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The last straw? I was recently reminded of the re

The last straw?

I was recently reminded of the reason why I try to close the loop and avoid purchasing materials such as compost and soil for my garden.

I run my composting workshop annually and usually I purchase pea straw, lucerne or vetch hay to bulk up the compost because grass clippings aren’t plentiful in August. I use these leguminous products because they are sensitive to and therefore a lower risk for herbicide contamination. A farmer is unlikely to spray a crop with a herbicide that it is sensitive to.

While collecting the vetch hay for this year’s workshop, I was offered some spoiled barely straw for free. I’m always up for a freebie, so I threw these bales onto the trailer as well.

During the compost workshop we set up a bioassay on the vetch and the freebie straw. This simple DIY test can be conducted at home to check for herbicide contamination and is a very useful skill to learn. The bioassay we set up is now reaching maturity and shows that the free barley straw is heavily contaminated with herbicide. These wriggly, curled broad bean tips are the main indicator.

I’m so glad that I haven't yet used the straw in the garden. That would have been a disaster.

It's not just contaminated straw that can introduce broad leaf herbicide to your garden. Animals can eat contaminated straw, hay or grass and their manure becomes contaminated. Composts and soils containing materials that have been treated with weed-and-feed products (such as lawn clippings or turf removed from sports ovals) can also be a source. The more I test for them, the more I’m finding these chemicals in garden soils, mulches, potting mixes and composts.

Head to my Substack to read how to conduct your own bioassays.

Has your garden been impacted by herbicide contamination?

In October 2023 I wrote about how my apricot trees

In October 2023 I wrote about how my apricot trees had suffered from the sudden flip from wet to dry in spring 2022, and the long term impacts on the trees. The good news is the trees have all overcome this problem and fruit set has been amazing this spring. Too good.

During November I’m going to gradually reduce the amount of fruit that each tree is carrying. I don’t want my apricot trees to become biennial croppers. This is where they produce an overabundance of fruit one year and then need to take the next year off to recover. General wisdom is that prevention is better than cure when it comes to biennial cropping, and fruit thinning is the best way to go about preventing it.

Thinning of fruit is an important task in November. This ensures good size and quality of remaining fruit (and helps to prevent biennial cropping). You are aiming to thin the fruit so that when it reaches full size it is not going to be in contact with another piece of fruit. Thinning should be completed over the next month. I do this in stages because the trees may naturally abort some fruit themselves.

Make sure that each piece of fruit that remains on the tree isn't going to come into contact with any other fruit as they swell to full size. Clusters of ripening fruit create habitat for pests such as earwigs. I've found that it is better to have less fruit on the tree, of better quality, than to have masses of fruit all damaged by pests and disease.

#fruitthinning #backyardorchard #apricottree #kyneton

🌸 An early spring trend? 📅 In September I p

🌸 An early spring trend?

📅 In September I posted some data showing the flowering dates of a selection of my stone fruit trees. The data showed that overall, stone fruit trees blossomed a bit on the early side, but not by much. The data set generated plenty of interest and I promised to share more data as the season progressed. Peak apple blossom has now been and gone in my garden and there are only a few apple trees with blossom left on them. Here are the numbers from a subset of the best apple blossom data, with a few pears thrown in for good measure. I’ve excluded trees with missing data points, trees planted in recent years, and trees with other issues with their data.

Looking at this data, two things become apparent:
🌳 Using an individual tree or event to indicate seasonal timing can provide misleading results. For example, if we took the data for tree #10 or #11 in isolation, then most years we would have a wildly different view of the timing of spring than if we looked at the data for the other trees. Averaging larger data sets provides a clearer picture of what’s going on.
📈 When we do look at a larger data set, we can see that overall, there’s not a lot of fluctuation from year to year but there is some difference (of up to 18 days) between an early and a late spring. This difference could be due to seasonal variation and climate, but also all sorts of other factors, such as me not paying close enough attention to flowering dates or natural causes beyond climate.

🍎🟰🍑 My pome fruit data correlates well with my stone fruit data to show that, yes, spring is slightly earlier this year than previous years. Most of my other observation records for insects, reptiles, and indigenous flowering plants are showing the same thing.

❓ What do you think? Was spring early, late or right on time this year?

Check out this post for more information on how to record your own gardening data
➡ https://leafrootfruit.substack.com/p/recording-garden-observations-garden-diary

🌽 I’ll be planting five successive crops of s

🌽 I’ll be planting five successive crops of sweet corn this summer to ensure a huge and continuous glut of sweet corn in autumn. Sweet corn crop number one was sown in the greenhouse at the end of September. The seedlings have since been successfully transplanted and are well on their way. I sowed crop number two directly into the soil and it has just germinated. I will plant crop three later on this week.

😡 The sweet corn seedlings are establishing well, although the blackbirds keep foraging quite close to the seedlings and I’m having to replant the odd plant.

🌱 Beans, potatoes, basil and all sorts of other summer vegetables are raring to go. It’s time to get planting.

📖 Check out my FREE monthly planting guide and garden update for a full list of what you can be planting this month:

➡ link in bio

#sweetcorn #growyourownveg #vegetablepatch #plantingguide

🍎 November is a critical time for deciduous fru

🍎 November is a critical time for deciduous fruit trees such as apples, pears and stone fruit. Did you know that the trees are currently determining the outcomes of buds for next year? Right now, the amount of water you give to a tree, and its state of health, will determine which buds will turn into flowers (and therefore fruit) and which buds will turn into leaves when the tree wakes from its dormancy in spring 2025.

🌧 The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has been predicting an average to slightly wetter than average spring, but we certainly haven’t seen it here in Central Victoria. I’ve already activated irrigation on the plants that are sensitive to dry soil, such as the berries.

💧 For the next six weeks, you should give your established fruit trees a good, deep soaking fortnightly (weekly for newly planted trees). Don't bother with light, regular watering. That doesn't encourage a good root system or help as much as a deep watering.

👇 At this time of year, it is a good idea to keep an eye on your soil moisture levels to prevent issues with your fruit trees, vegetables and other parts of the garden. Using your finger is the best way to monitor this.

👨🏻‍🏫 I have a few spots left in my upcoming workshop on irrigation and capturing rainwater. Come along on this Saturday 9 November to learn how you can save yourself time, money and water while setting your garden up to thrive.

#fruittree #backyardorchard #watering #diyirrigation

My to-do list this November✔ 🍑 Thinning frui

My to-do list this November✔

🍑 Thinning fruit is a critical task at this time of the year. Stone fruit needs to be done right now. Later in the month, I’ll start thinning the apples and pears, as they develop.
💧 Activate the remaining irrigation zones. I’ve already tested and flushed all the lines; now I just need to pay close attention to which zones need activating and when (do you have a crystal ball you can lend me?). Come along to my irrigation workshop to learn more.
🫘 Harvesting broad beans and digging the green manure plants back into the soil ahead of planting the summer crops.
🌱 Planting, planting and more planting. Sweetcorn and tomatoes, basil and beans. It’s the busiest time in my planting schedule. There’s not much time for anything else, other than mowing, of course.
🍋 I’m not planting any this year, but if you’re looking to plant citrus, passionfruit, avocadoes or other subtropical plants, now is the perfect time to do it.
🌿 Weeding. I have most of the garden under control, but the weeds that remain are now flowering. It’s important to remove any that have been missed before they set seed and add to your workload next spring.
🐍 Watching where I step. The snakes are about, so I’m focusing on whipper snipping any long grass and tidying up the place to reduce snake habitat around the house and the areas where the kids play the most. This all goes hand in hand with preparing the property for fire season.
🐝 Towards the end of the month, when they start flowering, I’ll be hand pollinating zucchini. Often the first few flowers don’t pollinate that well, and the bees need some help to ensure good fruit set. After a while the bees seem to have it under control.
🍓 Enjoying plenty of delicious strawberries and watching the blueberries and raspberries develop.

👀 Check out my FREE monthly planting guide and garden update for more guidance on growing your own fruit and vegetables.

➡ link in bio

🏇 Giddy up, tomorrow it’s the Melbourne Cup

🏇 Giddy up, tomorrow it’s the Melbourne Cup

🍅 There’s so much different advice about when is the best time to plant tomatoes. Some folks say AFL Grand Final weekend is a fantastic early start (the last weekend of September) and I agree that for Melbourne it’s an okay time to plant.

🌡 Others advocate for patience and waiting another month or so for the soil to warm up (my Fool’s Garden Experiment is a great example of why patience is a good strategy).

🏆 Regardless, in southern Australia, the first week of November is usually a good time to get planting. Coincidently, many of us Victorians have a public holiday on the first Tuesday in November for the running of the Melbourne Cup, or as I like to think of it, a day off work to do some gardening.

❄️ In my part of the world, the risk of a late frost is always lingering, but I can’t sit around waiting for the perfect conditions to arrive. My growing season is very short and it’s time to get cracking or I’ll miss the boat.

🌱 Tomorrow, I’ll be getting my salad tomatoes planted. I’ll be planting them deep, although I’m still not convinced that it make much of a difference. My tomato seedlings are looking lush and healthy, far better than last year’s plants at the same time. That’s because I’ve been paying closer attention to them this year and making sure that they were potted up in time. All the seedlings are flowering, and many have fruit set on them. I’m not sure that I’ll beat last year’s very early first tomato harvest (November 25) but I’m definitely on track to harvest a few Christmas tomatoes.

Are you planting your tomatoes tomorrow? Are they already in? Or will you wait a bit longer?

➡ Head to the Leaf, Root & Fruit website to read my guide to growing great tomatoes.

#melbournecup #tomatotime #springplanting #vegetablepatch

☁👀 It's shaping up to be another great day fo

☁👀 It's shaping up to be another great day for cloud watching today.

🍅 It's also going to be a cracking day for getting stuck into some gardening. I'll be clearing preparing some garden beds in anticipation of some Cup Day tomato and other summer vegetable planting such as zucchini and sweet corn. 🌽🌱

📋 For a full list of what you can plant now, how to go about it and what varieties to choose, see my Spring Planting Guide:
➡ https://www.leafrootfruit.com.au/spring-planting-guide-for-melbourne/

Peekaboo! This slithery friend was hiding in just

Peekaboo!

This slithery friend was hiding in just 10cm of grass. It was nearly impossible to spot until I almost stepped on it. I've seen heaps of snakes around the place this spring. Far more than usual at this time of the year. So I'm really watching where I step.

I’m focusing on whipper snipping any long grass and tidying up the place to reduce snake habitat around the house and the areas where the kids play the most. This all goes hand in hand with preparing the property for fire season.

The kids are well versed in sticking to paths, walking not running (although often need reminding) and watching where they walk. They're pretty good at spotting them and know what to do when they do. Stand still and then, when safe to do so, they carefully back away and find an adult.

The snake bite bandages are stashed in strategic locations.

Have you spotted any snakes yet this spring?

#snakes #kyneton #snakeseason #friendnotfoe

🍓 Look what I just found! There’s only a few

🍓 Look what I just found!

There’s only a few, but they indicate that a summer of berry abundance is not very far away.

Last year, I picked over 26 kg of strawberries. This was down slightly from the year previous (30 kg)

Some folks advocate for replacing their strawberry plants every second year. The assumption is that yields decline with time.

I’m not convinced.

Yes, the yield dropped last summer. But only slightly, and this could have been due to the wet summer that we had. All that rain made conditions perfect for slugs. Slug damaged fruit is launched straight over the fence where the chickens devour them. It isn’t weighed and doesn’t count towards my tally.

I’m really interested to see if this year, the downward trend continues, or if my 54 plants produce around 30kg again? Perhaps they’ll produce even more!

These plants were planted in spring 2021. Since then, they’ve been watered well, but that’s it. I haven’t fertilised them at all. I would, if I could, but my planting method doesn’t allow access to do this. They are thriving on water alone. What’s your take on growing strawberries? Do you replace the plants every few years? Or just let them do their thing?

❓ Now the burning question… do I tell the kids? Or just gobble these three strawbs without a word?

#homegrownstrawberries #berrytime #BeatTheBirds #gardeningwithchildren

Spike is up to no good again. I heard a commotion

Spike is up to no good again.

I heard a commotion in the chicken coop and went to investigate. Spike had found himself in the chicken run and decided that the nest box was the play to be. Biscuit and some of the other girls were not amused. Once Spike ventured out into the yard he created quite a bit of interest and the girls followed him everywhere he went.

Echidnas are monotremes, an ancient link in the evolution of mammals. Once widespread, there are now only two types of monotremes alive today, the platypus and echidnas. Monotremes are the only mammals that lay eggs. But this is getting a bit ridiculous

Spike, the girls are not happy, you’re holding up the queue for the nest box.

#kyneton #echidna #chickenantics #commotion

🥶We had a mild frost last this morning and I'm

🥶We had a mild frost last this morning and I'm kind of relieved about it.

I record a lot of data about my garden. Events such as:
🌸The dates that different plants start to flower
🫘 When I sow seeds
🐦 Behavioural patterns of birds and animals
⛈ Weather events such as the first and last frost.

✏ Recording the last frost event of the year is tricky. I don't know it is the last frost event until several weeks down the track. So around the start of October I usually start to record every time there is a frost. Then in late December I can look back at my gardening diary and find the last frost entry in my diary.

😟 I was getting worried because we haven't had a frost for weeks and I hadn't been recording frost dates in September. I was wondering if I'd missed my chance to record the last frost date for 2024. Would there be a hole in my data set? Most importantly, that hole could be a significant one if it is really early.

Alas, this morning presented me with a bitterer sweet mild frost. If it is the last one for the year, then I haven't missed it.

Given the long term forecast, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last frost date for 2024 in my garden. But I'm also taking no chances, my tomatoes will stay in the greenhouse for another fortnight.

For those interested the last frost dates for previous years in my garden are as follows:
27 NOV 2019
19 OCT 2020
16 NOV 2021
16 NOV 2022
25 OCT 2023

📖 Want to know more about recording data in your garden? Part 10 of the Vegetable Patch from Scratch explains the how and why. There's also some great templates for paid subscribers to download and use to record their own garden data set.

➡head to my Substack to read it.

Did you have a frost this morning?

#kyneton #lastfrost #jackfrost #gardendiary #gardenjournal

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