieties only grow to 1.5 m or so but all the main varieties here are 2 - 3m.) I think you should just enjoy it for what it is.


Kim

[Ron-The-Elder]

I am envious of those able to produce bananas and pumpkins. The best I have been able to produce in my region is spices and herbs:

Cat Nip (our cats think it is the best of the crop)
Parsely
Chives (my favorite)
Oregano
Marjoram

I grow these perennials in horse feeder buckets with a one in. diam. hole drilled in the bottom for drainage in the full sunlight of the back yard.

[Ben]

Hi Ron,
We're all limited by our regions climate, rainfall, soil and space. We grow what we can.
Its all good!
Have a bountiful spring!
kind regards,

Ben

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

We grow what we can.

In my case, weeds.

No home-grown produce at our residence ~ the naughty dog would destroy it.

Metta,
Retro.

[Ben]

Hi Retro,

We grow what we can.

In my case, weeds.

I actually have my whole-of-farm environment management plan in front of me.
For a backyard - its an easy job!

No home-grown produce at our residence ~ the naughty dog would destroy it.

Again, easily fixed!
kind regards,

Ben

[Kim O'Hara]

Greetings,

We grow what we can.

In my case, weeds.

No home-grown produce at our residence ~ the naughty dog would destroy it.

Metta,
Retro.

Some variant of Ron's solution would fix your problem, Retro - big hanging pots/baskets above doggy-jump height.
(I was going to suggest using lateral thinking but it's really more like vertical thinking, isn't it?)


Kim

[jackson]

Hi Ben, All,
I'm currently thinking about starting a garden myself, and would be interested to know how you handled "pests", for while I find the idea of growing food for my family appealing I'm also strongly averse to causing another being harm.
Great photos!
Jackson