28 November

On Sunday 22 members were busy in the garden as it had grown profusely with the week of rain.

We sowed more Rosella (Hibiscus sabdariffa), cucumber ‘Muncher’ (Cucumis sativus), okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) and ‘Cocozelle’ zucchini (Cucurbita pepo).  

We had a big harvest of self-sown mizuna that was growing and crowding out our seedlings. We picked plenty of cos lettuce, Amish deer tongue lettuce, silverbeet, beetroot, sorrel, French tarragon and a few asparagus spears, blackberries, Cape gooseberries, Warrigal greens, chillies, parsley, land cress and basil. We also dug up another potato patch (photo below).

From left to right: ‘King Edward’, ‘Purple Congo’ and ‘Dutch Cream’.

Save the date for our “Summer Solstice Party” on Sunday 19^th December. Extended family members are invited. The third tomato potato psyllid trap was set over our chillies. A new trap is set each week for 4 weeks.

A PR Executive from Kellogg’s Australia (yes, the cornflakes people) has contacted us offering free sustainable planter boxes made from recycled soft plastics made by the REDCycle company.

Last Wednesday the Council took soil samples from all community gardens for analysis and also inspected our rainwater tanks.

Sharon Billinge is giving free workshops on “Indigenous approaches to Biodiversity” (4 Dec, 1pm) and  “Urban Biodiversity” (Sat, 11 Dec., 1pm). Both are at 107 Redfern St. Funded by the City of Sydney and 107 Projects Redfern. Go to eventbrite.com.au for tickets.

21 November

On Sunday eight intrepid members braved the cold and rain, but only for an hour before coffee called.

We planted Sweet Alice ‘Carpet of Snow’ (Lobularia maritima, brassica family Brassicaceae), a long-flowering annual that self-sows. We obtained these plants from the Council give-away. Also known as Alyssum its fragrant flowers attract beneficial insects including bees and ladybird bugs.

We sowed more ‘Cocozelle’ zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) and seedlings of sweet basil and some Thai basil. 

We harvested some young cut and come again cos and Amish deer tongue lettuce. Excellent young beetroot were also harvested (photo below).

Beetroot harvest

Our choko vine is flowering and setting fruit (photo below). Chokos (Sechium edule) are native to Mexico where they are known as ‘Chayote’. They belong to the pumpkin family Cucurbitaceae along with our cucumbers, zucchini and spaghetti squash. Like others in the family the vine has separate male and female flowers (monoecious) thus requiring insects for pollination.

Choko fruit

Save the date for our “Summer Solstice Party” on Sunday 19^th December. Extended family members are invited. The third tomato potato psyllid trap was set. A new trap is set each week for 4 weeks.

Sharon Billinge is giving free workshops on “Indigenous approaches to Biodiversity” (4 Dec, 1pm) and  “Urban Biodiversity” (Sat, 11 Dec., 1pm). Both are at 107 Redfern St. Funded by the City of Sydney and 107 Projects Redfern. Go to eventbrite.com.au for tickets.

14 November

On Sunday 19 members turned up for the ‘sugar-bag’ honey harvest. Expectations ran high as the heavy hive was lifted out of its cage and onto the table. The honey-box was prized off, the crowd gasped. It was empty! The entrance slit was sealed with tape preventing the bees expanding into the honey box. The tape should have been removed when the hive was installed. The Perspex top allowed members to see the busy bees in the lower brood box which they had filled with honey and pollen pots. We removed the tape and now they can expand into the honey box. In another month we can have a peep to see how much they have stored.

Our native bee hive

As part of our educational role we installed informative labels for herbs and less well-known plants.

We harvested silverbeet, beetroot leaves, mizuna, the last of the red lettuce, self-sown turnip tops, basil, ‘Australian red’ garlic, green garlic, ‘dragon tongue’ rocket, ‘Kipfler’ potatoes, chillies, asparagus, sorrel, purslane, parsley, blackberries and cape gooseberries. We also saved some rocket seeds.

We had an excellent harvest of ‘Kipfler’ potatoes (photo below). More potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) will be dug in early December.

Covid-safe Kipfler potato harvest

This year we planted two Australian bred cultivars of garlic: soft neck ‘Glenlarge’ which is day length neutral and hard neck ‘Australian Red’. We harvested good bulbs of ‘Glenlarge’ some time ago and on Sunday we harvested ‘Australian Red’ which we planted 7 months ago on 11 April. We also harvested green garlic from a Glenlarge bulb that was missed.

Traditionally garlic (Allium sativum, Onion Family: Amaryllidaceae [Alliaceae]) is grown in Tasmania and Victoria because it, like most Alliums, is day length sensitive. As the days lengthen in spring the bulbs grow.

There are two groups of garlic:

1. Soft neck (soft stem) Artichoke group. These don’t produce buds (scapes) and flowers. Store well once dried. Includes ‘Glenlarge’.
2. Hard neck (hard stem) Turban group do produce edible scapes and flowers. The cloves are easy to peel but don’t store well. Includes ‘Australian Red’.

We sowed ‘Cocozelle’ zucchini (Cucurbita pepo), ‘Spaghetti’ squash (also Cucurbita pepo), ‘Cherry belle’ radish (a brassica Raphanus sativus), ‘Mini Orange’ capsicum and ‘Yellow Pear’ and ‘Tigerella’ tomatoes

At our meeting we decided to hold our “Summer Solstice Party” on Sunday 19^th December. Extended family members are invited. The second potato tomato psyllid trap was set. A new trap is set each week for 4 weeks.

7 November

We were very busy on Sunday transplanting seedlings of lettuce (‘cos and ‘Amish Deer Tongue’) and self-sown mizuna. We planted seedlings of lemon basil, sweet basil, capsicums, sunflowers and companion flowers French Marigolds.

The big harvest of silverbeet and lettuce (‘lollo rosso’) continued. We also harvested radishes, basil, land cress, mizuna, purslane, sorrel, chillies, French tarragon, parsley, mint and other herbs. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea, Family Portulacaceae) is a nutrient-rich annual succulent that comes up in our garden at this time of the year. It adds crunch to a salad. We also picked rhubarb, asparagus, Cape gooseberries and the first blackberries.

Nineteen members were present to oversee the digging of our first potato patch. We got a good crop of ‘Royal Blues’ but the potato bags of  ‘Nicola’ and ‘Red Pontiac’ were not so productive, perhaps too dry during growth.

‘Royal Blue’ potato harvest

Thanks to Louise for her amazing art installation in the garden (photo below doesn’t do it justice):

The first tomato potato psyllid (TPP) trap was set. A new trap will be set each week for 4 weeks.

Bee-friend a bee week

Backyard pollinator census next Sunday 14^th November: Simply pick a flowering plant in the community garden on that day and count the pollinating insects that land on it.  If you want to spend 10 minutes watching nature during our working bee sign up at:

backyardbeecensus.org.au

31 October

Twenty-three members and one child worked in the garden on Sunday. We sowed cucumbers ‘Spacemaster’ and ‘Muncher’, okra ‘Red’ and ‘Mammoth Spinless’ (Abelmoschus esculentus, Mallow Family Malvaceae). Okra is also known as ‘Gumbo’ or ‘Lady’s Finger’. We planted more basil and green shiso (Perilla frutescens var. crispa) seedlings grown from seeds we saved last year. Shiso (Japanese)is also known as soyeop (Korean), tía tô (Vietnamese) is widely used in Asian salads, soups, stir-fries, fish dishes and wraps. It comes in green and red varieties (photos below). It is an attractive annual herb whose flowers attract bees and butterflies. It belongs to the Mint Family Lamiaceae and not to be confused with our perennial Korean mint (Agastache rugosa) growing in a pot in the Secret Garden from the same Family (photo below).

Perilla green

Perilla red

Korean mint

On Sunday we saved seeds of mizuna and Chinese mustard cabbage.

We harvested self-sown baby turnip tops and thinned baby beetroot, basil, radish, silverbeet, lettuce (lollo rosso, freckles bunte, cos), sorrel, chillies, Warrigal greens, rhubarb, land cress, parsley, asparagus and herbs.

There are still a lot of self-sown seedlings of violas, chillies, sunflowers, borage and feverfew available in the garden for taking home to grow.

This coming Sunday we will be harvesting the last of our garlic and the first bed of our potato crop.

After gardening on Sunday we held our delayed AGM. Michael and Jock were re-elected as Co-coordinators and Eileen was re-elected as Sec/Treas. Minutes will be circulated in due course.

Thanks to Natasha and Eileen for providing morning tea.

Backyard bee census Sunday 14^th November: Simply pick a flowering plant in the community garden on that day and count the pollinating insects that land on it.  If you want to spend 10 minutes watching nature during our working bee sign up at backyardbeecensus.org.au