Purple corn project

I have been bitten by the corn bug, after growing an interesting landrace purple flour / hominy corn out over summer. This coming Spring I intend to put a lot of energy into producing enough of maize morado to produce my own flour.. We will see how I go. Here's a picture of  my first harvested cob and a link to a facebook page I have created to encourage people to grow this very cool and delicious heirloom landrace. Anyone interested in growing out  this corn  please don't hesitate to get in contact with me.
Maize morado co-operative Brisbane.

Back yard update three metre challenge and other bits and pieces

Well its finally starting to feel a lot like Autumn. The three metre challenge bed is hammering along with the red kale leading the charge, I will start harvesting bits and pieces this week.

 In other beds the early purple turnips have gone gangbuster and we will hopefully start harvesting these in a couple weeks. Eggplant have proven to be very heavy producers this year, along with various kale planted earlier in the year the the three metre challenge plants. I am trying my hand at garlic for the first time this Autumn, not something I have attempted before as Brisbane's climate is not traditionally ideal for the cool weather crop. I have some plants up and we will see how they go.

Lucerne bale no dig bed.

When I was a small child my mother and pop had a garden bed started from lucerne bails they spread out and let decompose into rich compost. My mother and father still talk about how successful the garden was and dad has mentioned that he went back to the house and said how the grass was still greener where the garden had been. So today we went out and bought a couple bales of Lucerne. I actually paid a little too much for them but it was good 1st cut quality not the twiggy rough stuff you get cheap late in the season. I also grabbed a few bags of stable horse manure and layered out a bed. Will be ready to grow in Spring I hope, I'll probably put a layer of mushroom compost and another bale of lucerne  on next week. I've netted it off to keep the dog out of it he loves horse manure, it will also help stop the lucerne from blowing all over the yard until it starts to break down
Can't wait for spring already.

Indigenous tuber crops

Indigenous tuber crops, what an extremely broad term. Yams, taro and or coccoyams and a various other interesting looking plants your generally not sure whether they are ornamental or poisonous. I am really interested in edible Dioscorea species yams and grow a few cultivars of winged yam a white and two purple and an air potato which I think is awesome. Most of the plants in the yard are finishing up and going dormant for the year. Putting out "seed potatoes" for next year. Its been such a long hot year they are all a month behind which I think is interesting. This summer started early and refused to stop so plants like the Dioscorea yams just kept on growing. Really attractive vining plant if you have a fence or trellis and are looking for a good privacy screen that will give you something edible back in return I highly recommend putting a yam in.

Giant Atlantic pumpkins Brisbane EKKA competition

I like growing unusual and interesting things one thing I have been hooked on growing the last couple years is giant pumpkins. I have one in the dirt for the Brisbane Ekka comp, weigh offs in May.
Here's an article.

 

Anyone interested in seeds or what not that may get on facebook should check out my pumpkin page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brisbane-city-giant-pumpkin-growers/219059978241733

Bits and pieces around the yard

Kale everywhere this year, the kids have already voiced their opinion and protested at the idea of eating it regularly. I really like kale leaf in salad but sautéed with a little butte rand garlic it's delicious. Children are always the worst critics.
Our early purple turnips are really powering along, I'll be cooking a curry with this lot before too long.
Chou moullier kale which appears to be more cabbage then not is starting to grow I am curious to see how it grows. There has been much talk about kale and when to plant in Brisbane, I noticed that a couple online planting guides tell us to plant in January. It needs cool nights to get sweetness in the leaf, don't grow it over summer, it will grow quick but gets bitter so quickly with limited water and too much heat.

3 metre garden bed challenge, update.

The 3 metre bed is doing well, we are starting to see some good growth in the purple kohlrabi and red Russian kale, I lost one to what appeared to be burn, hit the bed with large amounts of mushroom compost and chicken manure and I think there may have been a couple patches not turned in well enough. A few of the red kale nearly turned blue/ green. I have never seen that before. They seem to have got over this stress now and look fantastic. Vate's curly blue has started putting on size and the lacinato or black kale which I find to be the slowest to start is developing mature looking leaves.

Banana fruit forming

This is a totally new gardening experience for me. Bananas grow so fast here in Brisbane it really is a shame more people don't designate a little space to them.
I'm looking forward to this lot ripening.

Apparently it takes around 2 months for bananas to ripen but may take a little longer as it is already mid autumn and the temperature is a significant factor in ripening time. Everything is out of whack this year the plants are extremely confused from our very long "summer". 

Banana flower power.

My first banana flower is forming, very cool. I have not bothered to water or fertilise this clump in the year it has been in the ground, it came to me a small corm in a pot I planted it out against the neighbours shed in the hope it would protect it from the

 

 

wild winds we sometimes get and so far its been very happy.

3 metre challenge bed update and bits around the yard.

Well the 3 metre bed is planted out and the seedlings have adjusted, the red Russian kale initially struggled I think the soil may have been too rich in places I lost one seedling which actually turned blue?? Should have gotten a photo. They seem to have grown a little and looking good again. Now to keep the water up and watch out for pest out breaks the weather is muggy still and I find this time of year is notorious for bug and caterpillar population explosions I have already had a lot of aphid and white moth issues to date in other beds in the yard.

In other beds around the yard we have some more mature kale absolutely getting massive, we will have to start eating it before the caterpillars move in. The smaller red Russian leaves will be used as a salad green the bigger leaves can be sautéed with garlic and fresh herbs  or ginger and sweet soy as a side or put through a curry or pasta. Kale is an incredible versatile and nutritious vegetable we all should be eating more of. I have a few early turnip growing really well at the moment, I am going to use these in a vegetarian curry with home grown sweet potato. Turnips are ideal in stews and curries as they suck up so much flavour, I am also not growing enough to get sick of them variety is after all the spice of life.

This last photo is of a very old and lessor grown Kale/ Collard called Chou Moullier more cabbage leaf then Kale but I am hopeful it will do OK here.

Giant supershmelz kohlrabi

Growing a few giant kohlrabi this Autumn/ Winter, apparently they can get as big as ten pin bowling balls and stay crisp without getting woody? I kind of just want to grow a really big one..
So far they are looking good, the only issue is every bug and grub known to gardeners seems to think they are delicious. I'll see how these progress as they get bigger.

Red clover, green manure cover crop @ the PCYC community gardens.

This year I have signed on for a plot at the Sandgate PCYC community gardens. Its a good plot gets great sun and the soil although a little under worked looks ok. I added some mushroom compost and some slow release organic fertiliser called organic link made locally by Plant of Health.
I will be planting Morado maize in the bed in October but had no real plans for it until then so I figured I might plant out a green manure crop.  I had done some reading on green manure crops particularly legume nitrogen fixing plants like lucerne and red clover. After doing a little more reading I jumped online and ordered some red clover and lucerne and some specific Rhizobia inoculant from Green Harvest in Maleny. Rhizobia are nitrogen fixing bacteria that become established in the root nodules of legume crops.
A couple weeks ago I sowed the seeds and raked them in, making sure to keep the water to them while they established and now I have  a tiny mat of what looks mostly like red clover and the odd Lucerne and a sprinkling or weeds and volunteer plants. I will let the crop grow until the point of flowering and then top it and let it grow back again. In September I will turn the lot over and let it break down before I plant out my maize in October. There is a bit of nut grass and what not coming up in the bed but at this stage it is imperative to let the clover establish and once it takes hold it will smother out most weeds. I'll keep the photos of the bed updated as I think this is a fantastic way to rest and improve soil structure and quality.

3 metre square garden challenge update

 Seedlings are planted out in a our 3 metre challenge bed and look over the stress of transplant the Red Kale has gone a very deep purple, not sure if the soil may be responsible of this very late hot weather. It has been a truly cruel Summer for gardeners.

We also have a few other beds with various brassicas doing well, Early purple turnips and Chou moullier kale and more established Red Russian kale leading the way.