Spring has Sprung

Its September already the year is running away from us. Many projects are started some are coming together some are still getting off the ground. I have cleaned up a few beds and planted out some of warmer month crops. Sweet potato is in the ground which is great. I have a heap of radish down however the beds where very nitrogen hot so I have had excess leaf and small roots so far.

 This however is turning out to be a blessing in disguise as the Muscovy ducks have been ravenously eating the green tops so great secondary use there. Talking ducks, they are doing great we have had some good luck with the sex of the birds having 3 girls and a boy. Unfortunately the boy has a moderate case of angel wing which is caused from high protein diet and genetic susceptibility. The wing grows too fast and is too heavy for the bird to hold up properly. So unfortunately he is carrying his wing lower then he should, from what I have read it causes no pain to the animal just makes him look a little silly.

The Bananas are almost ready to harvest and there is another bunch setting so will have too many bananas very shortly.

The Elephant garlic is growing nicely and getting nice and thick stems I am mostly using this season to get some good sized seed stock so I can plant enough to sell a few.

Onions are growing nicely and so are the leaks. I really love this time of year, the place just comes alive and there is plenty to do in the garden.

 

 

 

Muscovy ducks

Two weeks ago we bought four Muscovy ducklings from the produce store. Muscovy are a great beginner duck, being very hardy, they are also excellent utility birds for those who are happy to kill there own. Muscovy meat is more like goose and often compared to good quality veal, much leaner then tradition duck meat. Muscovy's are unique in that they are the only domesticated duck not related to the Mallard. South American natives they do not quack and are extremely quiet if you are used to what "normal" ducks sound like. They are large birds with a lot of character and become very used to human company.  

Its been a few years since we had poultry. Previously we kept chooks for eggs and Japanese quail for meat and eggs, but rodents put us off and in the end we got rid of everything feathered.

6 week old Muscovy ducks

So why ducks, how will the story end any different? Ducks don't really rely on grain  as chickens and quail, particularly Muscovy's which seem more aligned with geese then standard ducks. I have to date fed them mostly greens from my work (I am a chef), and clover and kale from my garden, just keeping a small container of pellet and grain to fill in the gaps.

 

The thing is they are ravenous eaters and if I want to keep this diverse green diet up I will have to get organised. While researching I came across the green fodder concept where  farmers are sprouting wheat and barley in trays and growing up "biscuits" of fresh shoots to feed cattle and sheep. I'm going to give it a go.

Obviously on a much simplified system but  I will be trying barley, wheat oats and lupin. Very easy and a great way to produce high protein green fodder perfect for ducks, this should remove the need for me to purchase pellet food and  ensure that my birds are eating organically principled pesticide free feed, important if I end up eating their eggs or them for that matter.

Lupin

Update lucurn no dig garden bed

Well a few months ago we built some no dig beds made from lucurn and horse stable waste with a little mushroom compost added. I have put radish and red onions in the beds first up. Radish are an excellent first bed crop as they help break up the new soil. We planted the onions as I had them left over from the farm and needed to get them in the ground. So far everything is growing really well and I look forward to cropping some black Spanish radish and Chinese meat radish in a few weeks. The onions will take a little longer but are starting to get a good size. As you can see the radish are coming along really well, his is the Black Spanish radish a fairly spicy long keeping radish good as a horse radish substitute and also often cooked like turnips.

Two weeks ago.

 

                                               Yesterday.
          

August winds and cold weather.

Well its been a while since I have updated the blog, busy with work and the community farm and family and everything else that comes with modern life.

The gardens are growing well and I have planted out some elephant garlic and a few seedlings for Spring already. The winter corn has tassels and produced some seed for next seasons plant out. The 3 metre bed challenge has yielded me an incredible amount of kale so much so my kids are asking when I will be planting something new in the bed lol. The red clover green cover crop is doing very well as is my now feral patch of stinging nettle (I am now very regretful of my decision to put this in the ground lol.

The lucurne beds that I built have been planted out with red onion and some interesting radish varieties and everything is growing very well.
 I bought ducks.. not just any ducks Muscovy ducks, awesome creatures they have been eating all my garden waste and I have planted a forage garden for them consisting of various lettuce, kale and herbs and other greens.

 I really like Muscovy's as they do not quack at all, are excellent egg producers and great meat birds. Their meat is much leaner then duck as they are more like geese then the standard mallard variety's.

Subtropical Winter in Brisbane

Well our winter is often like some places summer so we have not got much to complain about when it comes to weather, unless you actually want to grow cool weather crops.. The 3 metre bed challenge is going great guns, so much kale and kohlrabi I'm going to have to start giving it away.

 Nasturtium patch comes up every year and reseeds itself. All edible and delicious.

 Red clover cover crops that I have planted in the back beds where I will be growing my maize for cornmeal really doing well with these cooler nights, I am looking forward to seeing them flower and watching my native bees take advantage of situation.

 Sub tropical Brisbane, there's worse places to be in the middle of Winter. Winter solstice on the weekend so looking forward to the days to start getting longer.

3 metre bed update

So have been a bit slack keeping updates sorry people. The 3 metre bed of various kale cultivars is pumping, supplying my family all they can eat plus we are giving quite a lot away to friends. Were eating some in a morning juice, using small leaves as salad leaves, and some as wilted greens with garlic ginger and soy being the most popular way to cook out.

 The kids eat it, my wife and I love it and the neighbours keep trying to buy it off me. If in doubt over the winter months get some kale in. From our bed we have had no issue with bitterness or woody stems, its been very positive experience. I have also pulled some eggplant and planted out a selection of garlic and leeks.

Not holding my breath with the garlic however will see if I can get some bulbs, I have grown leeks before and I am looking forward to these. This time I grew the leek from seeds a musselbough hardy Scottish variety. They are really slow from seed so stay patient.

This is one of my favourite times of year to grow, a lot of the temperate plants that won't make it in our humid summer really love it here in Brisbane right now. But all of the tropical plants are still doing great in this long hot spell.

Australian Native stingless bees

Bee keeper- the words generally conjure up images of people in white suits with mesh vales and a smoker in hand fending off swarms of agitated bees. Well organised and disciplined soldiers desperately defending their fortress. Beekeeper seem somehow foreign and a little bit crazier than the rest of us. I would love to keep real bees, but I remember running through clover and being stung as a child, I just can’t see how you can get used to that. Most of us know of European bees and the honey we can buy in the super markets, however Australia has an abundance of native bees, some of which are social and can also be kept in small hives. Our Australian native bees are much smaller and produce far less honey (however very good honey), then their European counterparts but what sets them apart and makes them so enticing to many of us is the simple fact that they are stingless. They still get cranky, they will defend their home when you want to steal their treasured honey, those of us who live on standard sized house blocks or who have inquisitive small children our native stingless bees might be right for your garden. Native Australian bees are such hard working little insects about the size of a green ant you will find them working many native flowering plants over the warmer months, they are particularly fond of small white flowers and have even been trialled as a crop pollinator for commercial macadamia, lychee and mango farms. I have found in my yard they seem to really love the palm flowers. Fewer European bees from many factors in our environment but two major factors are people spraying clover in suburbia and large chunks bush land being removed for housing and development.  A native stingless beehive in the vege patch is great for helping in fruit set and pollination and in time will give you a sweet little treat.