Garden chat

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Schecter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 10:07am
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Our corn, blueberries, strawberries and courgettes are plentiful this summer, along with the kale, lettuce and pak choi.  The passionfruit is also plentiful and super sweet!  

The potatoes didn't do well this year.  I don't think I adequately watered the crop.

I gave our tangelo tree a really hard prune last year to minimise black spot and any unwanted nasties.  It's now grown back with a vengeance and the developing fruit look very good.

I've started sowing the autumn crops:  Brocolli, cabbage, rocket, coriander etc.  With increasing prices and a looming recession forecast for the year, I will be expanding my garden.  
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 1:33pm
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I have no room left but one of my sweet corn crops will be finished in a month so will be able to plant some autumn/winter stuff then. I never have much luck with passionfruit.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote lingee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 8:26pm
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had a bit of flooding throw the gardens, tomatoes at there end ,potatoes will lift when dry, butternuts comming on well as my capsiums,12 plants with about 6-9 fruit ,beans great 3rd crop,carrots ok,zucckini not bad, cucumbers slow but a few fruit, the garden is on hold due to the missus had a stroke 19 days ago, next door are enjoying my corn,  will get back into it when i have time.and no fishing for sum time.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 9:14pm
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Ohhh crikey I hope your wife is ok
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Pcj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jan 2023 at 3:27am
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Was given a few a carolina reaper plants late Sunday,went to plant and a bit of a surprise, top 50mm of garden was damp rest bone dry,whether we have a good run off or as I suspected rosehill missed the brunt of rain

Rad capsicums starting to flower while we have bumper crop of green,peas starting to produce meanwhile no sign of carrots..
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Pcj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Mar 2023 at 7:39pm
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Green and red capsicum sauce made ,in to freezer,several containers of birds eye chilli sauce made,now working on haribineras sauce .Carolina reeper has chilies coming on. Have 3 other chili plants,not sure on type as lost label.look like baby carrots,gone from gren to purple starting to turn red. Sweetcorn Nah,peas nah,carrots getting tops/
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote letsgetem Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Mar 2023 at 10:52am
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WEve got a feijoa tree. Its had previously good feijoas - but its now infested with Guava Moth. THat lays eggs on fruit, which hatches to a larva, that burrows into the fruit. It eats there and causes bad areas in the fruit. 

I tried spraying fruit with Neem oil (organic insecticide). But hasnt been effective so probably need more applications. 

Ive decided that, as Neem is very expensive, and not totally effective, we should give up, and buy feijoas at the supermarket.

The recent growing season, has been marked by - regular and heavy rain, thats caused good growth of veges; but unfortuately the biggest growth of weeds I have seen - including major new seedling infestations.

Last year, I tried a late (early?) planting of potatoes, in March to grow autumn/winter. But, it did poorly, probably due to too cold causing slowdown of growth, and a lot of very small potatoes. 


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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Sufishent Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Mar 2023 at 5:33pm
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We had similar issues last year with guava moth on our feijoa - put one of these next to it:


Worked well.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Jaapie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Apr 2023 at 7:52am
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Plugging into the collective brains trust here gents -

I've just built two monster beds and am upgrading two smaller beds on the property.

For the guys that make their own compost which I am hoping to do with garden waste only, do you have a problem with rats?

I don't think I would ever be forgiven if I encouraged rats onto the property so hence the question. I have a composting bin that is basically bloody useless (unless it's user error on my part), but it just never seems to do anything.

I'm not keen on adding food scraps (rats again), but plan to add just organic matter. I want to keep topping up the beds with good quality material.

Any thoughts and tips or words of wisdom?

Cheers and thanks.
"Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught,will we realize that we cannot eat money" - 19th Century Indian Creed
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Apr 2023 at 10:41am
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I keep chooks and have a large garden and 3 compost 'bins'.  I live rural and rats are just a part of the landscape. Rats and mice will invade compost piles even if it is just for the warmth plus they provide shelter for them to raise their little bundles of joy. I've wrapped some small mesh chicken wire around one of mine and underneath it and that works 100%. A couple of discrete bait stations will keep your pets safe and will kill any rats or mice that turn up. Even well kept suburbs will have mice and the odd rat around, you just don't see them very often.

I'm surrounded by farmland and wooded areas. and rats never go away. Best I can hope for is to keep poisoning which I don't like to do but it keeps them manageable. Even without the chickens and compost I will get rats, mice and possums, and stoats and weasels and ferrets ... it never ends 

You won't have too many problems in a tidy urban environment.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Apr 2023 at 10:44am
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Jaapie, composting bins work best if they are in a sunny area and they get turned regularly. A mix of paper/cardboard/dried leaves and green stuffhelps a lot. Tiger worms help a lot. I think you can buy them.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote BananaBoat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Apr 2023 at 11:47am
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Last year we had big rat problems in our area, same as every year as it gets colder, got rid of our 2 compost bins.
These were sitting on 4x2 wood plinth bases I made to keep rats out, they still got in

The rats also got into the house above ceiling, after bit of research I bought the Maze brand - twin compost tumbler.... not cheap tho, luckily got it off trademe cheap as

Really good bin, turn regularly to speed up its composting cycle
Im using bokashi bins for food scraps / citrus then into the tumbler to help speed up the composting..... its working better than the static composters that sat at ground level

Also pays to have traps & baits for rats on your property if its a problem
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Jaapie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Apr 2023 at 4:45pm
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Thanks guys - something to weigh up.

Thanks Smudge for the composting bin tips.
Going to try moving it to a sunnier place and add some cardboard to the mix.

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"Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught,will we realize that we cannot eat money" - 19th Century Indian Creed
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2023 at 5:09pm
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Tumbler bins  as Banana Boat describes does the best job and keep the rat problem to a minimum
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Reel Deal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Apr 2023 at 7:36am
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Rats just made their annual cool weather appearance in my 3 stage compost but I’m spitting out a load every 6 weeks at the mo due to regular turning. Every 3 days and cover to keep warm. A great buy was thermometer  on a long rod allowing deep monitoring. I find moisture is the driver for fast compost. Too much or less it can sit for months with no brewing. 
I’m up north so fulling the garden with winter veg and here is my list. For roasting potatoes, multi colour carrots, radishes.( yip radishes roast well) broadbeans, cauliflower broccoli in different colours, 3 types of dwarf beans, silverbeet, beetroot, orange carrots, lettuce, basil, coriander, parsley, spring onions, leeks, onions. 

Harvesting now pumpkin’s, beetroot, beans, egg plants, capsicum, lettuce, spring onions actually this is a long list but a star this year that I am saving the seed from was heirloom popcorn. Bought 5 seeds for $1 each. Way expensive but they are the popped round type, anyway. I got a good crop off them and saved 2 cobs for a large bed next year. Found a killer healthy recipe the family love. Olive oil, fenugreek seeds, ground chilli, nutritional yeast. And how to cook without burning. Heat oil and ingredients and drop in 3 seeds. When they pop tale off heat and put in rest of popcorn seed and they all pop together and no burns 👍
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Dagwood Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Apr 2023 at 12:03pm
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Struggling to get some broccoli seedlings away. Raised garden with good drainage under netting watered every morning but still getting hammered by something leaving mainly small holes in the leaves. 

Put some Blitzen down and tried a mite spray - any other ideas?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote lingee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Apr 2023 at 6:47pm
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white butterfly ,they lay eggs on the under side of the leaves you need to spray with a insecterside or a natural spray like neem oil but get the under side of the leaves.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote BananaBoat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jul 2023 at 6:17pm
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Got a couple bags of raw horse poos, none of it is dried off
I've dug it in & covered the surface with cardboard, hoping the worms do their thing.... its full of worms already from the buried fish frames that went in many weeks ago

What do you reckon I can do to speed things up so this is ready to plant just after springtime
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Jul 2023 at 6:24am
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I would put some 'almost ready' compost on top, or maybe just a small layer of grass clippings and lime then the compost if the compost is ready to go. Tiger worms are the ones you want in there. If you have a compost heap there are bound to be plenty in there. I'd put some soil on top of the compost to give the mix a bit of substance and mix that compost and soil up. If the horse manure gets anywhere near the surface I'd expect you to have a thriving weed patch before too long.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Reel Deal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Jul 2023 at 7:04am
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You did the right thing by covering. I try not to put straight manure on garden not because of weed seed as no dig method stops weeds but there are some pretty powerful enzymes and nutrients that can burn plant roots. So if you dug in deep and planted on top smaller plants by the time the roots go down you should be ok. I just got a couple of miniature Herefords so am now picking up a wheel barrow of dung a week. The dryer the better but good luck finding anything dry up north this year. I heap it and cover it to keep rain off as already has moisture in it. Can use for some applications in a month as gets hot but 6-8 weeks you have crumbly black gold and lots of it. Just need to stop it washing off garden in the daily downpours. …. Grass clippings help but I can get white water rapids going through my beds at times ….
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb
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