Cup Week in the Garden 2010

Melbourne Cup Day is one of those points in the gardening calendar that has mystical properties- it's meant to be the time to plant out summer crops. It also reminds me to take stock of the roses, and compare their blooms to those at the Flemington Race Track.

The columbines aren't shy, either.

With all the lovely rain (did everyone else realise we're into a La Nina weather pattern? I only just did...) there has been plenty of chance for plants to grow. Including weeds, like this persistent ground cover (not sure of its name).

I thought this was a weed- and maybe it is- but it's turning into something interesting.

We had a Cup Day feast of broad beans and carrots- not huge, but my largest yet!

Not wanting to count my berries before they ripen (last year I lost the entire harvest to a heat wave) but if nothing else, I have a great crop of green loganberries.....

One of my goals is to have a daisy border around the lawn. This was one of those satisfying views where you suddenly think "I can see my plans working".

The highs and lows of a vegie patch

It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny weekend- well, gorgeous if you were human, not so gorgeous if you were one of three tomato seedling that had been potted out on Friday and neglected.

I felt a bit bummed to see their withered corpses when we got home on Sunday evening. Even more bummed when I found Minnesota Melon #2 with a broken neck and bite marks within 24 hours of being potted out. Bummed enough to not take any photos- that's bummed! Melon #1 had withered unexpectedly when I had potted it up, so I was feeling pretty down about my prospects of getting a melon this year -continuing my failures from previous years.

More generally I was wondering why I bother trying to grow vegies from seed when I could just roll down to Bunnings and pick up some fruiting beefsteak tomato plant

Then yesterday I pulled up two thumb-size carrots and picked three pods of peas.Not much at all, so I popped them in a bowl for my no-raw-vegetable boys to eat stare at. Little Bro sampled a pea and a carrot, and rejected them as usual. But Big Bro declared the peas delicious and snaffled them up.

Then, wonder of wonders, one long carrot became this:

And suddenly I remembered why I have a vegie patch.

Root Crops

The radishes were ready to be pulled, but the carrots have a while to go... but thinly sliced they make a crunchy topping for a salad.

Changing times

The warm weather had what I hope was its last hurrah this week, with temperatures in the high 20s. With a week of rain and cooler weather forecast, I decided my winter planting had to start. I replaced the bush beans with mini cabbages and mini cauliflowers, and put in a new row of heirloom carrots for good measure. Not a lot of work, but I was struck by Big Bro starting to actually be useful, and by Little Bro not being destructively determined to take part- he was happy to find other things to occupy himself. A bit of water and worm juice, and now my fingers are crossed that the plants will pick up on my happy mood!

Who's got the munchies?

It's not easy to tell, but this is a one-year old passionfruit vine.

And this is its friend, about 8 months old...

The poor things are being munched to smithereens. :(

And the problem is, I have no idea what the culprit is. So far it has been a matter of elimination.

The passionfruit eater:

- especially likes tender young shoots (*sigh*)

- is not regularly diurnal- I have never spotted anything on the leaves other than two spiders

- is either quick to hide at night or an infrequent visitor- torchlight expeditions have yielded nothing

- is probably not a possum or mouse, as some of the damage is to one surface of the leaves only

- is not lured into a beer trap- so unlikely to be a slug or a snail?

-may be responsible for defoliating these bok choi seedlings and all my carrots and radishes that were in the vicinity...

I've been trying a variety of smelly deterrents, which may help a little, but I would love to know who my enemy competitor is!

The best our local garden centre has offered is "caterpillars" and a box of Dipel (anti-caterpillar bacteria) which I may yet crack open.

Any ideas??